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What is it?

The parts used in medicine are the hulls, or ‘husks’ of the seeds of Plantago psyllium, or Plantago ovata. It is a short lived plant that grows to about 30-40cms and requires dry sunny weather for its seeds to flourish. Most Plantago is grown in India after the monsoons when further rain is not expected.

There are two main forms of Plantago, usually called Psyllium, on the market. You have to look closely at them to see the difference. The first is a well ground powder, the second is much rougher and you can see the individual ‘husks’. They both work but the Plantago husks are the better of the two.

How has it been used?

Plantago has been used for many centuries as a safe and natural method to improve bowel health. People with altered bowel function, either constipation or diarrhoea, can benefit from Plantago.

Plantago is widely used in pharmaceutical preparations as a bulk fibre (e.g Metamucil, Bonvit, Fybogel) however the large percentage of additive sugars and flavouring chemicals in these products could be said to be creating a second problem whilst fixing the first.

In recent times a lot of attention has been given to Plantago’s ability to reduce blood cholesterols and also to help with weight loss through its bulking effects in the stomach.

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Personal experiences

I have used truckloads of Plantago husks in my years in practice. That may not be as much of an exaggeration as it sounds. A lot of people in the modern world do not have good bowel health. Maybe this is because we are not eating enough fibre but it may equally just be because we don’t move around in general as much as we need to. I almost never use any kinds of laxatives in my work but I do use a lot of Plantago. It works like a kind of ‘rough sponge’ massaging through the entire bowel, cleansing the walls and moving any stuck material down and out.

Most importantly Plantago in no way causes the bowel to become dependent on it being there to work.

One of the quirky things about Plantago is that it can also be used in cases of mild but chronic diarrhoea to help the bowel get back to normal. How something can help both constipation and diarrhoea is worth thinking about. Plantago clearly has a gentle and normalising effect on the bowel. It is unable to be absorbed so however much you put in is all going to come out, but in the process it seems to make the bowel work better, regardless of what was going wrong in the first place.

My practice in using Plantago husks (these levels may not work so well if using the psyllium powder) is to prescribe a dose range of 2-4 tsps, as heaped as they can be, 1-2 times each day. This means that a person may take as little as 2 tsps a day all the way up to 8 tsps a day. I usually recommend starting with 2 tsps twice a day and then to go up or down from there according to what happens next. The thing with Plantago is that of course you get to find out how well it is working pretty quickly by what happens when it comes out the other end. If the problem is not obviously responding within 48 hours then you have to go up to 3 tsps, and then possibly up to 4 tsps twice a day if necessary. Even the worst cases of disordered bowels have been seen to respond so long as the dose is sufficient.

How to take it

If you can drink a glass of water reasonably quickly then you will have no problem taking Plantago husks.

~ The technique is as follows

Put your Plantago husks in a clean, dry glass. The more tsps. you have to take the bigger the glass needs to be. Run the tap to get the water to a temperature that you know you can easily drink quickly then slowly fill the glass whilst you are stirring in the husks. Ideally as soon as the glass is full you have already stirred in the husks and so can straight away drink it all down in one go.

The less time the Plantago spends in the water before you take it the better.

It is important that you drink plenty of water overall while you are using Plantago.

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Historical notes on Plantago

Plantago seeds are often found in grain seeds and that is how they have spread all over the world. It was called "White man's footprint" by Native Americans because it sprouted up wherever European settlers had spent any amount of time. It was also called "Soldier's herb" due to its use as a field dressing. The "waybread" mentioned in the Nine herbs charm of Wodin or Odin is believed to be plantago.

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