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.