Herbs & Extracts

Herbs and extracts are plants and their extracts, which have been appreciated by people around the world for hundreds of thousands of years, due to the valuable composition and richness of active substances.

What are herbs?

Herbs are, according to the definition, plants, which contain active substances, can affect metabolism and those, which can provide herbal raw materials. These are primarily annual and biennial herbaceous plants, but this group can also include other plants, e.g. perennials.

Herbs may contain vitamins, macro- and microelements, as well as numerous substances such as mucous compounds, organic acids, saponin compounds, glycosides, essential oils, flavone or tannin compounds.

It is worth remembering that herbs have accompanied people for several thousand years, and many plant raw materials used in ancient times are known and used to this day.

Extracts - what is it?

Extract is from the Latin language extractum, that is, what is extracted. It is a solution of chemical compounds, an extract of herbal plants, which contain active substances.

Extracts can be obtained from various parts of plants e.g. leaves, flowers or stalks. Their release takes place by extraction, i.e. the extraction of the desired component by diffusion.

Two types of extracts can be distinguished, namely:

concentrated extracts in which the concentration of the ingredient may be higher than naturally occurring,
ordinary extracts in which the concentration of the desired component may be similar to that, which occurs in nature.

Plant extracts, as well as herbs, can have a lot of valuable properties, all thanks to the content of active substances. The extracts include: polyphenols, flavonoids, essential oils and vitamins.

Popular herbs and extracts

Herbs and extracts can be used as ingredients of many different products incl. in cosmetics as elements of lotions, tonics, creams or as dietary supplements.

The most popular herbs, which can be commonly used include: nettle, chamomile, hypericum, plantain, peppermint, dandelion or yarrow and milk thistle.

Among the frequently found extracts, however, we can distinguish i.a. extract of burdock, calendula, aloe vera, lavender, sage, horsetail or chamomile.