🌰 Burdock

Plants & herbs · Video research · Nutrition · Burdock · Spring tonics · Sajah Popham

Burdock, the all-purpose alterative

In Sajah Popham's spring tonics lesson, burdock root is “the all-purpose alterative”: a mild, almost neutral herb that cleanses the blood through the liver, lymph, kidneys and skin while its inulin feeds the gut. The inulin is real — half or more of the dried root — and inulin does feed good gut bacteria in people, though a prebiotic dose means about 88–125 g of fresh root. For the skin the EU accepts burdock as a traditional remedy, without robust trials; for the liver and lymph we found no studies. It was an ingredient of the Hoxsey cancer tonic, which is no cure, as the lesson itself says.

50–70% of dried burdock root is inulin, by the review figures — 12–17% of the fresh root

9 min read · 13 sources (6 peer-reviewed)