Definition: Digestive Tonic

A digestive tonic within herbalism is usually a bitter tasting herb or an herb that is both bitter and sweet tasting; it improves the digestion of food and movement of food and accumulated gasses out-of the digestive tract. It does so by increasing the secretion of stomach acid and bile for more complete digestion and assimilation of foods, especially meat, dairy, eggs, and nuts.

Digestive tonic herbs include:

• Hawthorn berry
• Fennel seed
• Ginger root
• Turmeric root
• Angelica root
• Barberry root, rhizome, and berry
• Oregon grape root and rhizome
• Gentian root
• Citrus peel
• American ginseng
• Panax ginseng