Please can anyone help me to do a complicated search on the internet. I have tried many and various but can’t get much joy out of even the advanced options.
I am looking for the salicylate content within many plants. I want to know how much salicylate is in which plant by individual plant-name (and where in the plant it is found - this part may be intracellular or just be stated as root, seed etc)
I have read about boolean searches, and provided my mind is refreshed, I understand the basics but cannot get near what I want. (Only bout 5 results so far)
For example
A salicylate, salicin, salicylic acid, methyl salicylate, etc
WITHIN
B wheat (also known as Triticum vulgare, wheat germ, wheat germ oil, Triticum vulgare (germ) oil, etc etc)
Is there a ) boolean way of asking for ANY of the group A words AND Any of the group B words, but that Triticum and vulgare are both included as a phrase?
If I can work out HOW to ask this question of a search engine, I should be able to modify it for the symonyms of other plants.
I’d be really really really grateful for any help.
Can I ask what search engines you’ve used? That may help figure out how that engine wants these things asked.
Also, it seems like you’re looking for fairly academic information - do you have access to a public library online? (I know my local library has access to the Tennessee Electronic Library and that can be searched for better information).
Is there a ) boolean way of asking for ANY of the group A words AND Any of the group B words, but that Triticum and vulgare are both included as a phrase?
AH - and for this question, I’d use this:
(Group a (using OR to tie the terms together) AND (group B, again using OR) AND Triticum AND Vulgare
But again, it seems like you may need a more academic database here - Internet search engines may not be set up to act this way.
You can try here for my local library and click on the Tennessee electronic library link. The password is elvis.*
*Note to mods: This is free information available through the reference desk at any TN library, regardless of whether you are a state resident or not. If you think it should not be posted here, please delete it.
There may not be a way to find out what you want with one earth-shattering search string. If it was me, I’d start with a list of plants and do it one plant at a time. Like, “salicylate content willow”, “salicylate content maple”, “salicylate content oak”, and I’d expect to spend a lot of time browsing.
How many plants are we talking about?
Second the motion that there must be a technical database somewhere, not necessarily posted on the Internet, that has this information. Why do you need to know? What’s your field?
Firstly thanx for trying to help me, DDG (can I call you that?)
Why I want to know …
I take a medication for fibromyalgia. This works on receptors at kidney level. These receptors prefer salicylates, so if there any around they will ignore the medication.
All plants make salicylates. If plants are applied to the skin the salicylates will block my medication working. (I can eat plants because digestion processes them and, unless in therapeutic herbal concentrations the liver will knock 'em out)
Most topical products (including basics like shampoo, toothpaste etc) contain plant ingredients of one sort or another, sometimes these are just individual chemicals from a plant (this is fine) sometimes they are essential oils (including all the sal-compounds - not fine), sometimes they are processed into a wax and cannot be absorbed (so that’s fine too).
So … I would like to find out for myself (with a little help from here, with the search engines) which plants contain how much, and if it is relevant to the part of the plant in a product. It is made more complicated by INCI names (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients) which tend to show things like ‘Triticum vulgare’ (wheat) which can mean the starch (which I think is OK), oil (probably not OK) the ‘grass part’, the whole grain etc.
How many plants? 100s!
It is all v complicated but I hope this makes some sort of sense.
My mom has fibromyalgia so I sympathize. What kind of medication is it? Seems to me you’re kind of reinventing the wheel here, plus making a lot of work for yourself. Browsing around on Google under “fibromyalgia salicylates” turns up a good many websites all discussing this.
So, I applaud your efforts to do your own research, but hey, life’s too short. If you Google “fibromyalgia salicylates guaifenesin”, you’ll have more information than you’ll know what to do with.
During the wonderful pre-Christmas trip to the mall, I was thinking about this, and your answer to DDG made me think that Medline may be a good database for you to try. It’s available online - Medline/Pubmed - this can be fairly technical in nature, but some information might be on there.
Also, the USDA has a Plants database that might have some information - but I’ve not explored it, so I don’t know what information is available there.
I also did a basic google search for plants containing salicylates and found this page that seems to list some of the information you need, though not the quantites in the parts of the plants that are used.
Hopefully one of the databases will be useful to you.
The search salicylates botany site:.edu looks promising. This link lists several problem plants. The site mentions “Samter”. Searching on that which brought up the book Samter’s immunologic diseaseswhich might might have the list you are looking for.
The Leukotriene article also mentions that “Lists are available that identify plants that are high in salicylates” Searching on the phrase “high in salicylates” reveals that autism is sometimes treated by eliminating aspirin from the diet. One of those links, Autism Awakening, tells us:
Other links from that search, or a search on “Feingold salicylates” will likely turn up more plants for you.
I got all this with the Google advanced search. It allows searches for specific phrases, AND/OR, excluding specific domains or words, languages etc. The real trick is in figuring out the right keywords to use. That takes practice.
Yes, it is Guai but I particularly want to stay away from the ‘Fibro-guai’ affiliated sites because they have NO references to the source of this information. I want to know the info from which they draw their conclusions and data. Short of spending over £100 on an ‘article’ (before knowing exactly what it contains) it WILL be a lot of leg work. But hey! If there is truth to these statements they must have found their info somewhere.
There’s lots of info on plants (botanical), and salicylates (chemical) separately. I have looked on the (v complicated) pubmed site and it seems their ‘salicylates in plants’ stuff is mainly about HOW plants make salicylates and in response to which pathogens and environmental conditions. …and I always get my browser in a knot!
So you see … “one earth-shattering search string”[DDG ] or not, I want to CHECK their findings (and be more precise about them). I want the whole truth, not just to learn parrot-fashion about something which may not be the whole truth. Not just for myself (I just can’t help being curious) but for a support group.
This is why, in the OP, I asked for some help with using the search engines, in particular the Boolean operational ones. It seems that you can’t have Boolean AND wildcard* searches together!
**Lsura ** , It appears your library hasn’t heard of you! but I will have a proper look round on http://plants.usda.gov/ tomorrow. Thanx.
DDG , Does your Mom take the Guai? Would she consider it? There are some good support eGroups. I wish her well.
I use the sal-free ingredients database at Guai-support. They use all the sources cited above, as well as the Dictionary of Botanical Epithets, the On-line medical dictionary, and Ruth Winter’s “A consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients.” Their list is here:
They also have another list of sal-free products. Check it to see the toothpastes they recommend. Most toothpastes have large amounts of salicylates in them. Even fruit flavored toothpaste usually has mint extracts in it.
The toothpastes they list are made specifically to be sal-free, or they have been chemically tested by the Feingold Association and found to be extremely low in salicylates.
I hope you’re able to find the info you need, and that you are able to become healthy. Good luck!
Thanx also now to Squink and Lesa. I have seen about half of those you two collectively suggest so there’s some more to have a go at. Cheers.
I don’t mean to be greedy, but please can anyone give me some more advice about how to get the best out of (a) search engine(s), boolean, wildcard* or otherwise, for a search as complex as the example outlined in the OP.
If you Google “fibromyalgia salicylates guaifenesin”, you’ll have more information than you’ll know what to do with.
but I will have a proper look round on