I recently had an opportunity to talk to Larry Poirier and Lucille Perreault PhD, the current owners of Essiac from Canada International™. They acquired the company about a year and a half ago and are deeply committed to ensuring the brand continues to thrive. The company offers the original Essiac dietary supplements, which are backed by extensive scientific studies and available as an herbal powder, herbal extract, and vegetable capsule.
A little background on the product.
Essiac is a brand that many in the natural products space are well familiar with. In Canada and 52 countries around the world their brand is the only Essiac allowed to be sold. Unfortunately in the USA that does not apply, so you need to look for their classic packaging that includes an image of the products founder Rene Caisse, and her picture is still on every one of our bottles that they produce. “That’s a big indicator for a lot of people that we are the original one,” said Dr. Perreault.
Rene Caisse’s spent her lifetime perfecting this formula, and we’re lucky enough to be able to move forward with that and respect her and her legacy of healing. The product was first introduced in 1922 by Caisse a Canadian Nurse who learned of the remedy from Ontario’s Ojibwa nation. Their formulation consists of four whole plant sourced™ ingredients: burdock root, sheep sorrel, slippery elm, and Indian rhubarb, honoring Indigenous wisdom, and providing a solution that allows people to restore life and legacy, ultimately creating a world in which we can all thrive, overcome barriers, and triumph. It has been shown to enhance the immune system, reduce oxidization, and promote detoxification.
Although Larry and Lucille shared several peer reviewed studies regarding some specific application of Essiac, what they were most excited about is the holistic-like wellness journey that most people would take when using the product. Using the product from a preventative viewpoint, because, for example, the antioxidant application reduces oxidation and it has many important properties of the plant and of really boosting your immune system. And that’s really a big benefit of what they see.
We also discussed immunity support provided and because of its strength in antioxidants, it does reduce inflammation and there is some of the ingredients in Essiac that have been looked at with preventing cytokine storms, which are something that does happen during COVID, which is basically the body’s overreaction to the infection. This makes it a good product to take every day.
The product is still available as a traditional tea powder and an alcohol-based tincture extract. We then took all the alcohol out, dried it, and that became the extracted vegetable capsules. And in June they will be releasing another new product. It is interesting to see the excitement that Larry and Lucille have for their brand- stay tuned to learn more.
By Dick Benson Editor in Chief
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