Herbal Extracts

A large number of herbal extracts are beneficial in preventing various diseases. Below we present a summary of the major research results for many those that we take (Paul and Kitty). Items from our regimens will be added to this list as we redo the research originally done in deciding to take each initially.

Astragalus

Below we present a summary of the major research results for Astragalus taken from published scientific studies. We give evidence that most of these highly beneficial effects are derived from the

Safety, Interactions and Pharmacology

Proven Benefits of Astragalus

Potential Benefits

  1. "Astragalus membranaceus extract (AME) has effect in enhancing human immuno-function and anti-tumor activity, it could be applied in clinical practice for immuno-modulation and tumor treatment."R
  2. "The traditional Asian medicinal herb, roots of Astragalus (A.) membranaceus (Leguminosae), is used for many purposes, some of which are purported to stimulate the release of growth hormone in vivo. Extracts of A. membranaceus were tested to determine whether they stimulate the release of growth hormone in rat pituitary cell culture. --- In conclusion, four compounds isolated from extracts of A. Radix (dried roots of Astragalus membranaceus) induced growth hormone release in the rat pituitary cell culture."R
  3. "The results suggested AMI (Astragalus membranaceus injection) maybe [sic] enhance hematopoietic function in mice."R
  4. "The effects of different components isolated from A. membranaceus on protecting the cardiac function in the process of ischemia reperfusion may be related to the mechanism of improving energy metabolism, scavenging the oxygen free radicals and inhibiting the production of free radicals in the ischemic myocardium."R
  5. ".. rats were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with DEN (200 mg/kg in saline), a two-thirds partial hepatectomy was carried out 2 weeks later, and the rats were then placed on a basal diet containing 0.02% AAF from week 3 to week 8 to induce hepatocarcinogenesis. The rats were given AM [Astragalus membranaceus] (90 mg/kg or 180 mg/kg body weight) by gavage from week 3 to week 8 (treatment groups). The formation of GST-P-positive foci and the expression of GST-P protein and mRNA caused by DEN-PH-AAF were reduced in the treatment groups, which clearly suggests that AM is effective in delaying DEN-PH-AAF-induced hepatocarcinogenesis."R
  6. "It was shown to have inhibitory effects on lipid peroxidation and protein oxidative modification by copper. The effects were similar to and stronger than those of mannitol and superoxide dismutase as free radical scavengers. These results demonstrated that Astragali Radix has inhibitory effects on oxidative stress induced by metal."R

Negative Results and Limitations

Nill Value, Different, or Negative Results for Astragalus

Conclusions

Additional Reading

Cat's Claw - Uncaria tomentosa (UT) and Uncaria guianensis (UG)

Below we present a summary of the major research results for Cat's Claw taken from published scientific studies. We give evidence that most of these highly beneficial effects are derived from the

Safety, Interactions and Pharmacology

  1. "C-Med-100 supplement was evaluated in a human volunteer study...There were no drug-related toxic responses to C-Med-100 supplement when judged in terms of clinical symptoms, serum clinical chemistry, whole blood analysis and leukocyte differential counts."R
  2. "There were no toxic side effects observed as judged by medical examination, clinical chemistry and blood cell analysis."R
  3. "The primary mechanism for cat's claw anti-inflammatory actions appears to be immunomodulation via suppression of TNFalpha synthesis."R
  4. "In a human volunteer study, C-MED-100 was given daily at 5 mg/kg for 6 consecutive weeks to four healthy adult males. No toxicity was observed and again, WBC were significantly elevated (P < 0.05) after supplement...Although the rats were treated daily with U. tomentosa extracts at the doses of 10-80 mg/kg for 8 weeks or 160 mg/kg for 4 weeks, no acute or chronic toxicity signs were observed symptomatically. In addition, no body weight, food consumption, organ weight and kidney, liver, spleen, and heart pathological changes were found to be associated with C-MED-100 treatment."R

Proven Benefits of Cat's Claw

  1. "Cat's claw is an herbal medicine from the Amazon that is used widely to treat inflammatory disorders. The purpose of this study was to characterize the antioxidative and antiinflammatory properties of cat's claw, Uncaria tomentosa (UT) and Uncaria guianensis (UG). --- Oral pretreatment for 3 d with UT protected against indomethacin-induced gastritis, and prevented TNFalpha mRNA expression and apoptosis. These results indicate that while both species of cat's claw provide effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, U. guianensis is more potent."R
  2. "Cat's claw is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis. The species, U guianensis and U tomentosa are equiactive. They are effective antioxidants, but their anti-inflammatory properties may result from their ability to inhibit TNFalpha and to a lesser extent PGE2 production."R
  3. "The Uncaria tomentosa water extracts (C-Med-100) have been shown to enhance DNA repair, mitogenic response and leukocyte recovery after chemotherapy-induced DNA damage in vivo. In this study, the effect of C-Med-100 supplement was evaluated in a human volunteer study. .. There was a statistically significant decrease of DNA damage and a concomitant increase of DNA repair in the supplement groups (250 and 350 mg/day) when compared with non-supplemented controls (p < 0.05). There was also an increased tendency of PHA induced lymphocyte proliferation in the treatment groups. Taken together, this trial has confirmed the earlier results obtained in the rat model when estimating DNA repair enhancement by C-Med-100."R
  4. "A human intervention study was carried out using male volunteers attending a General Practice Clinic in New York City involving comparison of individuals supplemented with 350 mg x 2 C-Med-100 daily dose for two months with untreated controls for their abilities to respond to a 23 valent pneumococcal vaccine. .. However, statistically significant immune enhancement for the individuals on C-Med-100 supplement was observed by (i) an elevation in the lymphocyte/neutrophil ratios of peripheral blood and (ii) a reduced decay in the 12 serotype antibody titer responses to pneumococcal vaccination at 5 months." R
  5. " Murine macrophages (RAW 264.7 cells) were used in cytotoxicity assays (trypan blue exclusion) in response to the free radical 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrilhydrazyl (DPPH, 0.3 microM) and ultraviolet light (UV) light. TNFalpha production was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS 0.5 microg/ml)... In conclusion, cat's claw is an effective antioxidant, but perhaps more importantly a remarkably potent inhibitor of TNFalpha production. " R
  6. "Female W/Fu rats were gavaged daily with a water-soluble extract (C-MED-100) of Uncaria tomentosa supplied commercially by CampaMed at the doses of 0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg for 8 consecutive weeks... Repair of DNA single strand breaks (SSB) and double strand breaks (DSB) 3 h after 12 Gy whole body irradiation of rats were also significantly improved in C-MED-100 treated animals (P < 0.05). The LD50 and MTD of a single oral dose of C-MED-100 in the rat were observed to be greater than 8 g/kg. "R

Potential Benefits

Negative Results and Limitations

Nill Value, Different, or Negative Results for Cat's Claw

Conclusions

Additional Reading

Cordyceps

Below we present a summary of the major research results for Cordyceps taken from published scientific studies. We give evidence that most of these highly beneficial effects are derived from the

Safety, Interactions and Pharmacology

Proven Benefits of Cordyceps

Potential Benefits

  1. "This study was conducted to investigate the hypocholesterolemic effect of the hot-water fraction (HW) from cultured mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis...The serum total cholesterol (TC) of all mice groups administered HW (150 and 300 mg/kg/d, respectively) with the cholesterol-enriched diet decreased more than in the control group. Among the mice fed the cholesterol-enriched diet, HW also increased the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level, but decreased the very low-density lipoprotein plus low-density lipoprotein (VLDL+LDL) cholesterol level."R
  2. "We conclude that CordyMax Cs-4 may have potential beneficial effects by maintaining whole-body glucose disposal with a less pronounced increase in insulin secretion after a carbohydrate challenge, however, its effects on endurance performance remain questionable."R
  3. "CordyMax Cs-4 is effective in lowering basal blood glucose and plasma insulin, improving glucose metabolism by enhancing insulin sensitivity, and improving oral glucose tolerance."R
  4. "The effects of an orally administered hot-water extract (HW) from cultured mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis on the activation of macrophages and the intestinal immune system were studied in mice...These results indicate that an oral administration of HW (hot water extract of cordyceps) may modulate IL-6 production by the activation of macrophages, and also enhance the secretion of hematopoietic growth factors such as GM-CSF and IL-6 from Peyer's patch cells. Since such cytokines as GM-CSF and IL-6 from Peyer's patch cells act on the systemic immune system, it can be assumed that orally administered HW modulated not only the local but also systemic immune system."R
  5. "CS [Cordyceps sinensis] at 3 mg/ml significantly stimulated testosterone production (p< 0.05)."R
  6. "The results showed that Cordyceps, in general, possesses a strong anti-oxidation activity in all assays tested."R

Negative Results and Limitations

Nill Value, Different, or Negative Results for Cordyceps

Conclusions

Additional Reading

Gugulipid (Gugulmax)

Below we present a summary of the major research results for Gugulipid taken from published scientific studies. We give evidence that most of these highly beneficial effects are derived from the

Safety, Interactions and Pharmacology

  1. "Side effects of guggulipid were headache, mild nausea, eructation, and hiccup in a few patients."R

Proven Benefits of Gugulipid

  1. "Published trials indicate that red yeast rice, tocotrienols, gugulipid, garlic, and soy protein all have antihypercholesterolemic effects. These supplements, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, also have antihypertriglyceridemic effects. In clinical trials none of the agents led to a reduction in low-density lipoproteins greater than 25%, suggesting modest efficacy."R
  2. "The combined effect of diet and guggulipid at 36 weeks was as great as the reported lipid-lowering effect of modern drugs."R
  3. "With gugulipid the average fall in serum cholesterol and triglycerides was 11 and 16.8% respectively and with clofibrate 10 and 21.6% respectively. The lipid lowering effect of both drugs became evident 3-4 week after starting the drug and had no relationship with age, sex, and concomitant drug intake. Hypercholesterolaemic patients responded better to gugulipid therapy than hypertriglyceridaemic patients who responded better to clofibrate therapy. In mixed hyperlipidaemic patients response to both drugs was comparable. HDL-cholesterol was increased in 60% cases who responded to gugulipid therapy. Clofibrate had no effect on HDL-cholesterol. A significant decrease in LDL-cholesterol was observed in the responder group to both drugs."R

Potential Benefits

  1. "Favorable cardiovascular effects have been reported with the use of unsaturated fatty acids, vegetarian and semi-vegetarian diets, dietary fiber, plant sterols, alcoholic beverages, vitamins (niacin, E, C, B6, B12, folate), minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, selenium), conditionally-essential nutrients (coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine, taurine) and botanical agents (garlic, hawthorn, gugulipid)."R

Negative Results and Limitations

Nill Value, Different, or Negative Results for Gugulipid

Conclusions

Additional Reading

Nettle Leaf

Below we present a summary of the major research results for Nettle Leaf taken from published scientific studies. We give evidence that most of these highly beneficial effects are derived from the

Safety, Interactions and Pharmacology

Proven Benefits of Nettle Leaf

  1. Significantly reduced osteoarthritic pain at the base of the thumb or index fingerR. (I have had a possible osteoarthritic left thumb base and left knee.)
  2. Oral use of extracts showed reduction of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta.R.

Potential Benefits

  1. Suppressed inflammatory joint degradationR (which all of us get more of as we age).

Negative Results and Limitations

Nill Value, Different, or Negative Results for Nettle Leaf

Conclusions

Additional Reading

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Created 11/4/04
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