Kava and Hepatitis
As we can see, herbs are often claimed to have dangerous adverse effects that do not really exist. The FDA commonly does this in an attempt to gain more control over herbs, which helps them to protect their illegal investments in pharmaceutical companies, and to protect their cozy relationship. As with chaparral, kava was also given a false reputation of causing cases of hepatitis.
Kava refers to the INNER ROOT of the kava plant. Kava has been used for centuries as both medicine and as a mind altering drug, when specially prepared. And for centuries it has had a reputation of being quite safe, except when abused. By this I mean extremely high doses over a period of time. Overuse by kava addicts can lead to thickening and peeling of the skin. This has never been seen in normal use of kava capsules. And no cases of hepatitis were ever reported from traditional preparation and use of kava.
A few years back though, there were actually cases of hepatitis appearing out of nowhere in people taking kava supplements. The medical journals, and news media jumped all over the story and reported repeatedly that kava was dangerous and caused hepatitis. Yet they never reported all the facts, or the truth, even when the problem was exposed. In fact, the problem stemmed from the greed of a pharmaceutical company looking to cash in on the herbal movement bandwagon. The company traveled to Fiji to obtain information on the use of the herb, and looking for kava sources.
During traditional preparation, the islanders would strip off the outer root bark and discard it. Only the inner root was being used for consumption. The pharmaceutical company decided that they could buy up all of the waste the islanders were discarding for next to nothing, dry it, grind it, capsule it and sell it. So this is exactly what they did. Though in the blinding glare of dollar signs, and in their rush to get in on the bandwagon, they overlooked an important rule of herbs. Not all parts of a plant have the same chemistry! Though a few plants will have basically the same alkaloids, glycosides, etc. throughout the plant in varying amounts, this is not common. It is more common to have totally different chemistries throughout the plant, including the same areas of the plant. For example, cocklebur root is a pain killer. The leaves are used to treat asthma, and the seeds used to stop diarrhea. And when using lapacho (pau d’ arco, taheebo, ipe roxo), the inner bark is used, not the outer bark, which does not have the medicinal properties. Kava is no different. The reason the islanders were discarding the outer bark of the kava was because they knew that the outer bark was toxic!
If the pharmaceutical company would have taken the time to ask questions on the preparation, and looked into the chemistry then the isolated cases of hepatitis could have been avoided, and kava would not have received an undeserved bad reputation. General use of the inner root of kava remains safe as it always has.
Medicinal Properties of Chaparral Part 2
Chaparral is best known for its ability to treat cancer effectively. The antitumor effects of chaparral have been verified in studies conducted by the universities of both Nevada and Utah. One of the things that makes chaparral unique in its ability to treat cancer is the fact that it “attacks” the cancer through multiple mechanisms. Since the majority of cancers have a microbial origin, the first mechanism is through the destruction of viruses, bacteria and fungi. Chronic inflammation has also been linked to the formation of cancers, meaning that chaparral’s anti-inflammatory properties can inhibit some cancers. Chaparral can inhibit cancers triggered, or aggravated, by free radicals and toxins due to its antioxidant and cleansing properties. Chaparral’s liver cleansing properties makes it helpful for hormonal induced cancers since the liver is responsible for the breakdown of excess hormones. And finally, chaparral inhibits mitochondrial enzymes, which in turn inhibits the cellular division of cancer cells. In short, this means it inhibits cancer growth.
Chaparral’s ability to kill microbes makes it useful for a number of diseases linked to microbial infections. These include cancers (viral, bacterial, and fungal forms), heart disease (chlamydia bacteria), hepatitis (viral, bacterial, and fungal forms), rheumatoid (chlamydia bacteria) and other forms of infectious arthritis, multiple sclerosis (human herpes virus type 6), ulcerative colitis (mycoavian complex bacterium), Crohn’s disease (mycoavian complex bacterium), type 1 diabetes (viral), pneumonia (viral, bacterial, and fungal forms), bronchitis (viral, bacterial, and fungal forms), etc. One of the most interesting areas of study for the use of chaparral is in the treatment of herpes infections, where studies are looking very promising.
Chaparral is very resinous, and so is not easy to prepare as a tea. Resins and water do not mix, and the resin will separate out and stick to the pan wall when trying to make the tea. Therefore, I recommend not using this herb as a tea. I personally prefer the powder mixed with other herbs. By combining the powder with other powdered herbs, the other powdered herbs will help prevent the resins in the chaparral from clumping the powder in to a big “gumball” when it comes in to contact with water. This helps maintain a larger surface area, thereby increasing the absorption and effectiveness of the herb. In addition, the addition of other herbs can increase the effectiveness of each herb. For instance, chaparral combined with red clover blossom increases the antitumor activity of both herbs. Combining chaparral with pau d’ arco (lapacho, taheebo, ipe roxo) increases the antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal activities of both herbs.
Again, the FDA tried to claim that chaparral was linked to 13 cases of hepatitis, though medical reviews subsequently found no evidence that the chaparral was linked to the cases. In fact, it was shown that many of the patients were found to have pre-existing liver failure, or were taking pharmaceutical drugs well known for causing liver damage. On the other hand, fresh chaparral does contain unstable alkaloids that may damage the liver if ingested for a length of time. Therefore, chaparral should be dried and aged for at least a month before use to destroy these alkaloids.
Medicinal Properties of Chaparral Part 1
If I made a list of my top 10 favorite herbs, chaparral (Larrea tridentata) would definitely be on that list. This hardy plant, comprising over 20 species, cannot only survive the extremes of desert life, but can also live to be well over 10,000 years old. In fact, I have read that one of the oldest living plants on earth is a massive chaparral plant in California believed to be over 25,000 years old. Natural habitats for chaparral include the Southwestern US, Mexico, South America, South Africa, Australia, and the Mediterranean.
Medicinally, chaparral is hard to beat. The plant has strong antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-tumor properties. Chaparral is also a great anti-inflammatory, and raises vitamin C levels in the adrenal glands. By strengthening the adrenals, inflammatory conditions are reduced in the body, stress responses are improved, immune function is strengthened, depression can be alleviated, blood sugar can be stabilized, allergies/asthma reduced, etc. Chaparral is an extremely strong blood purifier, which is probably in part due to its high sulfur content. Its sulfur content could also help explain its historical use as a hair growth agent.
In addition, chaparral is the strongest antioxidant I have seen. Many antioxidant manufacturers claim that their antioxidant is the strongest known, but they are misleading. For example, manufacturers of Pycnogenol claimed that they had the strongest antioxidant known. They even went as far to compare the strength of their product to vitamin E. The problem is that Pycnogenols, or PCOs, are water soluble. Natural vitamin E on the other hand is lipid (fat) soluble. This is like comparing a car to a bicycle. They are both a source of transportation, but with big differences. And if I were to compare Pycnogenols with vitamin E, I would say the vitamin E is the car, which is more powerful, and the Pycnogenols are the bicycle. This is because I feel the cell membrane, which is composed of lipids, is more prone to free radical damage than the components within the water portion of the cell. Chaparral is different because it is not limited to the water or lipid portions of the cell. The antioxidants in chaparral work in both parts of the cell.
The antioxidants in chaparral include flavonoids, and a very powerful antioxidant known as nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA). NDGA is such a strong and effective antioxidant that it was actually used for decades as an antioxidant preserservative for oils and foods, with full approval of the USDA.
Chaparral
Medical journals have reported that the use of the herb chaparral has been linked to cases of hepatitis. The chaparral issue started a while back when out of the clear blue there were 13 cases of hepatitis reported in a two year period, in people taking chaparral supplements. Though there are several unanswered questions. For instance, chaparral has been in use for thousands of years, and is still widely used from Mexico, to South America to cure various diseases, such as cancer. Yet there have only been 13 isolated cases of hepatitis reported in a two year period.
Furthermore, up to recently the chaparral extract nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) was widely used in the food industry for its powerful antioxidant properties. It was added to foods to prevent oils in the foods from becoming rancid. This is also the active component that inhibits the cellular division of cancer cells, and kills pathogens, such as many viruses. Despite decades of use as a food ingredient, again there were never any cases of hepatitis reported. The FDA never explained why there were only 13 isolated cases supposedly from chaparral in this two year period, with no cases reported before, nor since. By the way, contrary to popular belief, chaparral was never banned from the market. The FDA called for a voluntary moratorium since they could not legally ban the herb. The FDA can only ban an herb if they can prove that the herb shows an unreasonable risk to safety, something they were never able to do with chaparral. Nor with ephedra, which is why the FDA was ordered to lift their ban by a court of law. Though, when stores did not comply with their “voluntary moratorium”, the FDA would harass stores that they found openly selling chaparral, again in violation of the law. The reason that the FDA was never able to prove an unreasonable danger was because the FDA left out some very important facts about these 13 patients. These included the facts that many of these patients were taking pharmaceutical drugs well known for causing liver damage, and some of the patients were reported to have preexisting liver failure, BEFORE they started taking the chaparral.
Another fact they left out is the stability of the alkaloids in the plant. Chaparral does contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) when fresh. Some PAs are harmful to the liver, though they are also relatively unstable. As an example, both fresh comfrey and dried comfrey have been tested on rats to test for liver toxicity. What was determined was that only the fresh comfrey caused hepatitis in the rats, but not the dried comfrey since the PAs are readily destroyed by oxidation when dried. The same was found in cattle feeds that contained plants with PAs. If I recall right the PAs were destroyed in about 20 to 30 days of curing the hay rendering the hay safe. Though, this brings up another point. Some herbs have to be processed in a certain way to make them safe and useful. For instance rhemannia is Chinese foxglove root that is boiled in 9 changes of water to render it safe. Jack in the Pulpit root has to be aged for two years to prevent caustic burns. Some anthraquinone laxative herbs must be aged for several years before they can be used. The point here is that an herb should not be considered dangerous just because it is not prepared right, since the herb can be safe if properly prepared. Even though the PAs in chaparral have never been proven to cause liver damage as some PAs can, it is best to error on the side of caution and only use chaparral that has been thoroughly dried and aged for at least a month.
