# Herbal supplements in Spain



## Fenoxielo (Feb 23, 2011)

Hello everyone,

Back in the States, I use a lot of alternative medicine— herbs, homeopathy, etc.— along with nutritional supplements. In the googling I've done trying to find where I can get stuff like that here in Madrid, it seems like "suplementos nutricionales" or "suplementos de nutrición" is used more for fitness/bodybuilding supplements (protein powders, steroids), so what can I search for (or better yet, where can I go) to get herbs and nutritional supplements/vitamins?

Thanks!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Fenoxielo said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Back in the States, I use a lot of alternative medicine— herbs, homeopathy, etc.— along with nutritional supplements. In the googling I've done trying to find where I can get stuff like that here in Madrid, it seems like "suplementos nutricionales" or "suplementos de nutrición" is used more for fitness/bodybuilding supplements (protein powders, steroids), so what can I search for (or better yet, where can I go) to get herbs and nutritional supplements/vitamins?
> 
> Thanks!


a lot of farmacias now stock supplements & herbal remedies

if you can't get what you want in an ordinary one - look for a _parafarmacia_


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> a lot of farmacias now stock supplements & herbal remedies
> 
> if you can't get what you want in an ordinary one - look for a _parafarmacia_


or Herbolario...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> or Herbolario...


I've never seen one of those.................


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Fenoxielo said:


> Hello everyone,
> where can I go to get herbs and nutritional supplements/vitamins?
> 
> Thanks!


The fruit and vegetable section in your local store!

Fresh food has all the vitamins your body needs, you don´t need supplements.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

Alcalaina said:


> The fruit and vegetable section in your local store!
> 
> Fresh food has all the vitamins your body needs, you don´t need supplements.


Its not vitamin pills he is after I think its herbal medicines he's into. Supplements have a place with some people with certain conditions, malnourished, poor diet, vegans amongst them.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> The fruit and vegetable section in your local store!
> 
> Fresh food has all the vitamins your body needs, you don´t need supplements.


But I expect he can make up his own mind about what to eat, drink, buy and how to medicate himself if needed...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> I've never seen one of those.................


Really?
There are 2 in our small town centre (I mean the centre is small, not the town) and are in the towns around too.
They sell at the most basic level herbs, but also different breads, cakes, essential oils, natural cometics, supplements, veggie food, ecological cleaning products...


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> or Herbolario...


Herboristería here.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Really?
> There are 2 in our small town centre (I mean the centre is small, not the town) and are in the towns around too.
> They sell at the most basic level herbs, but also different breads, cakes, essential oils, natural cometics, supplements, veggie food, ecological cleaning products...


our parafarmacias do all that except the food 


we do have one that has food too (actually I think I heard it might have closed down - I haven't walked down that particular street for a few weeks) but it was british run, and there wasn't a spanish word to be seen anywhere


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> our parafarmacias do all that except the food
> 
> 
> we do have one that has food too (actually I think I heard it might have closed down - I haven't walked down that particular street for a few weeks) but it was british run, and there wasn't a spanish word to be seen anywhere


Here we have the parafarmacias too in fact when I think of it between parafarmacia, chemists (huge number), herbolarios and Chinese shops that's about it!! Slight exaggaration, but...
Anyway, the parafarmacias are like less serious chemist's, more likely to have "gimmicky" stuff


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

Ban herbal remedies?
Europe to ban hundreds of herbal remedies - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent

The nanny state gone mad again.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here we have the parafarmacias too in fact when I think of it between parafarmacia, chemists (huge number), herbolarios and Chinese shops that's about it!! Slight exaggaration, but...
> Anyway, the parafarmacias are like less serious chemist's, more likely to have "gimmicky" stuff


I remeber when we first came here I went into one for some paracetamol

I couldn't speak Spanish then & really struggled to understand why I couldn't get any there

one of the assistants spoke a little English & managed to expalin that they only had herbal remedies

I nearly bought something too - until she told me the price - nearly 10 times the price of paracetamol


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

bob_bob said:


> Ban herbal remedies?
> Europe to ban hundreds of herbal remedies - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent
> 
> The nanny state gone mad again.


Just pulling a couple of quotes from your link:



> The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued more than a dozen safety alerts in the past two years, including one over aristolochia, a banned toxic plant derivative which caused kidney failure in two women.





> Sir Alasdair Breckenridge, chairman of the MHRA, said a register of herbalists was essential. "Just because something is natural doesn't mean it is safe," he said. "It is terribly important to have responsible people who have undergone training prescribing these products."


That's not nanny state, it's common sense. 

However I side with Edzard Ernst on this. Regulation will be counter productive as it will give herbal medicine and other complementary practices a veneer of respectability which they don't deserve unless they are demonstrated to be not only safe but effective.



> Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter, said proposals for regulation would be worthless unless they required practitioners to follow best evidence for the effects of their remedies. "It is in danger of regulating nonsense – and that must result in nonsense," he said.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

bob_bob said:


> Ban herbal remedies?
> Europe to ban hundreds of herbal remedies - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent
> 
> The nanny state gone mad again.


If by the nanny state you mean the EU because it's not a UK regulation, but an EU one.

When possible I use natural remedies and fully agree that there is a need for regulation in this area, but a ban isn't going to solve anything. It'll lead to job loss and to people sourcing remedies from the internet from unregulated companies outside the EU.
The market is there, so why not look for ways to expand it in a legal and sustainable fashion rather than close it down?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> But I expect he can make up his own mind about what to eat, drink, buy and how to medicate himself if needed...


That would be ideal, but unfortunately selling people dietary products they really don´t need is a multi-billion dollar industry, backed by a vast amount of misinformation promoted by their marketing departments.

People are persuaded to believe that topping up their diets with vitamins and supplements will make them healthier; it is simply not true (unless they have some diagnosed deficiency). You can get all you need from a normal balanced diet. The body doesn´t store vitamins; what it doesn´t use just get excreted in the urine. You might as will tip the pills (or your money) straight down the toilet.

As for herbal medicines - well, if the active ingredient actually works, it will already have been patented and sold by pharmaceutical companies.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> That would be ideal, but unfortunately selling people dietary products they really don´t need is a multi-billion dollar industry, backed by a vast amount of misinformation promoted by their marketing departments.


Agree with the above comment Alcalaina, but you said 



> you don´t need supplements


And that's where I think you don't need to comment. It's up to the OP. He was asking where to buy the stuff and either you know or you don't, but he wasn't asking for opinions on the herbal industry and whether we need to take supplements or not.

But we both know that we'll never "meet" on this subject. Which poster was it who said he enjoyed our "double act" 'cos we were backing each other up, remember?????


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Agree with the above comment Alcalaina, but you said
> 
> And that's where I think you don't need to comment. It's up to the OP. He was asking where to buy the stuff and either you know or you don't, but he wasn't asking for opinions on the herbal industry and whether we need to take supplements or not.
> 
> But we both know that we'll never "meet" on this subject. Which poster was it who said he enjoyed our "double act" 'cos we were backing each other up, remember?????


Just taking the opportunity to spread a bit of rational scepticism ...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Just taking the opportunity to spread a bit of rational scepticism ...


Fair enough!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

gus-lopez said:


> Herboristería here.


Sooo, I just had to go and look it up, and it's the same.

*herbolario**, ria**.* (Del lat. _herbŭla_, dim. de _herba_, hierba).


* 1. * adj. coloq. p. us. Botarate, alocado, sin seso. U. t. c. s.


* 2. * adj. ant. *herbario.*
http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltObt...A=herbario&SUPIND=0&CAREXT=10000&NEDIC=No#0_1
* 3. * m. y f. Persona que se dedica a recoger hierbas y plantas medicinales o que comercia con ellas.


* 4. * m. y f. Persona que tiene tienda en que las vende.


* 5. * m. Tienda en que se venden plantas medicinales.


* 6. * f. ant. Botánica aplicada a la medicina.


_Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados



_
*herboristería**.*

(Del fr. _herboristerie_).


* 1. * f. Tienda donde se venden plantas medicinales.


_Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados_


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

Hi, Fenoxielo,

It depends on what you're looking for, but as someone else mentioned the _herbolarios_ are a good start. These are small shops that sell specialty foods such as organic and gluten free but also herbal products, as the name implies. There is a good one in my neighborhood that carries loose organic herbal teas (like echinacea and elderberry), as well as flaxseed oil, natural toothpaste, and various vitamins, L-carnitine, amino acids, and such. If they don't stock something they will look it up or make a phone call to see if they can get it. Shop around, because not all herbolarios are equally helpful and some seem to be focused on weight loss rather than general health.

When searching online, try "complementos nutricionales." Larger supermarkets often have a section by this name, and you might find items such as evening primrose oil or magnesium, but mostly their supplements are for weight loss or have undesirable fillers and sweeteners. At least, that is my experience here in Castilla-La Mancha.

And as a last resort there is iHerb in California, although they only deliver by regular airmail to Spain (a flat $4), so there is the chance your parcel will be lost or that you would have to pay duty. So far I have placed one order with them while living in Spain, and it took 3 weeks, with no duty. I don't know if that's typical here. I have ordered from iHerb a lot while living elsewhere in the EU where tracking was available, and was always satisfied.

SNIP/


Good luck-
brangus




Fenoxielo said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Back in the States, I use a lot of alternative medicine— herbs, homeopathy, etc.— along with nutritional supplements. In the googling I've done trying to find where I can get stuff like that here in Madrid, it seems like "suplementos nutricionales" or "suplementos de nutrición" is used more for fitness/bodybuilding supplements (protein powders, steroids), so what can I search for (or better yet, where can I go) to get herbs and nutritional supplements/vitamins?
> 
> Thanks!


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

The body does indeed store fat soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E and K.



Alcalaina said:


> The body doesn´t store vitamins; what it doesn´t use just get excreted in the urine.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Brangus said:


> The body does indeed store fat soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E and K.


That's true - in fact it is possible to overdose on these with potentially harmful effects, like birth defects in pregnant women who take too much supplementary Vitamin A.

Vitamin C and most of the B's are water-soluble and surpluses are quickly excreted.

Nobody should suffer from Vitamin D deficiency in Spain - you get it from sunshine!


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