Showing posts with label HERBAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HERBAL. Show all posts

26/08/2021

Knowledge of medicinal plants at risk as languages die out

Loss of linguistic diversity may lead to disappearance of age-old remedies unknown to science, study warns

The areas with languages most at risk were in north-west Amazonia, where 100% of this unique knowledge was supported by threatened languages, and in North America, where the figure was 86%. In New Guinea 31% of languages were at risk. The anticipated loss of linguistic diversity would “substantially compromise humanity’s capacity for medicinal discovery”, according to the paper, published in PNAS.

27/02/2021

Decalcify your pineal gland - The average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble


In most populated environments we are bombarded with different toxic stressors -- biologically, chemically, environmentally, nutritionally, physically, physiologically and spiritually. Although fluoride has become the most popular showning the most evidence on damaging the pineal gland, all heavy metals collaborate in blocking the pineal and other internal organs.

THE PINEAL GLAND

The size of only a grain of rice, this tiny gland is an essential player as to how we perceive reality, make decisions, perform and how we sleep. A healthy-functioning pineal is essential for psychological development, peak performance, and spiritual awakening.

“Unlike most of our brain, the blood-brain barrier doesn’t isolate the pineal from the rest of our body. Instead, the pineal gets a tremendous amount of blood flow, second only to the kidneys. Surrounded by and immersed in cerebrospinal fluid, this gland camps out in a tiny cave-like area behind and above the pituitary gland.” - Pub Med

The pineal gland secretes melatonin (through the conversion of serotonin), which activates the pituitary gland to release MSH — the melanocyte stimulating hormone that produces melanin.

In a study done by British scientist Jennifer Luke back in the 1990s, she discovered high concentrations of fluoride in the pineal gland on her subjects.

THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF FLUORIDE, ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAVY METALS

Fluoride, is found in most municipal water around the world, along with many more pesticides and chemicals. In this study here you find how there are a load of pharmaceuticals and toxins within our water supply, deliberately added, as well as due to poor waste water management and lack of proper filtration. To read more about the truth on tap water, and whats added depending amongst regions in the US, here's a good article.

Pesticides and heavy metals within water accumulates in the pineal more than any other part of the body. This accumulation of fluoride forms phosphate crystals, creating a hard shell around the pineal called calcification. See image above.

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON PINEAL CALCIFICATION

Studies show that pineal gland calcification:

• Lowers productions of melatonin

• Impairs the sleep-wake cycle

• Disrupts the regulation of the circadian rhythm

Fluoridated water is believed to be one of the chief causes of calcification in the pineal gland. Evidence suggests that children reach puberty earlier now as a consequence of fluoridated water. And, fluoride exposure in animal studies has found to decrease melatonin significantly.

According to a scientific study on the effect of fluoride on the pineal, the average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble.

Simply put, when our pineal gland is calcified, we’re out of balance with our basic biological functioning. On another note, ancient traditions knew of the pineal gland and enshrouded its mysteries in their lore. They knew that it played a key role with our intuition, and spiritual development. With an increasingly toxic world, we must be aware to keep it active and healthy, to further unlock our potential.



17/11/2020

Indigenous Colombians mount a spiritual defense of the Amazon

MOCOA, Colombia — The Union of Traditional Yage Medics of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC) brings together five ethnic groups ­— the Cofán, Inga, Siona, Coreguaje, and Kamëntsá — who practice spiritual ceremonies for individual and community healing based on ayahuasca, or yagé. But that’s not all that these communities have in common.

All five of these Indigenous groups are also classified by Colombia’s Constitutional Court as being at “risk of physical and cultural extermination.”

“Our strategy has to do with revitalizing and strengthening our spiritual connection with Mother Earth,” said Miguel Evanjuanjoy, advocacy and project manager of UMIYAC, in a video interview with Mongabay in October. He was speaking from his community of Yunguillo, in the department of Putumayo. “As stewards of the Amazon rainforest, we care for the land because it is she who nourishes us spiritually and through her sacred products.”

Spread across the Putumayo, Caquetà and Cauca regions of southern Colombia, with a small crossover into Ecuador, the 22 territories represented by UMIYAC are on the front line of the battle to protect the Amazon. A 2018 study conducted by the University of the Andes in Bogotá, for example, shows the annual deforestation rate in Caquetà alone is 0.77%, the highest in Colombia and nearly twice the rate for tropical South America as a whole.

Full article: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/indigenous-colombians-mount-a-spiritual-defense-of-the-amazon/ 

The ceremonial use of yagé opens participants up to ancestral knowledge, particularly the “natural laws” established by the ancestors that allow communities to “live in peace and harmony with other beings in nature,” Evanjuanjoy said.

As one of the more widely studied substances in the “psychedelic research” renaissance currently happening in Western countries, yagé shows potential as a treatment for prominent modern mental health disorders like depression and addiction. It even holds promise, according to ethnopharmacist Dennis Mckenna, as a catalyst for changing environmental consciousness.

“The sacred plant of yagé is a spiritual nourishment for people,” Evanjuanjoy said. “Through this plant, our grandmothers and traditional healers receive the wisdom to heal the diseases that affect the individual, the community, and the territory.

“It is the light, the path, the guide, and the primary tool to continue defending our territories and to continue the struggle for the survival of our culture.”


UMIYAC is an alliance comprised of spiritual leaders from five different Amazonian ethnic groups deemed to be in danger of extinction.
The ancestral lands of these five groups are located near deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon, making them the front-line defense for the rainforest.
Presided over by spiritual leaders, the traditional yagé ceremonies that tie these ethnic groups together reinforce the spiritual wisdom needed to retain their territories and autonomy.

22/10/2020

CBD appears to reduce the "cytokine storm"

CBD helps reduce lung damage from COVID

One way CBD appears to reduce the "cytokine storm" that damages the lungs and kills many patients with COVID-19 is by enabling an increase in levels of a natural peptide called apelin, which is known to reduce inflammation and whose levels are dramatically reduced in the face of this storm.

They reported this summer in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research that treatment with CBD reduced excessive lung inflammation, enabling improvements in lung function, heathier oxygen levels, and repair of some of the structural damage to the lungs that are classic with ARDS. The investigators said then more work was needed, including finding how CBD produced the significant changes as well as human trials, before it should be included as part of a treatment regimen for COVID-19.

Now they have correlated those improvements with regulation of apelin. While they don't attribute all CBD's benefits to apelin, they say the peptide clearly has an important role in this scenario. They also don't yet know whether the novel coronavirus, or CBD for that matter, have a direct effect on apelin, or if these are downstream consequences, but they are already pursuing answers to those unknowns.

https://www.sott.net/article/443114-CBD-helps-reduce-lung-damage-from-COVID

16/10/2020

40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction

Two in five of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction as a result of the destruction of the natural world, according to an international report.

Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.

These unknown species, and many already recorded, were an untapped “treasure chest” of food, medicines and biofuels that could tackle many of humanity’s greatest challenges, they said, potentially including treatments for coronavirus and other pandemic microbes.

More than 4,000 species of plants and fungi were discovered in 2019. These included six species of Allium in Europe and China, the same group as onions and garlic, 10 relatives of spinach in California and two wild relatives of cassava, which could help future-proof the staple crop eaten by 800 million people against the climate crisis.

New medical plants included a sea holly species in Texas, whose relatives can treat inflammation, a species of antimalarial Artemisa in Tibet and three varieties of evening primrose.

15/08/2020

CBD increases blood flow in regions of the brain linked to memory

A new study, led by researchers from University College London, is offering some of the first robust evidence showing how cannabidiol (CBD), a key compound in cannabis, increases cerebral blood flow in memory processing regions of the brain such as the hippocampus.

CBD is just one of more than 100 different cannabinoids found in cannabis. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the compound most often associated with the plant’s psychoactive euphoric effects. CBD on the other hand is increasingly being found to confer a number of positive health outcomes. It recently became the first cannabis-derived compound ever approved by the FDA, used to reduce seizures in severe forms of epilepsy.

“There is evidence that CBD may help reduce symptoms of psychosis and anxiety,” says lead author on the new study, Michael Bloomfield. “There is some evidence to suggest that CBD may improve memory function. Additionally, CBD changes how the brain processes emotional memories, which could help to explain its reputed therapeutic effects in PTSD and other psychiatric disorders. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the effects of CBD on memory are unclear.”

29/03/2020

Boost your immune system with herbs, food, supplements and lifestyle changes!

Boost your immune system with herbs, food, supplements and lifestyle changes! -- Health:

Immune System Boosters

When searching for how to boost your immune system, look to these herbs, foods, supplements, essential oils and lifestyle factors.

1. Echinacea

Many of echinacea's chemical constituents are powerful immune system stimulants that can provide significant therapeutic value. Research shows that one of the most significant echinacea benefits is its effects when used on recurring infections.

A 2012 study published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that echinacea showed maximal effects on recurrent infections, and preventive effects increased when participants used echinacea to prevent the common cold.

A 2003 study conducted at the University of Wisconsin Medical School found that echinacea demonstrates significant immunomodulatory activities. After reviewing several dozen human experiments, including a number of blind randomized trials, researchers indicate that echinacea has several benefits, including immunostimulation, especially in the treatment of acute upper respiratory infection.

2. Elderberry

The berries and flowers of the elder plant have been used as medicine for thousands of years. Even Hippocrates, the "father of medicine," understood that this plant was key for how to boost your immune system. He used elderberry because of its wide array of health benefits, including its ability to fight colds, the flu, allergies and inflammation.

Several studies indicate that elderberry has the power to boost the immune system, especially because it has proven to help treat the symptoms of the common cold and flu.

A study published in the Journal of International Medical Research shows that when elderberry was used within the first 48 hours of onset of symptoms, the extract reduced the duration of the flu, with symptoms being relieved on an average of four days earlier. Plus, the use of rescue medication was significantly less in those receiving elderberry extract compared with placebo.

3. Astragalus Root

Astragalus is a plant within the bean and legumes family that has a very long history as an immune system booster and disease fighter. Its root has been used as an adaptogen in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. Although astragalus is one of the least studied immune-boosting herbs, there are some preclinical trials that show intriguing immune activity.

A recent review published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine found that astragalus-based treatments have demonstrated significant improvement of the toxicity induced by drugs such as immunosuppressants and cancer chemotherapeutics.

Researchers concluded that astragalus extract has a beneficial effect on the immune system, and it protects the body from gastrointestinal inflammation and cancers.

4. Ginseng

The ginseng plant, belonging to the Panax genus, can help you to boost your immune system and fight infections. The roots, stems and leaves of ginseng have been used for maintaining immune homeostasis and enhancing resistance to illness or infection.

Ginseng improves the performance of your immune system by regulating each type of immune cell, including macrophages, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, T cells and B cells. It has also proven to possess antimicrobial compounds that work as a defense mechanism against bacterial and viral infections.

A study published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine suggests that ginseng extract successfully induces antigen-specific antibody responses when it's administered orally. Antibodies bind to antigens, such as toxins or viruses, and keep them from contacting and harming normal cells of the body.

Because of ginseng's ability to play a role in antibody production, it helps the body to fight invading microorganisms or pathogenic antigens.

5. Bone Broth

Bone broth supports immune function by promoting the health of your gut and reducing inflammation caused by leaky gut syndrome. The collagen and amino acids (proline, glutamine and arginine) found in bone broth help to seal openings in the gut lining and support its integrity.

We know that gut health plays a major role in immune function, so consuming bone broth works as an excellent immune system booster food.

6. Ginger

Ayurvedic medicine has relied on ginger's ability for how to boost your immune system before recorded history. It's believed that ginger helps to break down the accumulation of toxins in our organs due to its warming effects. It's also known to cleanse the lymphatic system, our network of tissues and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials.

Ginger root and ginger essential oil can treat a wide range of diseases with its immunonutrition and anti-inflammatory responses. Research shows that ginger has antimicrobial potential, which helps in treating infectious diseases.

It's also known for its ability to treat inflammatory disorders that are caused by infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria and parasites, as well as physical and chemical agents like heat, acid and cigarette smoke.

7. Green Tea

Studies evaluating the efficacy of green tea show that it contains antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties. It works as an antifungal and antivirus agent, and may be helpful for immunocompromised patients.

Strengthen your immune system by drinking a good-quality green tea daily. The antioxidants and amino acids present in this tea will help your body to fight germs and get well.

8. Vitamin C Foods

Vitamin C foods, like citrus fruits and red bell peppers, improve the health of your immune system by providing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Studies display that getting enough vitamin C (along with zinc) in your diet may help to reduce the symptoms of respiratory infections and shorten the duration of illnesses like the common cold and bronchitis.

9. Beta-Carotene Foods

Beta-carotene has powerful antioxidant activity, allowing it to help reduce inflammation and fight oxidative stress. Instead of taking beta-carotene supplements, researchers propose that beta-carotene can promote health when taken at dietary levels, by eating foods rich in the carotenoid.

10. Probiotics

Because leaky gut is a major cause of food sensitivities, autoimmune disease and immune imbalance or a weakened immune system, it's important to consume probiotic foods and supplements.

Probiotics are good bacteria that help you digest nutrients that boost the detoxification of your colon and support your immune system.

Research published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition suggests that probiotic organisms may induce different cytokine responses. Supplementation of probiotics in infancy could help prevent immune-mediated diseases in childhood by improving the gut mucosal immune system and increasing the number of immunoglobulin cells and cytokine-producing cells in the intestines.

11. Vitamin D

Vitamin D can modulate the innate and adaptive immune responses and a vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as an increased susceptibility to infection.

Research proves that vitamin D works to maintain tolerance and promote protective immunity. There have been multiple cross-sectional studies that associate lower levels of vitamin D with increased infection.

One study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital included 19,000 participants, and it showed that individuals with lower vitamin D levels were more likely to report a recent upper respiratory tract infection than those with sufficient levels, even after adjusting for variables such as season, age, gender, body mass and race. Sometimes addressing a nutritional deficiency is how to boost your immune system.

12. Zinc

Zinc supplements are often used as an over-the-counter remedy for fighting colds and other illnesses. It may help to reduce cold-related symptoms and shorten the duration of the common cold.

Research evaluating the efficacy of zinc shows that it can interfere with a molecular process that causes bacteria buildup in the nasal passages.

30/11/2019

New therapeutic opportunities from an ancient herb: the benefits of CBD oil

New therapeutic opportunities from an ancient herb: A detailed list of the benefits of CBD oil

The non-psychoactive part of the cannabis plant is actually one of the most beneficial health supplements to become available to the masses in recent history. We're talking about CBD oil, or cannabidiol oil, which is an extract from the hemp plant containing a cannabinoid that research has found to have an wide array of health benefits. In fact, it has been proven to be so effective with certain health issues that some have been touting it as a miracle in oil form. This oil can be safely consumed by both children and adults as part of a daily diet.

Based on the scientific research done on CBD, we have put together a very comprehensive and detailed list of the amazing benefits of using CBD oil as a daily supplement.

What Exactly is CBD Oil?

There are over 500 compounds in the cannabis plant, around 100 are cannabinoids and over 125 are terpenes (fragrant oils that give cannabis its aromatic diversity). Many of these chemicals have been discovered to have some sort of therapeutic value. One of those 100+ cannabinoids is cannabidiol. Interestingly, our bodies have cannabinoid receptors all over. Until recently, the only cannabinoid most people had heard about was tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound found in the flowers of the cannabis plant. Although THC can be found in very high concentrations in this very well-known plant, so is CBD, which is non-psychoactive (it doesn't get you high). In the plant, CBD is a precursor and CBN a metabolite of THC. As cannabis gets older, THC gradually breaks down to CBN.

33 Reasons Why CBD Oil is Amazing for Your Health

31/07/2019

How The Cannabis Plant Produces Its Super-Strength, Pain-Killing Compounds

For the first time, scientists have discovered how the cannabis plant produces molecules that are highly effective at tackling pain. The team behind the research hope their findings might one day help us create new painkillers that come without the troublesome side effect of potential addiction.

The team, based at the University of Guelph, used a combination of genomics and biochemistry to work out how the cannabis plant makes cannflavin A and cannflavin B, two molecules that are 30 times better at quelling inflammation than aspirin.

07/02/2019

The endocannabinoid system runs deep and touches all of the major systems of the body


Everything you need to know about CBD

Everything you need to know about CBD:

As more people seek natural remedies for health problems - and as more states legalize medical marijuana - interest in cannabidiol (commonly known as "CBD") is growing.

It's about time, because CBD is a fascinating compound that has tremendous therapeutic value.

The list of health concerns and conditions CBD has been shown to benefit include:

Chronic pain and inflammation
Arthritis (including rheumatoid and psoriatic)
Epileptic seizures
Neuropathic pain (as seen in conditions like multiple sclerosis)
Anxiety
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Cancer (see here, here, here, and here)
Serious neurological conditions including Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's
Diabetes (see here and here)
Cardiovascular protection

Unfortunately, decades of disinformation and outright lies about the cannabis plant have led many to believe that marijuana and hemp are dangerous and have no medicinal value.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

Thankfully, a growing body of research is revealing the abundant benefits of the cannabis plant.

Let's explore those benefits, but first - let's talk about what CBD is and what it does in the body.

What is CBD?

27/11/2018

Raising awareness for 'forest therapy'

Raising awareness for 'forest therapy'

In its simplest form forest therapy, also called forest bathing, is just spending time in the woods as an antidote to the sometimes-jarring sounds, sights, and smells of city life. Of course, you can get that kind of respite on your own, but a more organized version of forest therapy has now been introduced in the U.S. The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs, founded in 2012, is currently training forest therapy guides. The group hopes to raise awareness of the benefits among health care professionals, and programs are being established nationwide.

Forest therapy originated in Japan, where researchers have been studying its physiological effects for many years. It appears that forest therapy does have measurable health benefits; for example, it can lower levels of salivary cortisol, the hormone that rises when we're under stress. One Japanese study showed that gazing at forest scenery for as little as 20 minutes reduced salivary cortisol levels by 13.4 percent. Forest therapy can also lower blood pressure and heart rate and trigger a dramatic increase in the activity of natural killer (NK) cells (produced by the immune system to ward off infection and fight cancer). Spending three days in the forest has been shown to increase NK activity by 50 percent, a beneficial effect that can last up to one month.

Most recently, researchers from UK's University of East Anglia analyzed 143 studies of forest therapy including data on some 290 million participants from 20 different countries. Not only was forest bathing associated with lower levels of cortisol, lower blood pressure and heart rate, it also lowered blood cholesterol and reduced rates of diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, asthma and death from heart disease. In addition, it was associated with decreased risk of preterm birth and lower all-cause mortality. Some studies suggested that forest therapy helped people sleep better and improved outcomes in those with cancer and neurological conditions. Finally, people exposed to forest therapy were found to be more likely to report that their overall health was good.

One mechanism that underlies these benefits may be inhalation of phytoncides, aromatic oils with antibacterial properties released by trees. Some studies suggest that these compounds increase the activity of natural killer cells.

20/08/2018

Foods with healing cannabinoids

You can still benefit from the same cannabinoids that give the cannabis plant its medicinal properties, without consuming cannabis. There are several foods rich in cannabinoids that benefit the body's endocannabinoid system. This system is responsible for helping the body maintain internal balance, also called homeostasis.

Foods that support the function of the endocannabinoid system are pivotal to overall health and well-being. Here are five foods that contain healing cannabinoids and offer therapeutic benefits similar to cannabis.

Foods with healing cannabinoids

Through direct and indirect actions, endocannabinoids are known to influence a wide range of physiological systems, including appetite, pain sensation, inflammation, temperature regulation, intra-ocular pressure, muscle control, energy balance, metabolism, sleep health, stress responses, motivation, mood, and memory. Together, this biological system of lipid mediators, proteins and receptors can be referred to as the 'endocannabidiome.'

27/04/2018

Evidence shows ancient Mesopotamians may have used opium and cannabis as medicine and in their rituals

For as long as there has been civilization, there have been mind-altering drugs. Alcohol was fermented at least 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, about the same time that agriculture took hold there. Elsewhere, for example in Mesoamerica, other psychoactive drugs were an important part of culture. But the ancient Near East had seemed curiously drug-free-until recently.

Now, new techniques for analyzing residues in excavated jars and identifying tiny amounts of plant material suggest that ancient Near Easterners indulged in a range of psychoactive substances. Recent advances in identifying traces of organic fats, waxes, and resins invisible to the eye have allowed scientists to pinpoint the presence of various substances with a degree of accuracy unthinkable a decade or two ago.

For example, "hard scientific evidence" shows that ancient people extracted opium from poppies, says David Collard, senior archaeologist at Jacobs, an engineering firm in Melbourne, Australia, who found signs of ritual opium use on Cyprus dating back more than 3000 years. By then, drugs like cannabis had arrived in Mesopotamia, while people from Turkey to Egypt experimented with local substances such as blue water lily.

Evidence shows ancient Mesopotamians may have used opium and cannabis as medicine and in their rituals -- Secret History

25/03/2018

Wild oregano oil and its many health benefits

Wild oregano oil and its many health benefits

It's very exciting to also know that oregano oil can treat a whole array of health problems that can often be very serious. In an article by Dr Josh Axe, he shared that there are over 800 (actually the number at the time of writing this article it is now well over 1000) pubmed studies showing the benefits of carvacrol (the healing part found in oregano oil), and 583 studies on oregano oil for things such as:

Bacterial infections
Fungal infections
Parasites
Viruses
Inflammation
Candida
Allergies
Tumors