Herbal Action: Alterative (Blood Purifiers)

Also known as: blood purifiers, depuratives, or anti-scorbutics

Alteratives gradually restore healthy body function by helping it assimilate nutrients, eliminate waste, and correct underlying imbalances. Rather than working quickly, they slowly and steadily cleanse the bloodstream while toning the organs responsible for clearing impurities from it.

What they do:

• Improve overall health through better nutrient absorption

• Cleanse the blood and support the organs of elimination

• Gradually correct impure conditions of the blood

• Promote the release of toxins and waste

• Support the eliminative organs: liver, kidneys, lymph, bowels, lungs, spleen, and skin

The best alteratives aren't herbs at all

The most powerful alteratives are the basics: good nutrition, pure air, healthy lifestyle, and avoiding excess and toxins in the first place. Herbs can support and aid the body's natural cleansing process — but they work best alongside these foundations, not as a replacement for them.

How they're used:

Alteratives are meant to be taken consistently over months or even years for gradual detoxification and purification.

When to consider them:

When the cause of an illness is hard to pinpoint, blood toxicity is worth suspecting — especially in chronic, mysterious, or wasting conditions that haven't responded to other approaches.

Herbs

• Alfalfa

• Red clover (clover family)

• Burdock

• Capsicum

• Cleavers

• Dandelion

• Elder

• Nettles

• Yellow Dock

• Barberry

• Bayberry

• Black Walnut

• Blessed Thistle

• Blue Flag

• Cascara Sagrada

• Chaparral

• Chickweed

• Comfrey

• Culver’s Root

• Devil’s claw

• Echinacea

• Elecampane

• Figwort

• Garlic

• Ginseng

• Goldenseal

• Gotu Kola

• Heartsease

• Hyssop

• Kelp

• Licorice root

• Marshmallow

• Oregon grape root

• Plantain

• Poke

• Prickly ash

• Red raspberry

• Rhubarb

• St. John’s wort

• Sarsaparilla

• Sassafras

• Violet

• Wood betony

• Yarrow