Category:Bitters

A bitter is a herbal medicine whose principal pharmacological action is the stimulation of digestive secretion through activation of the bitter-taste receptors (the TAS2R family) on the tongue, on the gastric mucosa, and on the pancreatic islet. The bitter-tonic tradition is among the oldest in continuous use in European herbal medicine: the small dose of an intensely bitter plant taken fifteen to thirty minutes before a meal stimulates salivary, gastric, and pancreatic secretion through the cranial-nerve-mediated bitter-taste reflex, with corresponding improvement in appetite, dyspepsia, and post-prandial digestive function. The clinical use is documented in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman medicine and was codified into the modern Western herbal tradition through the British clinical herbalists and the American Eclectic dispensatories.

The molecular pharmacology of the bitter-taste reflex is well-established. The TAS2R bitter-taste receptors, originally identified on the taste buds of the tongue, are expressed in enterochromaffin cells of the gastric and intestinal mucosa, in pancreatic islet cells, and in respiratory smooth muscle. Activation by bitter-tasting compounds produces vagal-mediated release of gastric acid, pepsinogen, and pancreatic enzymes (the appetite-and-digestion mechanism), of cholecystokinin (the satiety mechanism that has been proposed as an obesity-medicine target), and of insulin (the secretagogue mechanism that has been proposed for type-2 diabetes). The traditional pre-meal-bitter clinical practice is therefore mechanistically grounded.

The foundational bitters of Western practice are gentian (Gentiana lutea), the most-prescribed and the principal component of the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia bitter formulations; wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), the most intensely bitter and the historical absinthe component; dandelion (Taraxacum officinale root, the gentle and broadly applicable); artichoke leaf (Cynara scolymus; cross-listed under hepatoprotective herbs); quassia (Quassia amara); goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis; the Eclectic bitter-antimicrobial; cross-listed under antimicrobial herbs); bitter orange (Citrus aurantium); centaury (Centaurium erythraea); angelica (Angelica archangelica root). The classical European compound bitter is Swedish bitters (the Maria Treben formulation), and the proprietary digestive bitters (Underberg, Fernet-Branca, the various amaro formulations) preserve the same essential tradition in non-clinical use.

Gentian (Gentiana lutea), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale), artichoke leaf (Cynara scolymus), quassia (Quassia amara), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), centaury (Centaurium erythraea), angelica (Angelica archangelica), barberry (Berberis vulgaris), Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), hops (Humulus lupulus; cross-listed for sleep), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), and the bitter Asian medicines including Andrographis paniculata (the "king of bitters" of Ayurvedic and TCM use) and Coptis chinensis.

The boundary of this category is "herb taken in low pre-meal dose for digestive stimulation through the bitter-taste reflex." The bitter mineral medicines (the bitter salts) and the synthetic bitter compounds are not in this category. Bitters used for indications other than digestion (gentian as a febrifuge, hops as a sedative) are cross-listed where appropriate.

This category page is an encyclopedia article about its subject. The actual index of herbs belonging to the category is generated automatically by the wiki engine, from category-membership declarations on the individual herb pages, and appears at the foot of the page below the references.