At Lost Empire Herbs we have mostly powders available. But our tincture line is growing (especially for VIPs). And a new capsule machine is being built out in our warehouse meaning more capsules of our powders will be available in the future.
I wanted to take a moment and break down the unique set of advantages and disadvantages for each of these three main forms you see available: powders, capsules, and tinctures.
Powders
Pros:
- Versatility: Can be mixed into drinks, smoothies, or foods.
- Cost-Effective: Typically cheapest per dose compared to other forms.
- No Additional Ingredients: Pure form without additives or fillers that may be found in capsules. (Some of our powders still have maltodextrin used to make the powder form. Be on the lookout for an upcoming article about that.)
- Customizable Dosage: Allows for easy adjustment of dosage.
- Taste: You taste the herb which is helpful for its effects. (See this article on The Five Elements and Five Tastes for understanding.)
Cons:
- Taste: While the taste is beneficial, many are also unpleasant which can stop people from taking them.
- Inconvenience: Taking it requires measuring out the appropriate dose and often mixing it into something. This is harder to do on the go especially with larger doses.
- Storage: Can be sensitive to moisture and heat and may clump or degrade if not stored properly.
- Digestion: Some people have issues with digestion of some of the herbs. This seems to be a growing issue due to gut permeability and inflammation due to dietary insults.
Capsules
Pros:
- Convenience: Easy to take, pretty much anytime and anywhere if you have a drink to wash them down.
- Taste: Bypasses the sometimes gnarly taste issues of the herbs.
- Pre-measured Dosage: No need to measure out individual doses.
- Shelf Stability: Generally stable and has a predictable shelf life.
Cons:
- Cost: More expensive than powder form due to the machine encapsulation process.
- Additional Ingredients: Most capsules may contain fillers, binders, flow agents or other additives. (We do our best to limit these but for example our Tongkat Ali capsules have rice flour in them.)
- Dosage Limitation: Fixed dose per capsule, making it less flexible if you want to adjust the dosage. (Also it would take about 18 capsules to equal a Pine Pollen 3 tablespoon megadose. In such a case the powder is just easier.)
- Digestibility: Some people may find it hard to digest not just the powder but the capsule material, which is typically HPMC. (We currently use Pullulan for ours.)
- No Taste: While bypassing the taste is convenient, it does stop the body from knowing what it is swallowing. We have heard reports from numerous customers that they got results with powders that they didn’t with capsules.
Tinctures
Pros:
- Rapid Absorption: Enters the bloodstream quickly, often sublingually (under the tongue) thus bypassing digestion.
- Ease of Use: Can easily be taken anywhere, anytime, even easier than capsules. Since the bottles are small they travel well too.
- Long Shelf Life: The alcohol base acts as a preservative, giving tinctures a longer shelf life than other forms. In a dark glass, a tincture really shouldn’t go bad even after a decade!
- Potency: Often more concentrated and potent than other forms.
- Taste: Again, there are benefits to tasting the herbs. Some of them like Blue Vervain, for example, basically require it for the effects. Generally the taste of tinctures is easier to handle than powders because of the liquid form.
- Customizable Dosage: Allows for easy adjustment of dosage, even better than powders by just a drop at a time.
Cons:
- Taste: Alcohol-based tinctures can have a strong and sometimes unpleasant taste.
- Alcohol Sensitivity: Not suitable for those who are avoiding alcohol 100%. Other options like glycerites, acetracts are available. Also alcohol can be steamed off by adding it to a hot drink.
- Cost: Tinctures can be pricier due to the extraction process.
Each of these forms of supplements will cater to different needs and preferences depending on which pros and cons stand out to your situation.
Particular Cases
And that’s just the generalities! For certain herbs certain forms may be better than others for certain effects. Like with Pine Pollen, the tincture draws out the phytoandrogens and makes these available to the bloodstream without digestion. We see this as more directly testosterone boosting, while the powder is more generally hormone supporting. More details on Pine Pollen Powder vs. Tinctures here.
There are less noticeable differences, but we also cover Nettle Root Powder vs. Tinctures here.
In all cases, different people may find one version works better than the other for them. That, and many of our customers take multiple forms at the same time too. In other words it doesn’t have to be an either/or decision.
My Personal Experience
After working with herbs for many, many years as well as spending far too much time reading scientific studies I’m coming to the following conclusion.
Powders and capsules generally deliver more biochemical constituents of the herbs.
Tinctures are more of a bioenergetic delivery system.
The amount of compounds, measurable by scientific analysis, in a dropper is generally far tinier than what you’d even get in just a half teaspoon of powder.
Yes, there is the sublingual absorption with tinctures that bypasses digestion, but to me, and granted I am energetically sensitive to such things, I feel the effects immediately upon taste because there is an energetic transfer going on.
Thus, I personally am much more of a tincture person. I have hundreds of them around my house (too many really!). I take them throughout the day depending on what I’m looking for. I love to be intuitive with them in this way.
Of course, I still take capsules and powders. I see these more as my foundation and use them where they’re built into my routine, such as my herbs I add to coffee.
The good news is that, though you may have a preference, all the options are available for you.
Did I miss any pros or cons? Let me know in the comments below.
And share your preferred format for herbs as well, plus any stories about success with one version over the other too.
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Carmelo says
Will you be offering a tincture for shilajit anytime soon? I’ve read elsewhere and for the reasons you stated that shilajit tinctures work very well and very easy to take with you.
Also would it be beneficial put Shilajit, Ashwagandha, Tongkat Ali, together in one product? If so would this mixture be better in a powder, tablet, or tincture? Thanks
Logan Christopher says
We briefly had a liquid shilajit, though it wasn’t a normal tincture. The material unfortunately doesn’t work for a regular tincture. We do have some experiments going again to make this a more workable option especially with formulation with other herbs.
Yes, those herbs would combine nicely. The Shilajit powder makes it easier to combine with other powders and can then be put in capsules if desired.