[little_bear]

Hi everyone!
I was just wondering what would be the required dosage for dong quai before has an effect? I am asking this as I will be taking some hair and skin tonic capsules which contain lots of different herbs, but the only one i am familiar with is dong quai and licorice. Here is the list:

Polygonum multiflorum (PhytofolTM) 1000mg
Paeonia lactiflora 700mg
Rehmannia glutinosa 500mg
Angelica polymorpha (Dong Quai) 425mg
Cuscuta hygrophilae 425mg
Psoralea corylifolia 425mg
Ligusticum wallichii 350mg
Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Licorice) 175mg.

The skin tonic also has the dong quai so it would be total of 950mg of dong quai. I am just worried as i am relatively young (19.5 yrs) and read here that taking herbs before 21 yrs could stunt my growth. And so i was about to purchase bovine ovary (Ultra Breast) but apparently you also can't take herbs with that. Sorry for the long post, but if anyone could give me some advice that would be great!

Thanks!

[surferjoe2007]

According to animal studies at pubmed.gov dong quai is effective at the human equivalent of 1000-2000 mg, with more effect at the higher dose, yet it has zero effect at 4000 mg.

I am not familiar with the other herbs either, except licorice. A quick search did reveal that like dong quai they are all Chinese, and that some or all of them are found at pubmed.gov. Try searching pubmed.gov, find the mg/kg used in each study, multiply that by your body weight in kg, and that's how many mg you need. I will say that most pills contain around 500 mg because that's what fits in a pill. The amount actually required tends to be much more. If the amount is crazy you may look for an extract or try a different herb.

Any herb that affects your hormones could disrupt your normal growth before the age of 26. But normal growth is much slower after age 17 for the average woman. If you suspect you are finishing late then you should avoid all herbs. Maybe even until 26 you should. The strongest substances meaning pueraria mirifica, progesterone cream and bovine ovary would cause the greatest disruption. Red clover or flax can block your own estrogen. Fennel, anise, licorice or any herb with a prolactin effect could throw you off balance if taken for a long period of time. You may want to avoid all of those too. Assuming the rest of your development until 26 is very little you are probably ok taking other minor herbs, but I can't say I know enough to know for sure. It is at your own risk.