Re: CS>DMSO and ChagaI have been intrigued with the chaga fungi as well, but I have yet to find one growing. Birches are not that common in my region. I see no reason why DMSO could not extract its components as well as the traditional ethanol menstruums. The only logical thing is for you to try both and see what you think. That is what I do. I tincture most all herbs in both DMSO or ethanol and use and compare the two. I have yet to be disappointed with DMSO tinctures. In many cases, the DMSO tincture seems a richer tincture and just as effective, if not more so. Certainly if you are aining at a topical medicaiton, DMSO is far superior to an ethanol one! It particularly produces a nice bee propolis tincture as compared to ethanol.
Generally, DMSO is considered to dissolve about almost everything. There does seem to be some exceptions. Amino acids, dipeptides and some other similar zwitterionic compounds, greasy hydrocarbons can all prove a problem for DMSO. DMSO will not absorb molecules with a molecular weight over 1000---but then, most of the time, large molecules are poorly absorbable in the biologic being any way. Drugs which will not dissolve: chloroquine diphosphate, ciprofloxacin (some of the other fluoroquinolines as well) and drugs with quaternary amines. A large majority of compounds seen to best be dissolved in 1:4 water:DMSO mixtures. doug ----- Original Message ----- Peter, This may be best answered by Doug, Malcolm or Renee who have more tincture experience than I. The Chaga mushroom looks very interesting. Tincturing of muchrooms is common and in fact my first tincture was of a fungus because of the high cost of the commercial tincture. One problem of tincturing is determining the type of solvent the targeted substances are soluble in. Generally I prefer to extract all the components within an herb so I use an alcohol tincture that should extract both water and oil soluble components. More recently I have also used DMSO to help increase the boiavailibility of some substances that have a low bioavailibility. Also some substances are more soluble in DMSO although some are not. Finding the solubility of all the individual components within a plant is difficult if not sometimes impossible. Up till recently I used a water extraction, decoction, or alcohol or DMSO tincture. Lately I have been considering alcohol with DMSO in a single tincture but I don't for sure that that it is better. In answer to your question, DMSO can improve bioavailability esp with substances that have a lower biiavailability normally. It may not always be necessary but it won't hurt that I know of. I think that it might be good to use with Chaga given the large number of substances contained in it. - Steve N
