Herbactive Health Clinic and Shop

Herbactive Health Clinic: herbal medicine practice and online shop

Herbactive Health Clinic and Shop combines a private herbal medicine practice with an online store. The clinic is run by Alan Hopking, who presents himself as a medical herbalist with more than 35 years of experience and signs his communications with the post-nominals MA, MNIMH and FINEH. He is described on the site as herbal practitioner and director of Herbactive.

The practice follows what Hopking calls functional medicine: rather than focusing only on the presenting symptoms, he says he looks at the patient's personal history, lifestyle and the functioning of the body's organs and systems as a whole. In his own account, medicinal plants are used to support the body's return to balance, and the consultation also addresses lifestyle factors.

Consultations and how the practice works

Hopking states that he works as a private, non-NHS practitioner, so consultations carry a fee, as in any private clinic. He notes that face-to-face appointments are available again following the lifting of UK lockdown restrictions, and that video, telephone and email consultations are also acceptable ways to see a patient. Email exchanges are described as free, although donations for his time and advice are welcomed.

The site invites prospective patients to contact him for a confidential consultation. The clinic's own description stresses that remedies are prepared on an individual basis for each person rather than supplied as standardised products.

The online shop

The shop is organised into herbal tonics, external remedies, teas, supplements, single herbal tinctures and books. A bestsellers list on the site at the time of writing included:

• ABC Daily Herbal NutriPowder Plus
• HerbShield Tonic
• ABC-ACE Liquid Powder
• Wormless Tonic, described as now even stronger
• Colds and Flu AntiViral Tonic (ColdLess), also described as now stronger
• Heart & Circulation Tonic
• Black Salve Strong Internal Tonic
• FlushLess Tonic, presented as a herbal HRT for hot flushes

These products are listed with several variants and prices shown in US dollars, with the option to switch the display currency to pounds sterling. The site also offers a donation option for Herbactive.

Alan Hopking and the wider Herbactive material

Beyond the shop and consultations, the site publishes material on herbal medicines, the history of herbalism, medical terms, reformers and the ducking stool, along with a medical information index, photographs and visitor comments. It also links to the Godshaer Clinic and to Herbactive News, which includes a talkshow interview at Red House Museum and a podcast on microdosing herbs and tonics with Alan Hopking.

The clinic's stated approach is summarised in its own phrase, "Don't think medicine, think Herbactive", and in the line that there is "more to taste" in Herbactive.

Customer feedback shown on the site

The site reproduces messages from clients in London, Hampshire, Cornwall, Australia, Austria and elsewhere in the EU. Several describe sleep, energy or general wellbeing while taking the tonics, and one mentions using them alongside ongoing cancer treatment. These are individual accounts published by the clinic, not a systematic assessment of outcomes. The page also points readers to Yellow Pages (yell.com) and TrustPilot for further reviews.