ALLERDEFEN® Allergy Medicine: 'Why these conditions' and 'why this formula'?

Posted by Beck Keogh on October 17, 2023

Welcome to our new blog series, where we will cover each of our products in a little more depth.

In these posts, we aim to provide visibility on the conditions that the medicine treats and the way in which the formula addresses these.

Our founder, Paul Keogh, who has over 30 years of experience as a Naturopath and Medical Herbalist has shared his insights into the formulas.

The first formula we'd like to dive into is ALLERDEFEN® Allergy Medicine. Did you know that around 20% of Australians suffer from Hayfever, eczema and dermatitis or hives?

Why these conditions?

Hayfever (allergic rhinitis) affects up to 4.9 million Australians each year and approximately 1.6 million Australians suffer from atopic or allergic skin conditions like mild eczema and dermatitis, or hives.
The combined prevalence of these conditions in Australia is around 20 percent, with suffers commonly experiencing multiple conditions, especially as they age.
Studies suggest that the incidence of these conditions will increase over the coming decades.
Although most children grow out of their mild eczema and dermatitis, a few may experience it throughout their life, and some will go on to develop allergic rhinitis in adulthood.
Inflammation is a common characteristic of allergic rhinitis, mild eczema and dermatitis, and hives.

Why this formula?

For more than 1,800 years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has used the same combination of herbs (known as Xiao Chai Hu) to relieve the symptoms of what is known in the West as hayfever, mild eczema and dermatitis, and hives.
Most ingredients in ALLERDEFEN ®are anti-inflammatory and Ginseng improves immunity.
Core Botanicals ® extraction methods takes the fuss out of preparing traditional Chinese medicines, so you get all the benefits without having to boil up (decoct) dried herbs and drink the resulting tea.
ALLERDEFEN ® is a convenient, pleasant tasting, concentrated, liquid herbal medicine with a divided daily dose of 40 mL; equivalent to 3 cups of the same TCM combination, prepared by decoction.

Here is a summary of the therapeutic benefits of ALLERDEFEN® Allergy Medicine as listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. All these statements are permissible in marketing for adults and children over 2 years of age. Not to be used for children under 2 years of age without medical advice.

A traditional Chinese medicine called Minor Bupleurum Combination, used for the management of hayfever (allergic rhinitis), mild eczema and dermatitis, and skin hives (urticaria).

Baical Skullcap is traditionally used in Chinese medicine to decrease/reduce/relieve symptoms of allergic rhinitis commonly called hayfever:

Decrease/reduce/relieve post nasal drip
Decongestant/relieve nasal congestion
Decrease/reduce/relieve sneezing
Relieve runny/dripping nose
Relieve itchy throat
Relieve itchy eyes
Relieve eye redness
Decrease/reduce/relieve watery eyes or excessive lacrimation

Pinellia and Baical Skullcap are traditionally used in Chinese medicine to decrease/reduce/relieve symptoms of mild eczema and dermatitis:

Decrease/reduce/relieve skin dryness
Soothe/relieve skin inflammation
Antipruritic/Relieves itchy skin
Decrease/reduce/relieve skin redness

Red Date and Baical Skullcap are traditionally used in Chinese medicine to decrease/reduce/relieve symptoms of skin hives including itching, redness and swollen welts.

Korean Ginseng is traditionally used in Chinese medicine to help stimulate a healthy immune response and promote immune defence.

Herbs with supporting energetic properties*:

Bupleurum and Baical Skullcap are traditionally used in Chinese medicine to clear/expel damp-heat from the gallbladder and large intestines
Bupleurum is traditionally used in Chinese Medicine to sooth Liver Qi
Pinellia and Ginger are traditionally used in Chinese medicine to harmonise the middle-burner (spleen and stomach)
Red Date, Korean Ginseng and Liquorice are traditionally used in Chinese medicine to tonify/nourish/strengthen/replenish Qi

* Herbal energetic properties are included here for reference only and do not imply a TCM diagnosis. If a consumer is unsure whether this medicine is right for them, they should talk to a TCM practitioner or healthcare professional.

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Core Botanicals blog.

Why 86% of you come back (and the 2000-year-old secret)

A Note From Paul - medical herbalist, naturopath and founder of Core Botanicals®

I was recently looking at some data from our online store, and one number stopped me in my tracks: 86%.

That is our returning customer rate. In a world of "quick fixes" and endless supplement options, seeing that almost 9 out of 10 people come back to Core Botanicals  is the ultimate feedback. It tells me that what I set out to do - create potent, result-driven therapeutics - is actually working for you.

So, let me pull back the curtain on why Core Botanicals  formulas are different.

In the traditional world of herbal medicine (especially Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM), getting a therapeutic dose often meant boiling a large quantity of herbs on the kitchen stove.

This process is called decocting which in the end produces about 750 mL of dark, bitter, "smelly"liquid that you must choke down throughout the day. This system does work, but let’s be honest, it’s a lot of effort, and it doesn't exactly make your kitchen smell like a day spa.

At Core Botanicals, we’ve modernized this 2000 to 3000-year-old process.

For example, take our ALLERDEFEN medicine which was first formulated more than 1800 years ago. The basic seven herb formula has been used for generations to defend the spaces between the interior and the exterior of the body. In modern terms this function relates to the immune system defences and to “spaces” the likes of the eyes, nose and throat which can manifest
symptoms identified in Western medicine as allergic rhinitis or hayfever.

Core Botanicals takes the very same traditional herbal ingredients and extracts them using both the modern hydroethanolic system and the ancient aqueous decoction process to produce a high-potency medicine equivalent to at least 1.5g of dry herb per millilitre of extract.

Not only do we save people the inconvenience and trouble of preparing Chinese medicine the traditional way themselves, but we concentrate the daily dose of 750 mL of decoction into a convenient, reasonably palatable, high-potency daily dose of approximately 40 mL or a little over 5% of the decoction volume. No "smelly vapours" in the kitchen - just clinical-strength medicine in a highly absorbable liquid form that’s eliminated the hard work and inconvenience from taking Chinese herbal medicines.

When you see the statement "concentrate liquid herbal extracts" on our labels or “potency before profit” in our marketing, these are not buzz-phrases. They represent our unequivocal commitment to provide medicines that are consistent with traditional indications and dosages so you can experience the power of ancient Chinese medicine in a modern, convenient, liquid form.

Paul’s Clinical Tip: If you’ve tried dry herb preparations in decoction, capsule or tablet forms for the relief of the symptoms of hayfever (allergic rhinitis) including watery eyes, dripping nose, sneezing and itchy throat without satisfaction, maybe you’d like to try our high potency liquid ALLERDEFEN medicine. Many of my patients and customers not only report significant relief of symptom but also reduction of recurrence, which exemplifies an important TCM principle of
treating both the branch (symptoms) and the root (predisposition).

To your health,
Paul Keogh
Founder, Core Botanicals

Why you’re exhausted but can’t sleep

The "Tired but Wired" Trap

A Note From Paul - medical herbalist, naturopath and founder of Core Botanicals®

In my clinical experience, one of the most common complaints I’ve heard over the last three decades is some variation of: "Paul, I’m exhausted all day, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, my mind starts racing."

I call this the "Tired but Wired" trap. It’s a hallmark of our modern, fast-paced, goal-oriented world. Consequently, we’re living in a state of "sympathetic dominance" where our nervous system is stuck in "fight or flight" mode, even when we’re just sitting at our desks or trying to sleep. The thing that’s not well known about the "fight-or-flight" or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) mode is that it’s only half of the autonomic nervous system (ANS); the other half is called the “rest-and-repair” or parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which balances the sympathetic nervous system and together optimise the automatic functions of the ANS.

A great way to appreciate the differences is to imagine you’re picnicking under the iconic African “tree of life” (Baobab Tree) after a tiring safari on the savanna. You relax as you take in the scenery and recover as you enjoy some nourishing provisions. In this context, your parasympathetic mode is dominant. There you are feeling high on life when suddenly your sympathetic mode kicks in as a pride of lions approach. As they do, your appetite is replaced by fear and anxiety, and your bliss is banished by stress hormones surging through your body to raise your blood pressure and heart rate in readiness to fight for your survival or run for your life. All this happen below conscious control as part of our evolutionary responses governed by the ANS. So, although we’re no longer on the savanna, our modern cities can still feel like the jungle.

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, the ANS is primarily understood through the lens of Yin-Yang balance, where the SNS is associated with Yang (activity, growth, defence, exertion) and the parasympathetic system with Yin (passivity, digestion, rest, repair). Chinese herbs and acupuncture act as dynamic regulators that harmonize these systems and correct imbalances associated with sympathetic dominance such as mild anxiety, irritability, restlessness, excess nervous energy and poor sleep.

In contract to the use of sedative drugs that "knock you out" to reduce anxiety, Western Herbal Medicine seeks to correct sympathetic dominance with Adaptogens.

Adaptogens are a unique class of herbs that help your body adapt to stress. They don't just control symptoms; they work on the primary mechanisms that govern your body’s response to stress including the ANS and the command and control, hormonal system called the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis (HPA). The HPA and ANS act as complementary, highly coordinated, and physically interconnected systems that calibrate your body’s response to stress.

In summary, the ANS provides a rapid, immediate response (within seconds) through sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") activation and parasympathetic (“rest-and-repair”) withdrawal, while the HPA axis provides a slower, sustained, hormonal response (over minutes and beyond) via cortisol release from the adrenal glands. However, prolonged activation of the “stress response” can lead to a "disconnection" or "disequilibrium" between these two dynamic, interrelated systems leading to many conditions modern humans experience in today’s version of “life in the jungle”.

For this very common "Tired but Wired" state, I rely heavily on two of my favourite Adaptogens: Ashwagandha (Withania) and Sacred Basil (Holy Basil). In our STRESDEFEN formula, we use these highly respected Ayurvedic Rejuvenating tonics herbs which help the body “adapt to stress” through more efficient and effective responses, together with two powerful Chinese herbs China Root and Chinese Senega that "soothe the spirit" (Shen) to calm the mind, aid mental relaxation, ease restlessness and reduce excess nervous energy.

In a nutshell, the goal of this dynamic approach is to calm the "wired" nervous energy while simultaneously rejuvenate the "tired" energy reserves.

What sets our formulas apart is the potency. Most liquid medicines you find on the shelf are tinctures (1:2 or 1:5) not extracts (1:1 or 1.5:1) with their strengths varying widely. Core Botanicals has developed a special dual-phase extraction system to produce a 1.5:1 extract strength that’s three times the potency of a 1:2 tincture. This means you’re getting three times the dry herb equivalence per mL, compared to many leading brands of 1:2 strength liquid medicines.

So, when you’re stuck in a stress cycle, it’s important to take the right herbs at a dose that can actually “move the needle”. I've also found that fresh air, moderate exercise and meditation support herbal medicines that regulate and rejuvenate your nervous system. A simple approach is to get outside and breath in a dose Nature’s most effective tonic combination: fresh air and sunshine. Research demonstrates this can have positive effects on moods and wellbeing by boosting blood oxygen and Vitamin D levels.

Paul’s Clinical Tip: If you find yourself "spiralling" in the mid-afternoon, that’s usually when your cortisol is fluctuating. Try a dose of STRESDEFEN around 3 PM instead of drinking coffee or coke (both caffeine hits) to help reduce that afternoon brain fog and energy slump. Also, try another dose around 9 PM to get you ready for sleep and prevent the "second wind" that keeps you awake.

To your health,
Paul Keogh
Founder, Core Botanicals