Much like pharmacy medicines, a preservative is a necessary part of homeopathic remedies, particularly in warmer climates. Many products, including herbs and flower essences, have an alcohol base and these products are regulated by the TGA.
This small amount of alcohol is also an integral part of the action of a homeopathic remedy, ie how it works, and while some practitioners and brands have chosen to change to other preservatives, with our homeopathics at Elements of Health we want your remedies to work as intended and we can’t guarantee that will be the case if we change from the traditional format.
The alcohol in our remedies is as low as permissible – a mix of 15% grape alcohol and 5% brandy (for taste) – but high enough to stop your remedy growing floaties if someone touches the dropper to their mouth and puts it straight back in the bottle.
Vegetable Glycerin
Many brands and products (mainly herbals and medications for kids) are changing to glycerin as a preservative.
Glycerin is a sweet, syrupy liquid that is derived from vegetable or soy bean oil, coconut or palm oil, and similar but produced in a way that creates a type of sugar alcohol.
It’s not as shelf stable as higher quality alcohol, so a much higher percentage is required in the product as a preservative.
Glycerin (aka glycerol) is produced by heating fats/oils under pressure or with a strong alkali, causing it to split from fatty acids. Sounds a bit nasty to us!
Below is a useful discussion I came across recently about alcohol in products for children, in this case in relation to herbal tinctures which typically would have a higher concentration of alcohol in the formulation than a homeopathic remedy.
Do note their comparison between the amount of alcohol in a herbal tincture and in a glass of apple juice!
“A question that we frequently receive is whether alcohol based tinctures can be used for children and the answer is yes – in very small doses at the parents’ discretion. “Typical doses of herbal medicines for children aged 6–12 years contain 0.07–0.18 g ethanol, which is equivalent to, e. g., 31–75 ml of apple juice (with an ethanol content of 0.3 %), and is eliminated from the blood within 1–3 min. These doses lead to a maximum blood ethanol content of 0.008–0.015 g/l, calculated under assumption of the worst case scenario.” (Reference)“
Is it ok to give drops to a baby?
Of course, as a homeopathic it is fine to give drops to a baby at any age, right from birth, as long as you follow the dosages below and stick to the recommendations on the product and on the label.
The amount of alcohol per dose is small, particularly for babies and children. For example 20% of one drop is the amount ingested for a baby under 6 months old.
To maintain the integrity of the product, do ensure that if the dropper touches the mouth it is rinsed in boiling water before returning to the bottle.
See below if you would like to dilute your liquid remedies or use as a spray.
Dose for liquid remedies
1 drop for under 6 months of age
2 drops for under 12 months
4 drops for over 12 months
Using your drops as a spray
We now stock sprays that fit our 25ml, 30ml and 50ml brown bottles so that you can also use any drops you may have bought as a spray applied to the wrists, soles of the feet or top of the head.
One spray is sufficient for a dose.
This is a great option for using your home remedies, but I do not generally recommend if we are doing a constitutional (individualised) prescription. In this case we will discuss options for potency of the remedy and the best format for your child.
Diluting the Remedy
If you are concerned about giving the drops to a baby too often, you can reduce the alcohol further as follows:
- Put your drops in 1/4 glass of water
- Stir vigorously with a teaspoon (this activates the remedy in the water)
- The water is now your remedy
- Give 1/2 teaspoon (0-12 months) or 1 teaspoon (over 12 months) and repeat for each dose
What if I can’t have alcohol?
If you cannot have alcohol for personal reasons, you can purchase most remedies in sucrose pilules, the other traditional format.
Reference: Alcohol vs Glycerin