Chaparral: The Black Sheep of Herbs?

Today's Daily Health Tip

Chaparral: The Black Sheep of Herbs?
by Matt Anderson

Chaparral

Each week, we bring you a new ingredient that you can use to improve your health. This week, we’re looking at chaparral. Native Americans have used Chaparral leaf for centuries. Exactly how it works is open to debate, but some of its main benefits are:

• Chaparral leaf 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 leaf cleanses the lymph system.
• It is a powerful blood purifier.
• It cleanses the liver.
• It cleanses the urinary tract.
• Studies show that chaparral may also inhibit cell proliferation as well as DNA synthesis.

So how could such a beneficial herb be on everyone's blacklist?

According to the FDA, chaparral has been linked to serious liver damage. The FDA has recorded two deaths and 10 cases of hepatitis or other liver abnormalities in users.

The reality of the situation, 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 acetaminophen, 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 David Kessler announced, "The public should not purchase or consume chaparral."

Rare reports of serious liver disease have been associated with ingestion of chaparral. Seek advice from a health care practitioner before use and, in so doing, inform them if you have had, or may have had, liver disease, frequently use alcoholic beverages, or are using any medications. Discontinue use and see a doctor if vomiting, fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, or jaundice (e.g., dark urine, pale stools, yellow discoloration of the eyes) should occur.

So is this remarkable herb 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. 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, or larrea, is at least available (for the time being) in the United States.

Blood Cleansing, Part 1: Chaparral
Date: 08/04/2003 Written by: Jon Barron © 1999-2011 The Baseline of Health Foundation

Let me apologize in advance. This is supposed to be primarily a Barron Report, but the last several newsletter 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 Jason 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!

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. Clark 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.

Well, so much for chaparral. We'll talk about some of the other herbs in the blood cleansing formula in the next issue.

Blood Cleansing, Part 2: Red Clover

In our last issue of the newsletter, we began our discussion of blood cleansing formulas by looking at chaparral. In this issue we'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, Jason 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

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

Yellowdockroot

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

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. Andrew Weil has stated that Bloodroot preparations can be used as an effective alternative remedy in the treatment of skin cancers and moles.)

OregonGraperoot

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

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.”

sheepsorrel

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.

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Herbs, Plants, and Spices for your Health

Chaparral: The Black Sheep of Herbs?

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