Blood cleansing with herbs

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http://www.jonbarron.org/detoxing-health-program/08-04-2003.phpBlood Cleansing, Part 1 – Chaparral

Date: 08/04/2003

Posted By: Jon Barron

Let

me apologize in advance. This is supposed to be primarily a health

newsletter, but the last several issues have ended up being very

political in nature – dealing with your rights to obtain the herbs and

supplements you need to take back control of your own health.

Amazingly, even when you try and step away from it, you you find

yourself right back in the thick of it. As it turns out, it’s

impossible to talk about the blood cleansing formula without being

forced to deal with the same political nonsense -- yet again.

Blood Cleanser

First

of all, the very name “blood cleanser” is a euphemism. In fact, this

formula and every herb in it is anti-c***er. (You can fill in the

blanks for yourself.) Variations of this formula have been used for

hundreds of years by native American tribes. More recently versions

have surfaced as the Hoxey formula and Essiac Tea and Winters

Tea, etc. The very fact that we can’t talk openly about the anti-cancer

property of herbs and herbal formulas is probably the most political

topic in alternative health today. (Listen to my talk on Cancer, The Big Lie, to get a better understanding of this issue.)

But as we go through the individual herbs in my favorite version of this formula…

Chaparral, Red clover, Burdock root, Poke root, Yellow dock root,

Goldenseal root, Oregon grape root, Bloodroot, Mistletoe, Periwinkle

flowers, Lobelia seeds, Sheep sorrel, and Cayenne

…you

will find that almost half of them are on the FDA hit list, and

virtually all of them are on the Canadian hit list. And you will find

numbers of these herbs on the hit lists of European countries such as

Switzerland and Germany.

What’s going on here? Why is it

that the very same herbs that the great herbalists single out as being

most beneficial are banned by governmental authorities as useless and

even toxic? How does this happen – again and again? (Of course, these

same authorities might have more credibility if the alternative they

were pushing, prescription drugs, wasn’t killing several million people

worldwide every year.)

Let’s discuss several of the herbs

in the formula I detailed above and see why I recommended them. In this

issue of the newsletter, we only have room to discuss one – chaparral.

Chaparral

As

I’ve already mentioned, native Americans have used Chaparral for

centuries as an anti-cancer remedy. Exactly how it works is open to

debate, but some of its main actions are:

Chaparral is one of the most powerful anti-oxidants in nature. The

primary biochemical responsible for this is NDGA (nordihydroguaiaretic

acid) – so effective, it is often used as a food preservative

Chaparral cleanses the lymph system

It cleanses the blood

It cleanses the liver

It cleanses the urinary tract

It’s a natural chelator that clears heavy metals from the blood

It

is anti-pathogenic. In other words it drives microbes and parasites

from the body. Chaparral has even shown much promise with herpes.

Studies show that chaparral may also inhibit cell proliferation as well as DNA synthesis.

University tests have indicated that chaparral can destroy and dissolve many types of tumors.

So how could such a beneficial herb be on every government’s blacklist?

According

to the FDA, "Chaparral: sold as teas and pills to fight cancer and

"purify blood," has been linked to serious liver damage. FDA has

recorded two deaths and 10 cases of hepatitis or other liver

abnormalities in users."

The reality, though, is that the

evidence for chaparral liver toxicity is anecdotal. It is not the

result of any double blind studies or of any clinical trials. For

example, one of the cases the FDA likes to single out can be found in

the Journal of the American Medical Association (273 (6):489). The

details of the case concern a 60-year-old woman who developed jaundice

and liver failure while taking one to two capsules of chaparral each

day with a pinch of garlic in a tea made from nettle and chickweed. The

authors of the JAMA article concluded it was the chaparral that caused

the liver problems. What is fascinating is that the patient in question

was also consuming atenolol, aspirin, was on a nitro patch, and

occasional acetominophen, as well as diltiazem hydrochloride - all

drugs with profound hepatoxic potential. Amazingly, none of these other

substances was even considered as a possible cause of the liver

problems by the authors...or the FDA. What a surprise!

Nevertheless

(and despite the fact that extensive studies on chaparral in the 1970s

and 1980s were unable to find any hepatotoxic properties), in December

of 1992, FDA Commissioner Kessler announced, "The public should

not purchase or consume chaparral,"

Chaparral Toxicity

After

these allegations of liver toxicity by the FDA, manufacturers

voluntarily restricted sales of chaparral for several years until the

reports were investigated. Following a lengthy review, a panel of

medical experts concluded "no clinical data was found... to indicate

chaparral is inherently a hepatic toxin." In late 1994, this report was

submitted to the FDA and chaparral was subsequently given a clean bill

of health by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA). After

comparing the quantity of chaparral consumed each year (it is estimated

that over 200 tons, 500 million capsules, has been sold in the U.S. in

the last two decades alone) to the number of product complaints,

industry regulators concluded that chaparral did not pose a significant

threat to consumer safety. (Dr. Watt and a group of scientists

and doctors concluded that hepatoxicity was most likely due to an

allergic reaction rather than "inherent liver toxicity.")

So

is this remarkable herb, the cornerstone of many great anti c***er

formulas, now sold freely in the marketplace and used to benefit ailing

people all over the world? Hardly!

Search for “chaparral

toxicity” on the web and you will see numerous articles still

announcing the dangers of the herb (all citing the same cases from the

early 90’s.) Or try and buy chaparral in Canada or much of Europe.

Right! The problem is that once an herb is labeled dangerous (even if

disproved at a later date), the stigma remains – and is brought up over

and over and over again...acquiring truth through repetition, if not

fact.

Fortunately, despite the bad press, chaparral is at least available (for the time being) in the United States.http://www.jonbarron.org/detoxing-health-program/08-18-2003_2.phpwe’ll look at a number of the other herbs that are likely to be

found in a blood cleansing formula. We’ll spend the most time talking

about red clover, because, along with chaparral, it’s so fundamental to

the formula.

Red Clover

Red

Clover has a long history of use as a medicinal herb. It’s an excellent

blood purifier that over time gradually cleanses the bloodstream and

corrects deficiencies in the circulatory system. But among classic

herbalists, it is probably best know as one of the best herbs for

treating all varieties of cancer -- anywhere in the body -- and is

found as a central ingredient in many anticancer formulas, including

the Hoxsey formula, Winter’s tea, and Essiac tea.

Not

surprisingly, most doctors, the FDA and many “new-school” herbalists

have dismissed red clover as useless in dealing with cancer. However,

researchers at the National Cancer Institute have indeed found

anti-tumor properties in red clover. Genistein, a biochemical in red

clover has the ability to prevent tumors from developing the blood

supplies they need to survive – thus starving them and killing them.

As

it turns out, genistein is the same biochemical considered to be the

main active ingredient in soy. But red clover has a significant

advantage over soy. It contains not just genistein, but significant

levels (about ten times that found in soy) of all four main estrogenic

isoflavones, including daidzein and genistein. In addition to

isoflavones, red clover contains another class of anti-cancer

phytoestrogen compounds called coumestans -- in the form of biochanin

and formononetin. Consuming red clover isoflavones results in higher

blood levels of diadzein and genistein, moderate blood levels of

biochanin, and low levels of formononetin – at about the same profile

seen in the blood of vegetarians who consume a variety of legumes.

Note: Soy consumption, unlike red clove consumption, does not result in any increase in biochanin or formononetin in the blood.

Other Blood Cleansing Herbs

Burdock root

is probably the most famous detoxifying agent in the herbal arsenal. It

cleanses the blood by increasing the effectiveness of all of the body’s

elimination systems. Its diuretic effect helps the kidneys filter

impurities from the blood. It helps push toxins out through the skin,

and it also boosts the ability of the liver to remove toxins. The

bottom line is that by pushing toxins out through a variety of

pathways, burdock can purify the blood with minimal side effects and

with minimal stress to the body.

Pokeroot and Yellow dock root

are both powerful blood cleansers and lymph cleansers, inciting and

increasing the action of lymph glands throughout the entire body. Not

surprisingly, both herbs are staples of many traditional herbal

anti-cancer formulas.

Bloodroot has been

researched and found to be a potent anticancer agent. In addition to

laboratory tests, it has been used to treat tens of thousands of people

over the last century and a half. Many of these (according to some

estimates as many as 80%, which is probably greatly exaggerated)

experienced remission of malignancy and longer life expectancies than

people with similar conditions who chose different treatments. (Note:

Dr. Weil has stated that Bloodroot preparations can be used as

an effective alternative remedy in the treatment of skin cancers and

moles.)

Oregon grape root is frequently used by herbalists as a blood cleanser and to stimulate the liver and gall bladder and as a mild laxative.

Mistletoe use

for treating cancer is so widespread in central Europe that it actually

is estimated as many as 60 to 70 percent of cancer patients incorporate

it into their therapy. Even now, the National Institutes of Health is

recruiting patients for a study on mistletoe. According to the details

of the study, “mistletoe lectin may slow the growth of cancer cells and

be an effective treatment for solid tumors.”

Sheep sorrel

- Renée Caisse, who popularized Essiac tea as a cancer cure, felt sheep

sorrel was the most active cancer fighter among all the herbs present

in her formula. That viewpoint was seconded by Dr. Chester Stock at

Sloan-Kettering in New York. Dr. Shock studied sheep sorrel for over

three year years. His conclusion was that sheep sorrel was found to be

responsible for the destruction of cancer cells in the body, and their

amalgamation where metastasized cancer cells may actually return to the

original tumor site.

Not surprisingly, this information was

made available to the public. But even better, when the Canadian

Ministry of Health & Welfare saw the study, they immediately banned

sheep sorrel from sale and distribution!

In conclusion,

these are some of the key herbs you are likely to find in a blood

cleansing formula. I recommend that a round of blood cleansing should

be done a minimum of twice a year, or as often as required for

particular conditions. It works well, although it is not necessary to

do so, to combine blood cleansing with a semi-annual liver and

gallbladder flush.