Bioforce, the Fresh Herb Company

Bioforce, UK leader for Herbal Medicines, was established in 1987.  Based in Irvine, Scotland, it is at the forefront of Phytotherapy, the science of using herbs to maintain health and influence illness.

The Bioforce parent company, based in Roggwil, Switzerland where our herb farms are situated, was founded in 1963 by Alfred Vogel, the eminent Swiss Naturopath.  The herbs used to produce Bioforce products are grown using a strict organic protocol, mainly in the fertile conditions of Roggwil, allowing the company to exert complete control over the cultivation of plants from planting to harvesting.

All Bioforce products are manufactured under GMP protocols and stringent quality control tests are carried out at many stages of the growth and manufacture.  In addition, a complete range of tests is used to ensure that the end products obtained are of the best quality.

The fresh herb tinctures and tablets are transported to Scotland and bottled in the modern factory in Irvine, which operates to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. They are distributed throughout the UK and Eire.  Bioforce's flagship product, Echinaforce, is the best selling herbal cold and flu remedy in the UK.

Fresh Herbs and Holistic Standardisation

Holistic Standardisation is the process built into production and quality control procedures to ensure that we can obtain a consistent and reproducible level of active ingredients in each dose of herb.

Two types of standardisation are used in herbal preparations. 
Chemical standardisation of a herb focuses on one component.  This method of standardising a herb has been described as 'a halfway house between an authentic herbal medicine and an orthodox drug.  Many view it as being a move away from traditional herbal preparations' (Editorial, The European Journal of Herbal Medicine, vol. 4 Issue 1).

Bioforce uses Holistic Standardisation to produce its fresh herb tinctures. This method of manufacturing, whilst more complicated, takes into account ALL the active components present in each herb.

Alfred Vogel believed in the importance of maintaining the natural balance of the herb. The smaller components present in each herb were judged to be just as important as what would appear to be the 'main' active components.  He believed that tampering with this balance produced herbal preparations that were less effective.

One can easily understand why herbal remedies, prepared from freshly harvested herbs, are better as the natural active ingredients are 'captured' and preserved before they have had a chance to deteriorate. Other advantages are less obvious but equally important. Dried herbs lose some of their activity when heat is applied during the desiccation process. This loss is accelerated when herbs are stored prior to processing, during which time they can face problems arising from infestation by rodents, insects, and fungal infections.

The use of fresh herb manufacturing techniques, coupled with ethanol extraction which ensures that both the water and fat soluble components in each plant are extracted in a proper balance, ensures that the correct herb profile is maintained. The use of modern analytical techniques ensure that we can check the whole 'signature' of the plant, rather than just one active ingredient. This is in contrast to other extraction agents such as glycerol, which is hydrophilic, favouring the water-soluble components of the plant.

Herbal tinctures are very easily absorbed by the body, hence the bio-availability is the best you can find. Unlike tablets or capsules, which have firstly to be 'digested' or broken down by the gastric juices before their active components are released, tinctures are absorbed quickly and easily. For those with poor digestive function, it is not unknown for tablets to pass straight through the intestinal tract and into the toilet!

 

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