Active ingredients

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Active ingredients in herbs are substances in plants that have medicinal benefits. In herbal medicine the active ingredient is often unknown or requires other factors for a therapeutic effect.

Alkaloids

Main article: Alkaloids

Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms.

Anthraquinone

Main article: Anthraquinone

Anthraquinone is a building block of many dyes and is used in bleaching pulp for papermaking. Anthraquinones act to stimulate muscular contraction of the large intestine and therefore have a laxative effect.

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