Chapter List

• Introduction to the Green Pharmacy
• Entering the Green Pharmacy
• Putting Safety First
• Shopping and Harvesting the Green Pharmacy
• Using the Green Pharmacy
• Aging
• Allergies
• Altitude Sickness
• Alzheimers Disease
• Amenorrhea
• Angina
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Athletes Foot
• Backache
• Bad Breath
• Baldness
• Bladder Infections
• Body Odor
• Breast Enlargement
• Breastfeeding Problems
• Bronchitis
• Bruises
• Bunions
• Burns
• Bursitis and Tendinitis
• Cancer Prevention
• Canker Sores
• Cardiac Arrhythmia
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Cataracts
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Colds and Flu
• Constipation
• Corns
• Coughing
• Cuts Scrapes and Abscesses
• Dandruff
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Diarrhea
• Diverticulitis
• Dizziness
• Dry Mouth
• Earache
• Emphysema
• Endometriosis
• Erection Problems
• Fainting
• Fever
• Flatulence
• Fungal Infections
• Gallstones and Kidney Stones
• Genital Herpes and Cold Sores
• Gingivitis
• Glaucoma
• Gout
• Graves Disease
• Hangover
• Headache
• Heartburn
• Heart Disease
• Hemorrhoids
• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Hives
• Hiv Infection Aids
• Hypothyroidism
• Indigestion
• Infertility
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Inhibited Sexual Desire in Women
• Insect Bites and Stings
• Insomnia
• Intermittent Claudication
• Intestinal Parasites
• Laryngitis
• Lice
• Liver Problems
• Lyme Disease
• Macular Degeneration
• Menopause
• Menstrual Cramps
• Morning Sickness
• Motion Sickness
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Nausea
• Osteoporosis
• Overweight
• Pain
• Parkinsons Disease
• Pneumonia
• Poison Ivy Oak and Sumac
• Pregnancy and Delivery
• Premenstrual Syndrome
• Prostate Enlargement
• Psoriasis
• Raynauds Disease
• Scabies
• Sciatica
• Shingles
• Sinusitis
• Skin Problems
• Smoking
• Sores
• Sore Throat
• Sties
• Stroke
• Sunburn
• Swelling
• Tinnitus
• Tonsillitus
• Toothache
• Tooth Decay
• Tuberculosis
• Ulcers
• Vaginitis
• Varicose Veins
• Viral Infections
• Warts
• Worms
• Wrinkles
• Yeast Infection
• Green Pharmacy Authors Postscript

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Heartburn

Heartburn

A colleague, who never struck me as herbally inclined, dropped by my office one morning and surprised me by asking what sort of herbal concoction I might recommend for heartburn. He said he'd had it on and off for several months. But he'd started taking ginger about a week earlier, and he said he felt considerably better.

I was delighted that he'd tried an herb, but I was also a little surprised at his success. Studies show that ginger prevents nausea caused by motion sickness as well as morning sickness in pregnant women. That's how it has earned its well-deserved reputation as a stomach soother. But heartburn does not occur in the stomach.

Heartburn develops when the muscular opening from the esophagus into the stomach doesn't work properly. This set of muscles--the lower esophageal sphincter (LES)--opens to allow food into the stomach but then closes to keep stomach acids from washing up into the esophagus. In heartburn, the LES doesn't close completely, and the burning feeling in the chest is actually acid burning the esophagus.

I'd never heard of ginger for LES problems, but I didn't doubt him. I simply suggested that he add peppermint to his ginger tea. Peppermint has an age-old reputation for relieving upset stomach and heartburn, and a good deal of research validates the folklore.

Heartburn is very common. An estimated 30 percent of adults experience it at least once a month. Diet and lifestyle often contribute to it.

Heartburn is more likely to develop when you eat hurriedly, on the run, standing up or wolfing down your food without chewing it thoroughly. Fried foods, saturated fats, sugar, alcohol, cigarettes and coffee have all been associated with heartburn. To help prevent it, try to have meals and snacks when you're relaxed instead of on the go. It also helps to have a diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains and avoid fried foods.

Green Pharmacy for Heartburn

In addition to avoiding aggravating foods and eating habits, here are some herbs that can help.

Angelica (Angelica archangelica) and relatives. Aromatherapists wisely suggest oil of angelica as useful for heartburn in adults and colic and gas in children. Angelica is a member of the carrot family, and many members of that plant family seem to have a soothing action on the digestive tract, a quality that herbalists call carminative.

If you have heartburn frequently, you should discuss it with your doctor. You might also wish to indulge in my Angelade, which contains six relatives of angelica, all carminative. You'll need a juicer to make this one, as Angelade consists of juiced angelica stalks, carrots, celery, fennel, garlic, papaya and parsnips. (You may have to add some water and spices to make it drinkable.)

If you don't have access to fresh angelica, it's okay to leave it out and go with just the other ingredients. In fact, it doesn't really make any difference how much of each you use. Simply pick your favorites, then mix and match until you create a juice that tickles your fancy.

Angelica for Angina Angelica is good for treating heartburn, and although heartburn doesn't really have anything to do with the heart, angelica, curiously enough, is also good for the heart. Angelica and other plants in the carrot family contain some 15 calcium channel blockers, chemicals that have been turned into pharmaceuticals to treat angina, the chronic chest pain that often accompanies heart disease. One of these natural calcium channel blockers is reportedly as strong as verapamil (Calan, Isoptin), an angina medication. Vegetarians regularly eat lots of carrots, and perhaps this partially explains the lower incidence of heart problems that they enjoy as a group.

Camomile (Matricaria recutita). Joe and Terry Graedon, co-authors of The People's Pharmacy and Graedon's Best Medicine, share my opinion that camomile is the first-choice herb for heartburn and stomach distress.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra). I agree with Michael Murray, N.D., co-author of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine and several other scholarly books on nutritional and naturopathic healing, that deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) successfully treats both heartburn and ulcers of the stomach and esophagus. Many studies show that licorice is an antispasmodic and that it reduces production of stomach acid, thereby decreasing heartburn.

The caveat is that while licorice and its extracts are safe for normal use in moderate amounts (up to about three cups of tea a day) long-term use (more than six weeks) or ingestion of larger amounts can produce headache, lethargy, sodium and water retention, excessive loss of potassium and high blood pressure. A cup of licorice tea now and then to relieve heartburn is safe.

Peppermint (Mentha pipe-rita). A while back, my daughter spent a vacation week with us, and we celebrated by grilling up big slabs of spareribs, which gave me heartburn. So I headed out to the garden and grabbed two handfuls of peppermint and one each of spearmint, lemon balm (also known as melissa) and bee balm, along with some basil, sage and oregano, and brewed up a tasty tea that helped. I know you might prefer a more specific recipe--one teaspoon of this, two teaspoons of that--but I never measure herbs that are generally regarded as safe.

There is a controversy about the use of peppermint for heartburn. I agree with herb advocate Andrew Weil, M.D., professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson and author of Natural Health, Natural Medicine, who strongly recommends this herb. Herbal lore certainly supports peppermint. Traditional cultures from ancient Egyptians to present-day Icelanders use peppermint for all sorts of digestive problems, including heartburn.

A few esteemed herbalists, however, contend that peppermint can aggravate heartburn. If that happens to you, don't use this herb, but personally, I doubt that you'll have problems. Many, if not most, mints have the ability to ease digestion, with peppermint and spearmint tops in my book.

Don't Die from "Heartburn" Sometimes heartburn hurts so much that people think they're having a heart attack, although actually they're not. But the reverse can be true as well: Sometimes what you think is heartburn is actually a heart attack or angina. Heartburn typically develops during or shortly after a meal and produces pain or burning in the chest. Heart attack and angina can strike at any time. Frequently, the pain they produce is not limited to the chest but radiates up under the jaw or along an arm. Heart attack and angina may also produce faintness and sweating. When in doubt about chest pain, call 911 and describe your symptoms.

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) and cinnamon (Cinnamomum, various species). Both of these herbs help eliminate gas. When Mrs. Duke suffers occasional heartburn or acid indigestion, one thing she does with my blessing is sprinkle one or the other of these two powdered herbs on her toast. (We rarely have cardamom around the house, though; it's too expensive.)

Dill (Anethum graveolens). Dill has been used to soothe the digestive tract and treat heartburn for thousands of years. If I had heartburn, I'd try crushing a few teaspoons of seeds and making a tea with it. (If you are pregnant, using dill in medicinal amounts could cause problems. You should reserve it for occasional, moderate use.)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). Fennel has been used as long as dill, and for the same reasons. I'd use it, too.

Gentian (Gentiana officinalis). Herbal pharmacologist Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D., author of The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine and Herbal Tonic Therapies, notes that gentian, especially when taken about 30 minutes before meals, is a remarkable heartburn preventive that also aids digestion. I agree. Gentian has a long history as a digestive herb. I would try simmering one teaspoon of gentian in a cup or two of water for about 30 minutes. Dr. Mowrey also suggests adding a sprinkle of cayenne and ginger to your gentian tea.

Yeas and Nays on comfrey comfrey has developed a bad reputation. Although many herbalists continue to recommend the herb, some authorities say that you shouldn't ingest any at all. That's because medical research has found that comfrey contains chemicals known as pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). In sufficient amounts, PAs can cause liver damage and possibly cancer. I don't think anyone should drink comfrey tea by the gallon every day, but I'm not afraid of a little comfrey now and then, even though the herb clearly contains these substances. I base my position on studies done by biochemist Bruce Ames, Ph.D., of the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Ames specializes in estimating the carcinogenicity (cancer-causing potential) of food items. According to his findings, a cup of comfrey leaf tea is less carcinogenic than a can of beer. And I'm not going to give that up, either!

papaya (Carica papaya) and pineapple (Ananas comosus). These fruits are loaded with digestive enzymes and have been widely used to relieve heartburn and indigestion. papaya with a little honey may even prevent it if eaten before a meal or between courses. Some nutritionists suggest that kiwifruit might help as well.

Herbal formulas. I have a lot of respect for British herbalist David Hoffmann, author of a dozen or so books, including The Herbal Handbook. He recommends several combinations of herbs for digestive tract problems. Teas made from either of the following two formulas might be useful for heartburn.

Digestive formula: Two parts comfrey leaf, which soothes the digestive tract; two parts hollyhock (Althaea officinalis), another stomach soother; one part sweetflag (Acorus calamus), which has antacid and gas-relieving properties; and one part meadowsweet, which is both antacid and gas relieving.

Esophagitis formula: Two parts comfrey; two parts hollyhock; one part camomile, which is both a gas reliever and an anti-inflammatory; and one part marigold, which is also an anti-inflammatory.

Salad from the Bible. Several plants mentioned in the Bible have folklore reputations for being helpful. These include almond, chicory, dandelion, garlic, lettuce, mustard, olives, onions and walnuts. If I suffered frequent heartburn, I'd try making a salad with several of these anti-heartburn ingredients.