Peony root, besides being good for NBE, was also a favored plant of one of the top Chinese herbalists from long ago who was instrumental in the development of Chinese traditional medicine, and it is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine for cramps and arthritis pain - it is known as an antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, sedative, anti-spasmodic, and anti-inflammatory. I can attest to it's strength in some of those areas, I was having some inflammation based jaw pain maybe due to an arthritic flare up that wouldn't go away, I had been out of peony and when I got some it immediately got rid of the inflammation and pain, something NSAIDS and vicodin were unable to do. It is a very powerful herb in those areas I just mentioned. But red peony may be more effective in some ways then white peony from what I have read. Red peony is the same root as white peony but with the skin still on. In one study I read they concluded that red peony has more paeoniflorin which seems to be anti-inflammatory. Another thing, I have used the dried root, alcohol extract, and powdered extract. The powdered extract had no flavor while the root is very bitter, which it is known for. Out of the three the root itself seemed stronger, and that seems to be what the research has found when they studied the processed vs. unprocessed forms. As I have learned from studying herbal extracts, not all constituents of plants can be extracted, some plants are best consumed whole because of that.