The following is Taheebo Life Tea - Part #3 - Final part of this article by Dr. Mowry

  

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Dr. Mowry is known primarily for his efforts to bring scientific data about herbal medicine to the attention of the American public. Toward this end he has published the books entitled the Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine, and Guaranteed Potency Herbs: Next Generation Herbal Medicine, which have become standard texts in the field.

 

Dr. Mowry is Director of the Mountainwest Institute of Herbal Sciences, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Anti-Viral

One of the strongest actions of lapacho is against viruses. The range of viruses inactivated by lapacho extends from those that cause the common cold to those that are responsible for AIDS. It has been shown to actively inhibit, kill or stunt the growth of several dangerous viruses, including herpes virus hominis types I and II, polio virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, avian myeloblastosis virus, rauscho murine leukemia virus, friend virus, and rous sarcoma virus. Several other viruses are also inhibited by lapacho's N- and A-factors.

 

One N-factor, beta-lapachone, inhibits enzymes in virus cells that directly affect the synthesis of DNA and RNA. It is also a potent inhibitor of the enzyme reverse transcriptase, involved in RNA/DNA relationships. Once these processes are inhibited, the virus is unable to take over the reproductive processes of the cell and cannot, therefore, replicate itself and infect other cells. Such inhibition is a characteristic of most substances that are being tested for activity against AIDS and Epstein-Barr. The enzyme in question is a key to the action of retroviruses. These viruses, also known as ribodeoxyviruses or oncornaviruses, have been implicated in the development of several kinds of experimental cancers. Beta-lapachone is obtained simply by treating lapachol with sulfuric acid, and tests show that it has a unique method of action vis-a-vis the reverse transcpritase inhibition.

 

"the yerbamate and red lapacho have made me feel more alert and awake, zesty, and happy, without the harmful side effects of caffeine; (they) increase virility and vigor."

 

Note: Sulfurous compounds in some plants, especially yerbamate, when combined with lapacho might provide a catalytic base for the transformation of lapachol tobeta-lapachone, and hence increase the effectiveness of the lapacho. In this light it is interesting to note that native folklore teaches that yerbamate is a catalyst for lapacho; yerbamate becomes the foundation for lapacho therapy.

 

ANTI PARASITIC

Lapacho components have been intensively studied in terms of their action against two rather nasty parasites: Schistosoma mansoni and Trypanosoma cruzi, both responsible for considerable disease and misery in tropical countries. Lapacho was effective against both.

 

Taken by mouth, lapachol is eventually secreted onto the skin via the sebaceous glands where it acts as a topical barrier, inactivating microorganisms soon after they contact the skin. 

 

Meanwhile, throughout the G.I tract, it is performing the identical function on the mucous membranes, preventing the penetration of parasites. 

 

The mechanism of action is not well understood, but is felt to involve the uncoupling of cellular respiration (see Cellular Mechanics Section), the stimulation of lipid peroxidation and super oxide production, and the inhibition of DNA/RNA biosynthesis.

 

CANCER

Lapacho has been extensively investigated for potential anti-cancer activity. Even the National Cancer Institute has gotten in the act, but in their own typical way, they managed to drop the ball before achieving success. They restricted their investigations to lapachol, and once they found that this substance had side effects that offset its potential therapeutic benefits, they abandoned the project. The holistic practitioner readily perceives the fallacy of that approach, and is skeptical of applying isolated herbal constituents. As if in conformation of that skepticism, research that involved whole lapacho has produced clinical anti-cancer effects without side effects.

 

Animal research in the United States made a gigantic stride forward when it was discovered that lapachol inhibited solid tumors (Walker carcinosarcoma 256 and Ehrlich solid carcinoma) and Ehrlich ascites cell tumors. Such research then took a gigantic stride backwards when clinical toxicity of lapachol prematurely ended these investigations.

 

One interesting line of research has shown that lapachol is more effective when ingested orally, rather than injected into the gut or into the muscles. These results contradict a substantial amount of research on orthodox drugs that indicates the superiority of injectable routes. 

 

What is the meaning of this anomaly? Could it be a sign that natural routes of administration (i.e., oral) are better suited for natural substances? The further removed from the natural state, the more active substances become when injected directly into the blood stream, and the less able the natural processes of the body are in dealing with them.

 

Using the wood of the plant, several researchers have studied the effects of lapachol, alpha- and beta-lapachone and xyloidone on experimental cancer (Yoshida's sarcoma and Walker 256 carcino-sarcoma). As high as 84% inhibition was observed on Yoshida's sarcoma. And no toxicity was found.

 

In one clinical study, South American researchers administered lapachol to patients with various forms of cancer, including adenocarcinoma of the liver, breast and prostate, and squamous carcinoma of the palate and uterine cervix. Taken orally, the substance resulted in temporary reduction of all conditions and in a significant reduction in pain. Duration of treatment was anywhere from 30 to 720 days, with an average of about two months. 

 

For example, one patient with liver cancer presented with a significant reduction in jaundice accompanied by other signs of improvement after eight days of therapy. These results were in close accord with results obtained by the same researchers in animal studies. 

 

One wonders what the administration of whole purple lapacho phloem might have accomplished in this setting; other lines of evidence suggest that even better results may have been obtained.

 

"During exploratory surgery it was noted that I had ovarian, stomach, intestine & liver cancer. I was told I had approximately 4 to 6 months to live. I made up my mind to fight. I went for chemotherapy, drank a quart of red lapacho tea, an ounce of aloe vera juice and took various vitamins daily. After 11 mos. the physicians could not believe what they found (no cancer). I continue to have regular check-ups and have proved to be a 'miracle case'."

 

A Note on Nausea: In the human study reported above, some patients dropped out of the experiment due to nausea. This is a common observation in some, but certainly not all, people who begin to experience the cleansing action of lapacho (and other healthful herbs). 

 

As toxins (and toxic medicines) and wastes are drawn out of the cells, or flushed out, or physiologically expelled from the cells, through the action of the herb, they tend at times to accumulate in the blood, lymph, lymph nodes, skin, liver and kidneys awaiting the opportunity to be expelled from the body. Backing up, they can, on occasion produce sensations such as nausea; the body may even try to rid itself of some toxic substances by vomiting. 

 

Not to worry. These transient signs dissipate once the toxins are moving freely from the body. They are a positive sign that the herb is working. Remember the body only has three basic processes for getting rid of wastes: lower bowel movement, sweating, urinating. The use of lapacho can so overload these processes in the early stages that discomfort may be produced.

 

"My wife was dying of cancer. She has a malignant tumor on her temple. The pain was so intense the doctors wanted to keep her sedated in the hospital until she died. We decided not to give up. For three weeks now she has been drinking purple lapacho tea. The tumor looks much better; it began draining and no longer looks so 'angry.' The pain is much less, and she can get up and move around the house. Our M.D. is impressed! . . . Now we have hope!"

CELLULAR MECHANICS

 

 

Every cell of the body requires oxygen and glucose to obtain energy for life-sustaining functions. The oxygen and glucose are subjected to a fairly complex metabolic process in the tiny energy producing structures in the cell called mitochondria. This process requires numerous enzymes and coenzymes. The oxygen and glucose are converted to carbon dioxide and water which are then returned to the blood. the CO2 is exhaled by the lungs (hence this metabolic process is often called "respiration"); excess water is eventually drawn off through perspiration or through the kidneys. 

 

During this conversion, several free electrons are freed up, which are immediately utilized by another pathway to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy currency of the cell--ATP is the molecule every cell is required to utilize, or spend, to obtain energy. The two paths--one for breakdown of glucose, and one for synthesis of ATP--are tightly coupled together. Should they become uncoupled, the cell can no longer obtain energy, and it dies. Such poisoning has acquired the name of "uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation."

 

Many agents have been found that uncouple oxidative phosphorylation; many of them resemble the N-factors in lapacho. In fact, it has been found that lapacho works like other benzoquionones, i.e., it uncouples the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation occurring in cancerous cells, but not in healthy ones.

 

This selective killing (cytotoxicity) of tumor cells is what makes lapacho such a potentially valuable agent for the treatment of cancer.

 

One of the games science plays is attempting to discover at what point cellular respiration is broken up by chemical agents The components of lapacho seem to interrupt the process at several points, usually by inhibiting an enzyme or coenzyme that is required for the next step in the chain to occur properly.36-38 For instance, lapacho inhibits the proper functioning of ATPase, the enzyme that catalyzes the final step in the formation of ATP.

 

Lapachol has also been shown to inhibit the amount of another substance required for cellular reproduction: uridine triphosphate.

 

This molecule is the main source of substances (called pyrimidine nucleotides) that are required by cells in order to build DNA, RNA and most other important proteins of the body. Lapacho may actually block the syntheses of pyrimidines in cancer cells (by inhibiting the enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase).

 

The result would be certain cellular death.

 

There is also evidence that lapachol interacts directly with the nucleic acids of the DNA helix in cancerous cells. If such interaction, or bonding, takes place then DNA replication would be impossible. The result is also eventual death of the cell.

 

Finally, lapacho constituent beta-lapachone has been shown to weaken malignant cells, even to the point of cellular death, by stimulating a process known as lipid peroxidation, which produces toxic molecules.

 

TOXICITY

While there can be no doubt that lapacho is very toxic to many kinds of cancer cells, viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites and other kinds of microorganisms, the substance appears to be without any kind of significant toxicity to healthy human cells. The side-effects mainly encountered, and usually with isolated lapacho constituents, are limited to nausea and anticoagulant effects in very high doses, a tendency to loosen the bowels, and diarrhea in very high doses. 

 

As indicated earlier, some nausea should be expected as a natural consequence of the detoxification process. The FDA gave lapacho a clean bill of health in 1981.

Some trials have indicated that lapachol has anti-vitamin K action. Other constituents have a pro-vitamain K action; it is likely, therefore, that the two actions cancel each other out (except possibly when one or the other is necessary--as one would expect from an herbal tonic).

 

Perhaps the most significant study on toxicity was published in 1970 by researchers from the Chase Pfizer & Co., Inc. Looking specifically at lapachol, these investigators found that all signs of lapachol toxicity in animals were completely reversible and even self limiting, i.e., over time the signs of toxicity decreased and even disappeared within the time constraints of the study. 

 

The most severe kinds of self-limiting side-effects they observed were an anti-vitamin K effect, anemia, and significant rises of metabolic and protein toxins in the blood stream. The diminution of these signs indicates that lapacho initiates an immediate "alterative" or "detoxification" effect on the body's cells. Once the cells are "cleaned up," the signs of toxicity disappear. This effect is quite common among herbal tonics.

 

HOW MUCH AND WHEN

Lapacho can be used periodically as a preventative during colds and flu season, or whenever the chances for infections are high. Experience has taught that lapacho is best ingested as a tea, one or two cups a day, morning and evening. Used in this fashion, it promotes the health of the immune system, helps prevent the onset of colds and flus, keeps the bowel healthy and may impart some of the other important therapeutic effects, including a positive effect on arthritis, pain, localized infection (e.g. candida) and systemic infection.

 

During periods of acute, active infection, lapacho should be administered several times a day in tea form. It is up to the individual to determine the optimum amount for him or her. It is not uncommon for a person's awareness of his or her personal health needs and requirements to increase dramatically when turning to a health-oriented, herbal approach.

 

"I was bitten by a brown recluse spider, but didn't know it for 3 days; it was finally diagnosed in an emergency room when the pain and swelling got so bad I couldn't take it any longer. An ointment was prescribed, but I used instead a compress made of two tea bags of lapacho, changed often. Relief was almost immediate. And, after 3 days, the doctor was amazed by the fact that all swelling and pain had disappeared, and new, healthy, tissue was growing back rapidly."

 

One of the best ways to ingest lapacho is in tea form, either with tea bags, or in a loosely cut and sifted, or "bulk" form. Using bulk presents problems of filtering out the fiber. The use of the South American "bombilla," a metal straw with a filter on one end, normally used for drinking yerbamate, neatly solves this problem.

 

Capsules are also available, but are not nearly as effective as the tea. One of the most intriguing routes of administration is the recent introduction to the marketplace of a mist that is simply sprayed into the mouth and rapidly absorbed directly into the bloodstream.

 

It is highly recommended by this author as well as folklore wisdom that lapacho be routinely combined with yerbamate. The reasoning, based on centuries of experience in these matters by South American natives, is that the yerbamate has an activating effect on the actions of lapacho. Yerbamate, of course, imparts a good deal of medicinal action itself, as discussed in my booklet: "YerbaMate: Unequaled Natural Nutrition."

 

CONCLUSION

Throughout the width and breadth of the earth there exist plants with the amazing ability to cure and prevent the ills of mankind when used with wisdom. They grow and blossom and concentrate valuable healing nutrients within their tissues.

 

It is the obligation of animals and people to discover these properties and utilize them in the manner intended by the governing and organizing principles of nature. The search does not begin nor end in a research laboratory.

 

It begins with the experimentation of simple people living close to the earth, who invest nothing in their search save the desire to live healthy, prevent sickness and cure disease. It ends when the rest of the world accepts knowledge so gained, and incorporates it into their own health system.

 

The need for scientific examination results in the accumulation of interesting and sometimes useful data; at its best it opens new avenues for effective application of the wisdom of the ancients. 

 

At its worst, it asks the wrong questions, obtains the wrong answers, becomes puffed up by its own importance, and gets in the way of man's quest for the discovery of nature's healing gifts.

 

Science and folklore need not clash. When they do, it is usually because the wrong questions were asked, the wrong answers obtained, the wrong materials examined, the wrong people involved. Lapacho currently finds itself in the middle of worldwide confusion. 

 

As data showing the efficacy of lapacho accumulates in some areas of the world, other areas continue to ignore basic sources of information; data gathered in such a vacuum disappoints the mind and obstructs progress.

 

We prefer to believe that lapacho, given enough time, will emerge into the full light of day, even from the dark and muddling laboratories of the United States, and will take its rightful place as one of the great healing herbs of the world. We prefer to believe that until then the herb will be immune to the dealings of dim and uninspired regulatory proceedings on bright continents. 

 

We prefer to believe that, in the end, the millions of lapacho users will prevail.