Cats Claw and Its Medicinal Uses

In the middle of the deep Amazon rainforest, amidst its thick and diverse vegetation, you will find a plant like no other – cat’s claw.  Cat’s claw’s common name is derived from its protruding thorns that grow along its stem resembling the claws of a cat.  Also known as Uncaria tomentosa, this plant catches attention with its small yellow to white colored flowers.  The plant’s popularity, however, is not due to its ornamental uses but to its medicinal uses such as one of the many arthritis herbs.

Anti-inflammatory Actions

Body inflammation, which is plaguing many aging adults can be given relief with the aid of cat’s claw.  Acute and chronic inflammation is bothersome especially when it limits the mobility of the affected individual.  Added to this, the episodes of pain.

The agony can be put to a halt when the disease process is placed under examination.  An inflammatory messenger called tumor necrosis factor-alpha is responsible for the occurrence of both acute and chronic inflammation.  Cat’s claw extracts can interfere with the inflammation process by inhibiting the said inflammatory messenger; thus, disrupting the process.  Once the pain goes away, the body’s joints will be restored back to the usual.

Herb against Lyme disease

Lyme disease can be misdiagnosed as a simple case of flu.  The reason behind the medical blunder is the similarity in symptoms of the two diseases in its early stages.  A patient of both Lyme disease and flu will have fever, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and stiff neck.  However, a large target-shaped rash that occurs with Lyme disease can provide the difference.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted through insect bites of deer ticks.  The infection can be eliminated simply through boosting of the immune system.  This is possible with the use of cat’s claw.  Cat’s claw contains tetracyclic oxindole alkaloid (TOA) that enhances the body’s defenses against bacteria and other possible health threat.

Everything You Need To Know About Cat’s Claw

How does an herb with large curved, thorn-like horns resembling the claws of a cat, its vine climbing to 100 feet on a wall came to be one of nature’s most powerful healers?  

For starters, Cat’s claw or Uncaria tomentosa, is native to the Amazon rainforest - a vast rich habitat where many herbal practitioners look to as a frontier source of biodiversity and of powerful, undiscovered, herbal remedies.

Although the herb has only been recently renowned, it has been used as a health tonic and treatment by the indigenous peoples of the region for many centuries.

Serious research into the benefits of the plant has been underway since the 1970s. The fact that cat's claw is available on prescription in certain countries is a clear indication of its biochemical potency.

Anti-inflammatory magic

The plant’s barks and roots have been used for ages for its anti-inflammatory properties alleviating conditions with inflammatory processes such as in rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, Lyme disease (which also has arthritis and encephalitis symptoms) stomach ulcers and dysentery.

Infection-fighting

The plant’s extracts are a powerful antiseptic, anti-parasitic, anti-viral and antibiotic agent. The compounds found in cat’s claw greatly stimulate the adaptive biological infection-fighting mechanism of the body, thus boosting the immune system fighting almost all kinds of infection. It has also been found out to treat sexually-transmitted diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea.  

Smooth operator

Scientific studies reveal a therapeutic effect of cat’s claw extracts which is dilating blood vessels. This effect helps relax the muscles of organs which can help lower blood pressure and improve circulation.

Detox the natural way

Cat’s claw is also a natural diuretic - it purges excess solutes through urine and further helps in decreasing renal threshold, improving kidney detoxification.

Gets rid of free radicals

Cat’s claw has antioxidant activities which help the body fight free radicals which are a bane to cells. Free radicals redound to the body’s demise, including various chronic diseases. Antioxidants help counteract these radicals and reduce the process of oxidative stress.

Cat’s claw can also significantly help in replicating healthy T-helper cells to impede AIDS pathogenicity. 

Raintree’s Spiro: The Natural Formula for Syphilis Cure

Raintree’s Spiro is a natural solution for diseases caused by bacteria.  This formula is made up of combination of plants and herbs used traditionally by indigenous people of the Amazon.  This syphilis cure is available in bottles of 120 pieces of 650 mg capsules.  This syphilis cure includes the following plants in its powerful formula:

• o   Ajos Sacha’s scientific name is Mansoa alliacea.  It is an evergreen shrubby vine native to the Amazon rainforest.  It is both a shrub and a vine.  It produces multiple woody vines and forms a shrub-like look.  The plant is able to produce three flower colours simultaneously (deep lavender, pale lavender, and white). 
• o   Huacapu or Minquartia guianensis is a huge canopy tree widely distributed in the Amazon rainforest.  The tree exudes a white latex when its parts are cut.  The tree blooms during the months of June and July with peduncles of cream-coloured flowers. 
• o   Matico is the common name for Piper aduncum.  This plant belongs to the pepper family or Piperaceae.  It is a tropical, evergreen, shrubby tree with lanceolate leaves.  It is native to the tropics of South America.  The fruits are used as condiments to flavour foods.
• o   Tamamuri or Brosimum acutifolium is a large canopy tree that can grow up to 25 meters in height.  When the leaf or stem is broken from the branches, the tree produces a whitish to pinkish latex.  It has an oblong veined leaves that measures 8 to 15 cm in length by 4 to 5 cm in width.
• o   Bellaco Caspi (Himatanthus sucuuba) is a tropical rainforest tree that can grow as high as 16 meters.  It has a rough mottled bark and perfumed flowers.  Wounding the bark will exude white, milky latex.
• o   Chanca Piedra is a plant that is well known as a stone breaker.  Aside from its ability to remove kidney and gallstones, it also has properties that can fight off bacteria.  It is a tropical annual herb common in the China, Amazon, and Southern India.

As syphilis cure, it can fight off diseases caused by bacteria, especially spirochetes.  Spiro is also helpful against Lyme disease.

Graviola: The Natural Approach to Fighting Cancer

Cancer has always been a feared disease worldwide.  Scientists are always in the lookout for treatment for this devastating disease.  Today, drugs are commonly used to eliminate cancer cells.  Prescription drugs are effective in fighting off cancer.  However, its benefit comes with tremendous side effects.  The introduction of Graviola as a natural way to cure cancer has created a great hype.

Graviola or soursoup is a tropical evergreen tree grown in Latin America.  It produces a fruit with whitish core.  The pulp, when extracted, produces an acidic and sweet juice.

Other parts of the plant are also utilized for medicinal purposes.  The bark, roots, stem, and leaves have been used as natural remedies for fever, digestive problems, infection, and high blood pressure.  Among the indigenous people of the Amazon and Andes, this plant has been documented for many more traditional practices.  These include:  actions against bacteria and parasites; dilates blood vessels; for sedation; reduces spasms; expels worms; relieves depression; stops convulsions; and stimulates digestion.

Recent scientific studies have focused on the plant’s potential as alternative cancer treatment.  Graviola’s seeds, leaves, and stems have bioactive chemicals called annonaceous acetogenins that appear to have actions against cancer cells.  What’s good about these substances is that they are able to fight off cancer cells without harming healthy cells.  One study even claimed that this plant is a thousand times more effective than marketed chemotherapy drugs.  These have gathered a lot of attention in the field of alternative medicine and on the internet. 

This promising result from these studies has also met its share of criticisms.  Ralph Moss is a renowned cancer writer who has been involved in mainstream Oncology.  Moss finds did not go with the claims of the studies.  However, he believes that Graviola has potential future use in the field of cancer medicine.  Other skeptics also said that the studies were on its preliminary stages and find the claims premature.

However, cancer patients and health professionals are not waiting for researchers for new findings.  They are adding the products as complementary therapy to cancer protocols.

Types of Fungal Infections and Their Herbal Remedies

Fungi are microorganisms which belong to a large group of eukaryotic organisms. These organisms if not prevented and treated can grow in the body and may cause infections in the internal organs even in the skin, nails and scalp.

As this group of eukaryotic organisms is considered very large, it is important to know the different fungal infections in humans. So what are the types of infections caused by fungi?

Superficial infections

This type of fungal infections affect the skin and mucous membranes of millions of people. Fungal organisms associated with superficial infections include vaginitis, oral thrush, athlete’s foot and yeast. Although this can be easily treated still its effects can be distracting to an individual’s life as the infections can spread throughout the body.

Systemic infections

This is a worse type of fungal infections as this is characterized by fungi getting or accumulating into the bloodstream which can bring about serious diseases. This can be caused by an opportunistic organism or invasive organism such as cocci and histoplasma which only attacks a certain individual who has a very weak immune system. As this is a worst type of fungal infection, this can be life threatening since it gets into the bloodstream.

Superficial or systemic infections, whatever they may be should be prevented and treated. Advisably, what you need is an intensive medicinal formula made of herbal plants such that herbal plants coming from the Amazon forest. This is because treating fungal infections with so much synthetic amounts may pose side effects unlike a natural herbal supplement which can be body friendly as it is pure and natural.

You can consider Amazon A-F Antifungal Capsules as this is very highly recommended to treat fungal infections as it contains a blend of 8 various herbal plants from the Amazon. These herbal plants include Jatoba, anamu, bellaco capsi, piri-piri, pau d’arco, ubos, fedegoso, matico, tamamuri, guaco, Brazilian peppertree and graviola which all contain some properties effective to treat fungi, candida and moulds.

Herbal and Health: Bacterial Infectious Diseases

Kawasaki Disease

What is Kawasaki disease?

Kawasaki disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease among children in the United States. Japanese pediatrician Tomisaku Kawasaki first described this illness as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome, but today, it is now identified as the Kawasaki disease.

The cause of this disease is still unknown, despite numerous researches. However, doctors suspect that an infectious microorganism may trigger the onset of inflammation in the body. Kawasaki disease resembles measles or scarlet fever and may occur in outbreaks, often in late winter or spring, suggesting a possible relation to an infectious organism.

Kawasaki disease causes inflammation of blood vessels, mucous membranes, lymph nodes, and the heart. It usually clears up eventually, but if left unattended, it can damage the blood vessels supplying the heart muscles. The illness is linked with 1 out of 5 coronary aneurysms that lead to heart attack, especially to very young children.

Signs and Symptoms

Kawasaki disease has distinctive features: high fever above 40 degrees Celsius, which occurs for at least 5 days. In the next 10 to 14 days, the signs may eventually include rashes and mouth inflammation including cracked lips, swollen tongue and inflamed mouth lining. Children may experience swollen limbs with peeling skin, sore eyes, sore joints and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. These symptoms may persist in the next two months. Abdominal pain and diarrhea can then be observed, and heart problems are more likely to show up during this time.

Possible complications of Kawasaki disease
Up to 25 percent of children with untreated Kawasaki disease may experience complications that involve the heart and coronary arteries, although babies under 1 year-old and children older than 9 years-old pose greater risk. With treatment, the risk factor is down from 5 percent.

By far coronary aneurysm is the most serious complication of Kawasaki disease. If an aneurysm clots or, more rarely, bursts, heart attack can occur which can lead to death. Kawasaki disease can also lead to myocarditis or an irregular heartbeat.

Herbal medicine essence and benefits

Herbal medicines and health remedies have a lot of benefits, the greatest of which, being that it does not interfere with the body’s natural healing process. It serves numerous advantages of going herbal to treat ailments that may range from something as simple as common cold to something considerably complex as diabetes or cancer.

Like the supplements contained with Amazon A-P which carries a synergistic formula contained from different herb extracts in the treatment of several critical illnesses.