Herbal Remedies for fevers ~ part 4

Lions and Tigers and Fevers, oh my!

Fevers are often the most dreaded aspect of having the flu. They can bring aches and pains with them as well as uncomfortable thermal changes in the body. From cold shivers to waking up drenched in sweat, to aches and pains and restlessness, fevers are not most people’s cup o’ tea. 

Many people even fear fevers and this fever seems to be exponentiated when it is a fever in children. Officially called, “fever phobia” there is a current drive to educate people and parents to dispel many of the myths surrounding fevers. 

Herbalist jim mcdonald has a great list of resources about “Fever Phobia” here. If you are concerned about fevers or if you often reach for tylenol or NSAIDs during times of fever I highly suggest you take a look at jim’s resource page to better understand fevers.

Beneficial immune system response

Fevers are one of our most important immune system defenses. Physiologically, a fever is created by the hypothalamus gland raising the body temperature in response to detecting bacterial proteins in the body, or the detection of cytokines, which are chemicals released in the body at the site of an infection. The raising of the body temperature is a defense mechanism of the immune system that attempts to kill various viruses and bacteria because they do not tolerate high temperatures.

Not only does the temperature of the body affect pathogenic growth, but fevers also increase blood  and lymphatic circulation, thereby helping to deliver a better immune response. Herbalist Paul Bergner says that antibody production is increased 20 fold during a fever.

The fact that fevers are beneficial does not change the fact that they can be uncomfortable. In the herbalist’s paradigm the focus of addressing someone with a fever is not to suppress the fever, but rather to support the person’s immune system as well as bring comfort to the feverish person. 

How we do this depends on the state of the person and the stage of the fever. I am going to present a fever in four different stages, which is how I originally learned from Paul Bergner. Please keep in mind that fevers rarely progress along a linear track. 

Don’t Forget!

I’ve said it many times in this series on cold and flu, but it is worth mentioning again. Rest and sleep are often the best medicine we can take while we are sick. None of these herbal suggestions are meant to replace rest. 

Beginning Stages of a Fever - External Wind-Cold

The first indications of a fever are often feelings of being cold.  As discussed above, the hypothalamus detects the need to raise the body’s set point temperature. In this first stage the patient often feels cold as the body attempts to heat up. Shivering, which raises the metabolism up to 30%, may occur to increase body temperature and there is usually an aversion to cold and to wind.

In this stage we often instinctually reach for more clothes, take a warm bath, or crawl under the covers. By taking these actions we are helping the inherent wisdom of the body by taking care to warm up!

Another highly effective approach during this stage of the fever is sweating therapy. If you don't have easy access to a sauna, this can be done by putting your feet in a tub of water while sitting in a chair. The water should be as hot as possible without causing discomfort. Then, wrap a sheet and then a thick blanket around yourself, covering your body, the steaming water and chair. Leave your head poking out. The steam will heat up your tent giving you a DIY sauna. Keep up the sauna, changing out the water as necessary, for as long as it feels good to you. 

We can further help support our immune system by administering warming and stimulating diaphoretics. Warming or stimulating diaphoretics, sometimes referred to as diffusive herbs, increase the core temperature that then radiates to the surface.

Materia Medica of Warming and Stimulating Diaphoretics

In general we want to give the following herbs as hot teas. Tinctures can also be used by placing the tincture in hot water. 

Ginger

I’ve mentioned ginger in every part of this series. It’s true that if I only had one herb during a respiratory infection, I would want it to be ginger. 

I discuss it here for the first stages of a cold or flu and here for a sore throat. 

This spicy herb is an effective stimulating diaphoretic. You can use fresh or dried ginger root (actually rhizome) for this, I prefer dried since it is spicier in nature. For the best results make the strongest decoction you can of the root. I generally use 2 tablespoons of dried root to about10 ounces of water. If this is too strong for you, dilute it with some water and then use less root next time.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) 

Yarrow is famous for it’s ability to aid a person during a fever. Like most herbs it refuses to be categorized and I use it both during the cold stages of a fever and the warm stages. You can also take a dropperful of the tincture in a quarter cup of warm/hot water. Read more about yarrow here. 

Butterfly on yarrow flowers

The following recipe is a wonderful tea blend for fevers that is beneficial for most people during the various stages. I think it is important that we learn to differentiate what herbs to use for specific stages and people. However, for those friends and family less herbally nerdy than myself I often give them this tea blend to have on hand since it just plain helps fevers. I’ve heard that this recipe comes from the European Gypsies. 

Gypsy Tea for Fevers

1 part elder flower

1 part yarrow leaf and flower

½ part peppermint

½ part rose hips

Garlic (Allium spp.) 

Take one bite of a fresh clove of garlic and you’ll have no doubt about this potent herb’s facility to heat the body. You can read more about the different ways of taking this herb in previous parts of this series.

Bee balm (Monarda spp.) and Thyme (Thymus spp.) 

These two herbs have very similar actions, although I often find bee balm to be spicier. These are two delicious herbs that can be enjoyed as hot teas. You can read more about bee balm here. 

Bee balm

Traditional Chinese Medicine

In Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs associated with the Liver are often used during times of fever. I’ve only just begun to use western “liver” herbs for fevers but wanted to mention this since it is my current interest. 

Popular Chinese formulas for fevers include Gan Mao Ling which is a formula commonly used for External Wind-Heat (see below). And Minor Blue Dragon Combination (Xiao Qing Long Tang) is more commonly used for External Wind-Cold. 

Minor Bupleurum Combination (Xiao Chai Hu Tang) is an interesting formula built around Bupleurum and Skullcap (Huang Qin)  that is used for lingering colds and flu and for those manifestations that are half internal and half external, half hot and half cold and half excess half deficient. 

You can buy these formulas as patent formulas, but more traditional medicine would formulate these core formulas to match the person more closely. 

Warm stages of a fever - External Wind-Heat

The second stage is when the body temperature has reached the set point. The thermometer will read a higher temperature. 

During this stage of the fever the pulse may be rapid and strong, there may be a yellow coating on the tongue and the skin may feel warm and dry. Drowsiness may also result. The patient is no longer shivering. Although keep in mind that once we have a fever the temperature is rarely set in stone. It’s quite normal to see temperatures rising and lowering slightly.

During this stage we want to focus on the following: rest, a well-ventilated room, being hydrated with an emphasis on lukewarm drinks rather than hot beverages and bringing comfort to the person with a fever. Hydrotherapy can also be employed by taking tepid (not cold) baths.

Herbally speaking we generally use relaxing diaphoretics during this time. Relaxing diaphoretics open the pores, letting the heat escape. To borrow a analogy from jim mcdonald, it’s like opening a window in a hot a stuffy room. 

Pain and restlessness are the biggest complaints during this stage of the fever. Using herbs to soothe and comfort the feverish person are also quite welcome.

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) 

During a fever it’s common to experience general aches and pains throughout the body. These aches are from muscle tissue being broken down as a result of amino acids being taken from the muscles. Once these amino acids are freed up they are utilized in anti-body production, white blood cell production, and tissue repair. Boneset, which we will discuss below is specific for helping this phase of a fever.

Boneset has been an important herb historically during intense flu outbreaks. The common name most likely refers to its use during an illness when the “bones feel like breaking.” It was used extensively during the flu outbreak of 1918 as well as for dengue (an acute febrile infection in the tropics) outbreaks. It is specific for when you feel the aches and pains of a fever.

Boneset also has immunostimulant properties and has been clinically shown to increase phagocytosis (Bergner). This may make it another important regimen at the beginning stages of a cold or flu.

If you feel the aches creeping in, have a 1⁄2 cup serving of warm boneset tea. Drink this bitter herb too hot and it can cause vomiting. 

I am going to warn you that this is generally not people’s favorite herb to taste. It’s incredibly bitter. Adding elderflowers, rose hips and mint may slightly improve its taste. Many people find that it bring such welcome relief to their aches and pains that they become accustomed to the taste and even welcome it during feverish stages. 

Elderflower (Sambucus nigra, S. canadensis) 

Elderflower is a relaxing diaphoretic that is effective, yet extremely gentle. Young children, expecting mothers, and elders can use this herb as needed. I often tell parents that this is the one herb to have on hand for their child’s illness. 

One common formula is to mix elderflowers with mints. I usually take my elderflower in a tea blend as listed in the above section on yarrow. You can also place a cup of elderflowers in a quart mason jar, fill with just boiled water, strain after a half hour and then drink lukewarm.

Elderflowers near Escalante, Utah

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)

Chamomile often doesn’t get the respect it deserves! This is a wonderful herb to use in fevers and is especially useful for calming a distressed child (along with hugs and comfort from caregivers) and for those aches and pains. But don’t get fooled into thinking chamomile is a “child’s herb.” It can soothe us adults as well and bring a lot of relief from pain during a fever. 

Chamomile

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) 

Another safe yet effective plant, catnip has a mild taste makes it a good choice for little ones.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) 

Another relaxing diaphoretic, lemon balm can also soothe the nerves to allay stress and reduce the duration and painfulness of fever blisters (herpes virus). More info here.

The Third Stage

During the third stage of fever the hypothalamus lowers the set point temperature to normal. The body’s cooling response is to sweat profusely. This “breaking of the fever” involves profuse sweating and is often accompanied by the throwing off of the covers.

It’s normal during this third stage for there to be a fluctuation of temperatures, so a person may feel chilled and then too hot, then chilled and then too hot and so on. In the end the temperature can often linger about a degree too high and will then, eventually, fall to normal.

Willow (Salix spp.)

Willow bark is specific for intermittent fevers or those fevers with fluctuating  temperatures. I generally use it as a tincture in lukewarm water but you could certainly use it as a decoction as well. More info here. 

Stay hydrated!

In this stage the highest risk from harm is due to dehydration. Throughout all the stages of a fever a person should be kept well-hydrated, but this becomes especially important during this stage due to the large loss of liquid through the sweating process.

Aviva Romm suggest the following blend to help balance the electrolytes and keep some dehydrated. 

Quart of water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

2-3 tablespoons of honey or sugar

juice of half a lemon

Mix all the ingredients together (you may need to heat the mixture slightly to get everything to blend well). Then drink often as sips. 

Fourth Stage of the Fever

The fourth stage involves repairing and healing. Generally it is recommend that a person recovering from a feverish illness rest two days for every three days of fever. It’s also important to eat easily digestible protein (such as bone broth soups), to shower, to change sheets and generally making sure you are nourished, rested, clean, and comfortable. Returning to a regular regime too quickly can further compromise your immune system, leaving you more susceptible to sickness in the future.

Fever Considerations

When is a temperature too high? 

It’s important to not become too obsessed with the numbers on the thermometer. The best indication that a fever has become serious enough for more advanced care is the state of the person or child. Delirium, loss of consciousness or extreme fatigue are all serious signs. 

Anytime severe dehydration comes in to play also indicates time for medical treatment. 

In a normal person a fever has to get extremely high before it will cause injury. Human cells start dying at 110⁰.

Truly the highest risk from fevers is from dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.

However, there are special considerations when dealing with infants and the elderly or anyone who has a compromised immune system such as AIDS, cancer, or prolonged illness.

Bergner relates a review published in the conservative medical journal The New

English Journal of Medicine that looked at the treatment of fevers. It concluded

that there are three classes of people for whom lowering the fever is beneficial.

• people with heart disease (because the heart has to work really hard during a fever)
• very weak patients (increased metabolic demand may be too much)
• some cases of pulmonary disease

Basically if you have special health circumstances or if you are caretaking someone with a fever who is displaying alarming signs (as stated above) then please seek medical help. 

To eat or not to eat?

Ever wonder why it’s commonly said to starve a fever and feed a cold? When a person’s temperature rises one degree past their normal set point their natural appetite disappears. This is due to amino acids in the body being used for the immune response rather than for digestion. Ingesting bone broth soups and nutritious teas and infusions will serve you much better than eating while you have a fever. Once a temperature returns to normal, regular foods can be introduced back into the diet. 

Most importantly do not force yourself to eat during illness. Stay hydrated and only eat when hungry. 

Febrile seizures

A febrile seizure is a convulsion triggered by a rise in body temperature. It is a myth that high fevers cause febrile seizures. If children are prone to febrile seizures then that seizure will happen as easily at 101⁰ as it will at a higher temperature.

Paul Bergner:

Febrile seizures in children are not correlated with the severity of the fever. The cause is generally unknown, and they affect 3-5% of children in the U.S. and about 15% in some countries. Giving antipyretic drugs does not reduce the incidence of future seizures in children. Most disappear by age five. Most do not indicate a serious cerebral disease.

If a baby is experiencing a febrile seizure it is recommended to place the baby on their side to allow for saliva to flow from the mouth to keep the baby from choking. If a seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes call 911.

Herbalist Kiva Rose told me about using elderflower for those children who are prone to febrile seizures. It’s believed to help reset the fever mechanism.

In treating fevers use your best judgment and remember our job is to support the body’s natural functions, not quell symptoms. Fevers can be serious – if in doubt seek more advanced care.

Further resources

Acute Symptoms CD set from Paul Bergner

jim mcdonald podcast on fevers

myths about fevers

Todd Caldecott on Colds and Flu

Pharmaceutical Antibiotics Probably Promote Obesity

We may add obesity to the long list of iatrogenic (medicine-caused) disorders.

Katie Moisse of ABCnews online reports that antibiotics may promote obesity.

Her article refers to research done by Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center.  Blaser studies the effects of antibiotics on Helicobacter pylori — a bacterium that lives quietly in most but leads to ulcers in some.

In his animal research, Dr. Blaser found that:

"...antibiotics for H. pylori trick the body into eating more by disrupting hunger hormone levels. Indeed, mice given antibiotics get fatter than their untreated counterparts despite having the same diet."

Blaser published his concerns in an editorial in the August 24, 2011 issue of Nature under the title "Antibiotic overuse: Stop the killing of beneficial bacteria."  

I don't have access to that full text article, but in April of this year a team including Blaser published the results of a human intervention study in which they tested their hypothesis that altering intestinal flora with antibiotics influences appetite-regulating hormones and body mass: The effect of H. pylori eradication on meal-associated changes in plasma ghrelin and leptin (full text).


They found that people treated with antibiotics had a 6-fold increase in post-meal ghrelin, a 20 percent increase in leptin levels, and a 5 percent increase in body mass index 18 months after completing the course of antibiotics. 

 Science Daily reports that ghrelin "not only stimulates the brain giving rise to an increase in appetite, but also favours the accumulation of lipids in visceral fatty tissue." [1]  So antibiotics promote central abdominal obesity, the type associated with metabolic syndrome and increasing the risk of diabetes.

Even if this treatment had spectacular success in treating the main complaints of the patients involved, they might not appreciate the side effect of increased obesity.  But it gets worse.  The text contains this passage:

"At baseline, the 38 H. pylori-negative and 44 H. pylori-positive subjects did not differ significantly in median pain, non-pain, and satisfaction scores (data not shown). Among the 21 patients from whom H. pylori was eradicated, there were no significant differences between baseline and follow-up pain scores [Median (IQR) 9 (2-23) vs. 6 (2-15); p = 0.86], non-pain scores [13 (12-16) vs. 10 (10-18); p = 0.28], or satisfaction scores [13 (10-23) vs. 19 (12-20); p = 0.29]. Thus, the observed increase in BMI following eradication (Figure3) was not correlated with diminished dyspepsia that could increase appetite."  [Emphasis added]

According to these authors, pain levels did not differ between people who were H. pylori positive and those who were H. pylori negative.  This might suggest to some people (like myself) that H. pylori does not cause of the problem.  Further, treatment to eradicate H. pylori did not result in any significant reduction in dyspepsia (stomach discomfort).  This again suggests that H. pylori does not cause the problems experienced by the patients.

So, the destruction of H. pylori didn't give the patients significant relief from their main complaint (stomach discomfort), but it did make them fatter.  How do you like that for an effective treatment strategy? 

I hypothesize that the gut flora reflect the diet, and that imbalanced nutrition causes both H. pylori overgrowth and dyspepsia.   If you change the food flowing through the gut, you will change the flora.  Overgrowth of H. pylori only serves as a marker for a particular type of diet, and does not the cause the dyspepsia.  Killing off H. pylori doesn't give people relief from their gut complaints because their gut complaints arise from dietary and stress factors that remain unchanged by eradication of H. pylori.  

How about holiday weight gain?  Many people report gaining weight over the winter, which may coincide with increased (misguided) use of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections.

Not Just Obesity?

According to another article on ABC News online by Mikaela Conley,  "Blaser hypothesized that the overuse of antibiotics may even be fueling the 'dramatic increase' in many illnesses, including type 1 diabetes, allergies and inflammatory bowel disease by destroying the body's friendly flora, or protective bacteria" in his Nature editorial.

Some cancers appear related to antibiotic use as well.

Tamim et al reported finding a dose-response relationship between antibiotic exposure and breast cancer in Canada, with the highest antibiotic exposure linked to a nearly doubled risk of breast cancer:

"The incidence of breast cancer was higher in subjects who had more antibiotic prescriptions during the 1-15 years prior to the index date (RRs = 1.50, 1.63, 1.71 and 1.79 for the four quartiles, respectively, p-trend = 0.0001). Similar results were found when a number of units were considered. We did not find any effect of the timing of antibiotic exposure on breast cancer risk. Similar patterns of increased risk of breast cancer were detected for the specific antibiotic classes."

Tamim et al also reported a dose-response relationship between antibiotic exposure and prostate cancer in Canada, with the highest exposure linked to an almost tripled risk of prostate cancer:

"Antibiotics exposure (number of prescriptions) during the period of 1-15 years in the past was significantly associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer; RR = 1.69, 2.61, 2.71, and 2.83 for the 4 quartiles, respectively, p-trend = 0.0001. When number of units was taken as the exposure definition, similar results were found. We did not find any effect of the timing or class of antibiotic exposure on prostate cancer risk. We found a dose-dependent association between antibiotics exposure up to 15 years in the past and risk of prostate cancer. However, the lack of temporal trends and the absence of class specific effects suggest a noncausal relationship."

Both of these studies suggested a noncausal relationship between antibiotics and cancer.  Since the relationship seems fairly strong on a statistical basis, I would guess that people who use antibiotics often have cancer-promoting lifestyles, whereas those who avoid antibiotic use have cancer-preventive lifestyles.  The habits that make people prone to infections also make them prone to cancers.

Prevalence of Antibiotic Abuse

Conventional physicians most commonly prescribe antibiotics for upper respiratory, sinus, or ear infections, despite the fact that most of these events involve viruses or fungi (sinuses), which are not susceptible to antibiotics. 


Apparently, according to Blaser, the average American child will receive 10 to 20 courses of antibiotics by the time he is 18 years old, and one-third to one-half of pregnant women will receive them during pregnancy. 

This means that the average American probably has disrupted gut flora and increased ghrelin levels before reaching adulthood.

The Herbal Alternative

I haven't used antibiotics for 30 years. 

If I, Tracy, or one of my patients needs help with an acute respiratory illness, I use acupuncture and herbal remedies.  Often the early application of the appropriate herbal formula can reduce the duration of a 'cold' or 'flu' to 3 days or less, compared to the 7 to 10 days typical for these challenges.

For my patients with chronic stomach discomfort associated with ulcers (or not), I use diet changes and if necessary, herbal medicines, with good results.

Evolutionary biology supports the use of herbal antimicrobials.  Plants need to defend themselves against viruses, bacteria, and fungi without pharmaceutical aid.  Natural selection favored the survival of plants that could fend off microbes, so those plants that could produce antimicrobial compounds survived evolution and those that could not, did not.

Plenty of scientific research shows various herbs have strong antimicrobial activities.  For example, following traditional Chinese medical practice, I use formulas containing forsythia fruit to treat sore throats and acne.  Qu et al reported on the antibiotic properties of forsythia components:

"Forsythiaside was found to possess strong antioxidant and antibacterial activity but forsythin was much weaker. Owing to these properties, the study can be further extended to exploit the possible application of forsythiaside as an alternative antioxidant and antibacterial agent of natural origin."

The "possible application"? Physicians trained in Chinese medicine have been using this herb for centuries!

Notice their reductionistic approach based on their limited knowledge.  They believe that forsythiaside is 'stronger' than forsythin because the former performed better in their test than the latter. 


This reflects the pharmaceutical approach, which so far focuses on taking one agent, isolating it and increasing the dose, hoping to find some dose of that one compound that will take down all of the cells in the microbial colony.  This ignores the variability of individual microbes which almost guarantees that no one compound will kill all individual microbial cells in a colony.


Its like thinking that 100 highly amplified violins will produce the same music (have the same effect) as a 100-piece symphony consisting of a dozen different instruments.  Using the example above, people who focus only on one plant compound like forsythiaside because it appears 'strongest' in some laboratory test forget that their test is limited by what they think they know.  They think forsythin is less important because it performed worse on their test. 

But forsythias produce 'weaker' chemicals like forsythin for some purpose, probably unknown to these researchers and to myself.  Not knowing the reason, we can't assume that the 'stronger' compound is the better one in a natural context.

I would wildly guess that in nature, some microbes will survive a huge dose of the 'strong' compound but die on contact with a small dose of the 'weak' compound.

The benefit of whole herbs lies in their provision of multiple antimicrobial compounds, each acting slightly differently from the others, resulting in a whole that exerts a greater effect than any single part--just like a symphony exerts a greater effect than 100 amplified violins.   The multiple angles of defense against microbes provided by a whole herbal extract increases the chance that it will weaken all microbes it contacts, and reduces the opportunity for the microbial colony to develop resistance to any one of the herbal compounds.  

Plants evolved their approach to controlling microbes over millenia.  Do we really think we can by dicking around with our limited intelligence improve on an approach that evolved by a process that we don't and will never understand completely?  

According to my copy of Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology by John Chen PhD, PharmD, OMD, L.Ac., the essential oil of forsythia fruit (Chinese: Lian Qiao):

" ...has demonstrated a broad specturm of inhibitory effects against Staphylococcus aureus, Diplococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus dysenteria, alpha-hemolytic streptococcus, beta-hemolytic streptococcus, Neisseria catarrhalis, Salmonella typhi, E. coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bacillus proteus, Boretella pertussis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, leptospira, and some dermatophytes and influenza viruses." (p. 175)

This provides only one example of literally dozens of antimicrobial herbs in the herbal pharmacopiae. 

With this knowledge, I just say no to pharmaceutical antibiotics.

Photo Friday - Oregon Grape Root

Photo Friday is here. Every other Friday I choose a plant and post a plethora of photos amidst some herbal tidbits. 


A couple weeks ago a friend of mine called to ask for a favor. She had a fairly large oregon grape plant in the middle of her garden. She had let it grow there since it was part of the native landscape. However, after years of watering and compost it was stretching too big. Would I be interested in harvesting it? she asks. 


Hell yes! 


It took me three hours to completely uproot the plant and then another 7 hours to scrape off the root bark for tincture. Spending hours with this plant and crafting it into medicine was well worth it! 


So in homage to this beautiful plant, I chose Oregon Grape Root for this week's Photo Friday. 


There are several species of this plant that grow frequently in the Pacific Northwest. According to Tom Elpel there are 520 species worldwide.  Mahonia aquifolium is the one that grows most frequently around me. Mahonia nervosa is frequently found on the other side of the Mountains. You can tell the two species apart by how many leaflets they have. 

Sometimes referred to as Tall Oregon Grape, Mahonia aquifolium has 7-9 leaflets. 

photo from wiki commons

Sometimes referred to as Dull Oregon Grape, Mahonia nervosa has 9-19 leaflets. 

True to its name, Tall Oregon Grape grows quite tall and can form dense patches of shrubs. 

In the spring yellow flowers appear bloom from the holly-like leaves. These flowers are edible. They have a slightly sour taste that goes well mixed into wild salad greens. 

Photo from wiki commons

Oregon Grape flowers have parts in threes. The above photo shows the 6 stamens, six petals and six sepals really well. 

The very young tender leaves can also be eaten. We chop them up finely and sprinkle them over vegetables and meats.

Once the leaves have matured however, they are quite spiny. I've often been pricked so deeply I've bled from the spines of the leaflets.  

Photo from wiki commons

The yellow flowers emerge into purplish blue berries. These berries can be coaxed into edibility. Be warned, depending on climate these are disastrously sour. I've had pretty decent oregon grape wine. Most people add loads of sugar to them to make syrups and jams. 


If the berries can be described as disastrously sour, then the roots are are decidedly bitter. 

The yellow coloring is due in part to the constituent berberine. In the herbal world you'll often hear people refer to "berberine plants". Oregon grape root, goldenseal, coptis and others all contain this constituent and are somewhat interchangeable for its action on the liver and its anti-microbial properties. 


It's vibrant yellow coloring also lends itself well to being a dye plant. 


At Mountain Rose's first annual Rootstalk festival I took a class from the infamous Howie Brounstein solely on Oregon grape root. The class was filled with interesting and humorous insights from his lifetime of working closely with this plant. 

Besides learning how it had saved his life (when he had a nasty tooth abscess while he was stranded on an island), I also learned about recent research showing how is  contains a specific multidrug resistance pump inhibitor (MDR Inhibitor) named 5'-methoxyhydnocarpin (5'-MHC). 


At the time that was Greek to me too. 


Basically, what this means is that it works to decrease bacterial resistance to antibiotics and antibacterial agents. Since resistance to bacteria is becoming an increasingly alarming problem this is fantastic news. Howie says that pharmaceutical companies are rushing to patent this constituent. (insert snarky comment here)


Oregon grape root is being threatened with over-harvesting due, in part, to the florist business. Those green leaflets stay vibrant looking long after they are picked making them very desirable for arrangements. Keep an eye on your local plants and report any illegal harvesting that you see. 


When harvesting the root for your personal use, learn how to harvest it sustainably. Horizontal and somewhat superficial roots can be sparingly harvested from the plant, leaving the remaining plant to grow. 

This fall I tinctured five quarts of the root bark. They'll go to good use at the Methow Herbal Health Center. 




Resources
Very informative monograph by Kiva
King's American Dispensary on Henriette's site
Further information about 5'-MHC

Fatty Foods and Sugar Addictive Like Cocaine

An article at Bloomberg.com reports:

"Cupcakes may be addictive, just like cocaine.

A growing body of medical research at leading universities and government laboratories suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks made by the likes of PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) aren’t simply unhealthy. They can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to cocaine, nicotine and other drugs.

“The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain.”

"Lab studies have found sugary drinks and fatty foods can produce addictive behavior in animals. Brain scans of obese people and compulsive eaters, meanwhile, reveal disturbances in brain reward circuits similar to those experienced by drug abusers."

To repeat, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse believes that  "The data is so overwhelming the field has to accept it."  Read more here.

It seems science has discovered a few new things about how food affects us since the early 20th century when German scientists believed, incorrectly, that insulin made people fat.

Read Stephan Guyenet's series about food reward starting here.

Can The Oceans Support Recommended Fish and Fish Oil Intakes?

Like many nutritionists, physicians, and 'public health" organizations, I have previously recommended increased intake of fish and fish oils to raise intake of omega-3 fatty acids, supposed to prevent or remedy cardiovascular and neurological diseases and possibly reduce cancer risk. 

Although the American Heart Association and similar organizations endorse this idea, in 2009 Jenkins et al questioned its wisdom on two bases:  the weakness of evidence for benefits of fish and fish oil intake, and the strength of evidence that global fisheries are collapsing and unable to support current, let alone increased, use of fish and fish oils.

"The main problem with this advice is that, even at current levels of fish consumption, fisheries globally have reached a state of severe crisis (Figure 1).5-8 Already, the demand from affluent and developing economies, particularly newly affluent China, cannot be met by the world's fisheries.6 Moreover, declining catches are increasingly diverted toward affluent markets rather than local ones, with dire consequences for the food security of poorer nations, islands and coastal communities.9"

Uncertain health benefits of fish and fish oil

Jenkins et al  point to a number of problems with the evidence supporting use of fish and fish oils:

1.  Healthy subject effect:  "....fish eaters generally have healthier lifestyles than the rest of the population. They exercise more, smoke less and have better diets.11^–13"  This makes it very hard to determine whether the better health found among people eating more fish is due to their fish consumption, or to these other habits.

2.  Inconsistent results:  Some interventional studies show benefits from increased intake of fish and fish oils, while others do not, and some, such as DART-2, showed harm, with an increased risk of cardiac death among men who took fish oils.

3.  Vegetarians appear to have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death therefrom, despite avoiding fish and fish oils, suggesting that non-fish dietary factors play a larger role.

4.  We have little evidence supporting the use of fish and fish oils for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or neurological or autoimmune diseases, or even for neurological development. 

Regarding the neurological argument, although Jenkins et al do not mention this, Sanders reviewed the available literature and reported that "There is no evidence of adverse effects on health or cognitive function with lower DHA intake in vegetarians." In addition, Beezhold  et al found a lower incidence of depression among vegetarians than among omnivores, despite lower intake of omega-3 fatty acids among the former.  They reported that "participants with low intakes of EPA, DHA, and AA and high intakes of ALA and LA had better mood," contradicting the hypothesis that depression results from insufficient intake of pre-formed long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. 

Declining Fish Stocks

Jenkins et al report:

"In contrast to the uncertainty over the value of omega-3 fish oils in the scientific literature, there is little doubt about the gravity of the fisheries crisis and the prospect of ongoing collapses of fish stocks. There is scientific consensus about the rapid worldwide decline of fish stocks. Notably, and despite increasing fishing effort, global catches have been in decline since the late 1980s (Figure 1A),5 and the number of collapsed stocks has been increasing exponentially since 1950 (Figure 1B).8^,47^,48 There are also over 100 confirmed cases of extinctions of marine populations in the world's oceans.49"

"When projected forward, these trends imply the collapse of all commercially exploited stocks by midcentury.7^,8 Yet the dire status of fisheries resources is largely unrecognized by the public, who are both encouraged to eat more fish and are misled into believing that we still sail in the sea of plenty.50 Indeed, the species that Westerners are supposed to eat in increasing amounts have stocks that are already under tremendous pressure (e.g., yellowfin tuna, the basis of the much recommended North American “tuna-fish sandwich”51) or that have collapsed, sometimes spectacularly, such as cod off the coast of northeastern Canada.52"

According to an article in the National Geographic, large fish stocks have declined 90 percent since 1950.

On November 2,  2006, Richard Black of the BBC reported on a study published in Science: "There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue."  Black reported:

Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the other scientists on the project, added: "Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood."

In short, the drive to eat more fish and fish oils will only accelerate the rate of destruction of marine ecosystems. 

At the very least, our hunger for fish and fish oils will leave future generations with a world wherein they will be unable to eat cod liver oil or fatty fish even if they needed to, because there just won't be any left in the oceans.

Seafood Poisoning

Perhaps people eating increased amounts of seafood will suffer the same fate as ocean fish.  Seafoods commonly contain chemical contaminants that appear to impair fertility, including mercury, PCBs, PEs, and others. 

Rozati et al found, among Indian men:

"PCBs were detected in the seminal plasma of infertile patients but absent in fertile controls (Table 1)."

"...a comparison between fish-eaters and non fish-eaters, irrespective of the dwelling revealed higher PCB concentrations and significantly lower total motile sperm counts in fisheaters than in non fisheaters (Tables 2,3)."

"Fish-eating urban dwellers had the highest PCB concentrations, followed in order by fish-eating rural dwellers, non fish-eating urban dwellers with an exclusively vegetarian diet and non fish-eating rural dwellers with an exclusively vegetarian diet. The total motile sperm counts in these men were inversely related to their PCB concentrations, being the least in fish-eating urban dwellers followed by fish-eating rural dwellers, non fish-eating urban dwellers with an exclusively vegetarian diet and non fish-eating rural dwellers with an exclusively vegetarian diet (Tables 2)."

Another study reported:

“The lowest levels of p,p'-DDT+p,p'-DDE and PCBs were found in milk from lacto-vegetarians and the highest levels in milk from mothers who regularly consumed fatty fish from the Baltic.”

Norén K. Levels of organochlorine contaminants in human milk in relation to the dietary habits of the mothers. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1983 Nov;72(6):811-6.

Does that make fish look like good brain food?