The Benefits of Powdered Medicine

By Adam Tate
September, 2019
Powdered medicines have been used since antiquity. Powders have a number of benefits over other forms of administration and yet tend to be less commonly used by modern practitioners.

Some of the most wonderful formulas in the history of Traditional Medicine have been prepared as powders (or their offshoots such as Troches), and many cannot be directly converted into other forms such as Decoctions or Tinctures because of the medicines they contain.

Powders are economical, easy to administer, and therefore generally have a good patient compliance. Many powders contain expensive medicines, but given the low dose of powdered medicine, they can still be used with a cost of only perhaps a couple of dollars per day.

Powders are the ideal way to use expensive or ‘special’ medicines such as Saffron, Ginseng, Aloeswood, Pearl, Coral, Deer Horn etc. Some of these medicines such as the latter two are usually only used in powdered form.

Here, we will review the benefits of powders.

A review of the main benefits of Powdered Medicines:

1. Smaller Doses
2. The entire medicine is consumed, not an extract
3. Various medicines cannot be decocted or extracted with alcohol
4. Most suitable for expensive medicines
5. Cost effective
6. Easy for patients to take
7. Easy to Prepare and keep
8. The Medicine is Tasted
9. More environmentally friendly

Smaller Doses

Powders have a distinct advantage over any other form of herbal medicines as their dose is smaller. When compared to the same medicine administered in decoction form, a powdered medicine will often be used in a dose that 10–25% of the dose in decoction. This improves cost efficacy and is therefore better for expensive medicines. It is also better for treatment of the poor, and is more environmentally responsible when using herbs harvested from the wild.

The entire medicine is consumed, not an extract

Powders (and their secondary products such as troches and pills) are the best form to consume the entire medicine, as nature created it. Water and alcohol extractions extract certain elements more effectively, meaning that certain aspects are well represented in the finished product, while other aspects are poorly extracted and have poor representation. This also affects the ratio of active constituents in the medicine which could potentially affect therapeutic efficacy.

Various medicines cannot be decocted or extracted with alcohol

Powered Medicines were the preferred method of administering various medicines that are either unable to be decocted or tinctured, or are poorly extracted by water or alcohol. This especially includes mineral ingredients such as Earths, Amber, Pearl, Coral, Gems and various other minerals. Gums are also most commonly given in powders.

Most suitable for expensive medicines

Due to the smaller doses, expensive medicines are best given in powder form. Medicines like Ginseng, Saffron, Pearl, Aloeswood and Cordyceps are all best taken in powder due to the lesser doses required.

Cost effective

Due to the lower doses needed, powders are the most cost effective form of medicine. A formula that may cost $1–2 per day as a powder will cost at least $6–8 per day as a decoction. Formulas using cheap, common or wild harvested herbs can cost as low as 10–20 cents per dose. For charitable hospitals and clinics, Powders use less herbs and take less time to prepare than other forms of administration, increasing cost effectiveness.

Easy for patients to take

Powders are easy for patients to take, so compliance is good. A small jar of powder can be carried and taken with water wherever they are with no preparation needed. Taste is the only issue with some powders which can be negated by putting the powder in capsules or mixing with Honey. It is good to encourage patients to take the powder directly and to explain that even a very bitter powder becomes acceptable after perhaps a week of taking daily. Taste is regarded as important for clinical efficacy in Traditional Medicine.

Easy to Prepare and keep

Powders are fairly easy to prepare in general and will keep a year in most cases. This means a practitioner can easily make a couple of kilos of a formula quite quickly, and this will be enough for multiple patients over the next year. And due to the lower doses needed, it is easy to have a number of formulas pre-prepared which will not require much space. A busy practice that uses a lot of powdered formulas can spend a day every 3 to 4 weeks making powders. It is also easy and quick to prepare a powder specifically for a patient while they wait.

The Medicine is Tasted

Taste is a very important aspect of the working of herbal medicines. There is no more direct way to experience the exact taste as prepared by nature than a powder. Pills, capsules, syrups and electuaries all hide or mask the true taste. Water and alcohol extractions can change the taste when compare to taking the pure powder.

More environmentally friendly

The use of lower doses means less pressure on natural resources. Still many medicines in traditional medicine are primarily gathered from the wild. Some medicines are either endangered, or at risk of becoming endangered. If these are used, the use of powders is more responsible. In addition, with the growing number of people turning to traditional medicine, along with loss of natural habitat, we can expect greater stresses on natural resource in coming decades.

Downsides of Powders

Powders will not keep as well as raw herbs, so should not be made in amounts more than 6–12 months supply for a clinic. However, when kept in a cool, dark place in sealed jars, they still keep relatively well.

The only other real disadvantage is taste. Western people regularly have great trouble even with a little bitter due to the bitter taste being almost totally absent from the modern western diet. As stated above, this can be hidden by using capsules or making pills, or taking with honey. However, as per traditional belief, taste is an important aspect of the way medicines work so the patient should be encouraged to embrace the taste and get used to it excepting in herbs that are extremely bitter, and for young children for example.

Preparations secondary to Powders

Troches

Troches are just powders compressed into small discs, sometimes with the addition of a little liquid. They were primarily designed as a more practical way to keep and carry powders.

Pills

Pills are the formation of small balls of powdered medicines with either honey or some liquid to bind them together. In the Western tradition, Pills were most often purging medicines.

Tablets

Tablets are a newer invention not used in Traditional Medicine. A tablet is a powdered medicine compressed into a uniform shape, usually ovoid or or oblong. Most commonly an excipient is added.

Electuaries

Electuaries as semi-solid pastes. In the most basic form they are powders mixed with honey, a syrup or other liquid. A simple Electuary can be made by adding 1 part (by weight) of Powder to 3 parts of Honey (or Sugar Syrup). More complex versions involve making a concentrated decoction, forming a Syrup, then adding Powdered medicines and mixing well together.

Left: standard grinder used for powdering smaller quantities of herbs; Right: Hammer mill for continuous powdering

Equipment for Powdering

Apart from the following, a range of bowls, spoons or scoops, and of course clean and dry jars to keep the powders in.

Oven, Wok or Drier

Herbs invariably need drying before powdering. This can be achieved by sitting in the sun, drying for 30–60 minutes in a low oven (around 80 degrees but more or less depending on the herb), or gently dry stir-frying in a wok on low heat. The herbs, roots and barks should be friable and easily broken showing their low moisture content. In some cases, the herbs are heated until yellowed or scorched to enhance specific effects.

Mortar and Pestle

This is the traditional way to powder medicines, but is laborious and time-consuming.

Machinery

1. Grinder
Large grinders are commonly used to powder herbs. They are like kitchen blenders, but made of steel and are more powerful. They typically come in sizes of 100 grams to 1 kg (the amount of medicine they can powder at one time). There are larger versions available but generally are not as effective with this type of machinery. They are effective and relatively cheap, but they get hot after 1–2 minutes of continuous use.

2. Hammer Mill
Another type is a hammer mill which is larger but has the benefit of allowing continuous feeding. They are good if you need to make multiple kilos of one medicine but in my experience, even for a busy clinic, a 1 kg grinder is the best option.

Sieves

It is best to get a set of sieves that are graded from perhaps 10–150, and that can sit inside each other, the largest hole being at the top, the finest at the bottom. A 20, 30, and 60 will be enough to make small batches of half or 1 kilo. Extra sieves may be required for larger quantities.

Jars

Powdered herbs should be quickly stored in sealed jars to prevent absorbing moisture which will cause rapid deterioration.

Method of Powdering

1. Cleaning

Before powdering, medicines need to be prepared. Some require cleaning, for example removing stems, bark or stones from fruits. Any dirt, foreign material or admixture should be removed.

2. Preparing

Some medicines require preparation such as dry-roasting or carbonizing. Some medicine are prepared with vinegar, alcohol or other liquid. Large pieces or slices of medicine, or whole roots need to be cut and ensured to be adequately dried.

3. Drying:

The most important aspect of powdering is drying. Medicines must be thoroughly dried before they can be powdered. Even medicines that appear dry can have a lot of moisture content which will make powdering difficult and make the powder more prone to going off or rancid. This can be demonstrated by heating a root that appears dry when cold. It often becomes soft and flexible, and slightly spongy, showing residual moisture.

Usually different parts of a formula require different degrees of drying. Roots, barks and dried fruits require extra drying, seeds require greater or lesser drying according to size and type, while leaves, flowers and aromatics require little or no drying.

The best way to dry is to place medicines to be dried in a low oven (50–80 degrees C) for half–1 hour, then turn the oven off, leave the door ajar and leave until cool. At this time, leaves and flowers can be added to allow to cool with the other medicines. Medicines should be dry enough to break without bending. Seeds and nuts with a high oil content require gentle but thorough drying, as these were long known to make a powder go rancid.

Another way is to leave the medicines on trays outside in the shade on a warm day. Non-aromatic medicines with a higher moisture content can be dried in direct sun for a few hours.

Yet another way in dry-frying. Roots, barks, seed and other more moist medicines are added to a dry wok over a low heat, constantly stirring. The medicines are heated until hot, but able to be touched with the hands. It will be noted that medicines that seemed dry often feel moist and become soft when heated, indicating residual moisture content. These require longer heating. In some cases, heating, then cooling, and reheating, repeating several times, is required. When the major medicines to be dried are adequately dry, the heat can be turned off, and other medicines such as leaves, flowers and smaller seeds can be put on top of the other medicines and all left until cool, the rising heat of the lower medicines helping drying the medicines placed on top.

Some medicines were dried specially. For example, if Saffron requires drying to form a powder, it was placed in a paper bag or between sheets of paper and left to carefully dry in a warm place such as by a fire or in a alow oven.

4. Powdering

Medicines can be powdered separately or together. The best way is to powder each medicine separately, then accurately weigh each medicine and mix well together.

However, in practice, usually we will powder a formula together. In such cases, bigger, harder medicines are powdered first. Once they have been reduced, herbs, flowers, and seeds can be added. These are then again powdered together.

In powdering with machinery, heat is quickly generated. The heat can destroy the medicine or soften oils and resins and form clumping. Therefore, if heat is generated, the machinery should be turned off and cooled before continuing.

When modern grinders are used, they can generally be used for only a minute or 2 before turning off and letting it cool before turning on again. At this time, the powder can be sifted to remove the fine powder from the coarse powder which is powdered again once the grinder has cooled.

5. Sifting

It is well worth having a set of graded sieves that fit together. This way, we can separate the finest powder quickly, and turn the larger particles for extra powdering. Once all has been reduced, we may sieve all the powder again to create a fine and consistent powder. For herbs, size 60 is fine enough. Some medicines like nuts generally need to be sifted coarser, perhaps 30. Stones such as pearl should be sifted finer, perhaps 100.

Note that there will usually be wastage when we powder. Often 5%, sometimes as much as 10%. Herbs such as Licorice and Astragalus often leave a fine fiber which doesn’t powder easily, and some hard roots seem to always have a portion which wont reduce fine enough to pass through the finest sieve.

For the finest quality powders for use in the clinic, double sifting with achieve a better product.

6. Addition of special medicines

Special medicines like Ginseng, Saffron, Pearl and other stones, as well as potent or toxic medicines are often added separately at the end. This ensure no wastage and regulates dose.

Other Notes

Seeds and Nuts

Powdered formulas with a high proportion of seeds were often kept made up without the seeds, the seeds being beaten and prepared when required. This was especially done with some of the formulas containing the 4 Cold Seeds (Melon, Pumpkin, Gourd and Cucumber). It was common for apothecaries to keep the remaining formula prepared as a powder, and to add 1 dram of freshly powdered seeds to 1 ounce of the remaining already-prepared powder. This is because the moisture in the seeds can make the whole powder go rancid.
One method, often employed in TCM, is to gently dry-fry the seeds until the begin to yellow. This will reduce the moisture of the seeds thus reducing the chance of going rancid, but it also lessens the moistening, Yin-nourishing effect in many of the seeds, although it doesn’t destroy it entirely. It also facilitates powdering.

Time of preparation

Powders are best prepared in warm, dry weather. Ambient moisture in the air during wet or cloudy weather was long known to make inferior products which would not keep as well.

Keeping

Powders need to be stored in clean, dry glass or plastic jars. The air should not be moist when the are put in for storage or the powder may go off quickly. Powders are best stored in cool, dark and dry areas. Most powdered formulas will happily keep for 12–18 months, sometimes longer. Powders that have a high oil content, such as formulas with the Cold Seeds in them will go rancid quickly. In such cases, the other herbs are kept in powdered form, the Cold Seeds being powdered separately and mixed when dispensed.

Wonderful Formulas

Powders have been used in all systems, however the western tradition especially used powders and had some of the most elegant powdered formulas. Of the western tradition, it was the formulas of the Arabs and Persians that were most effective and used. The powdered formulas of Mesue and Nicholas in particular, are worth of study.

Conclusion

Powdered medicines are still very relevant today, and many of the greatest and most useful formulas in Traditional Medicine were designed to be used in powdered form. This is especially so in the Western Tradition.

The ability to combine vegetable, animal and mineral medicines, as well as the relatively smaller doses used when compared to dosage forms such as decoctions make powdered medicines relatively affordable with good patient compliance.

Benefits of Powdered Medicine