It's all about quinine these days......
Why I use Cinchona bark for its quinine - C. officinalis, C. ledgeriana, C. succirubra
Also called Jesuit Bark, Quinine, Peruvian Bark, Fever tree, Chincona (its past pronunciation and spelling). It is the national tree of Peru and Equador.
Ever since the Vid I have been researching ways for people to stay healthy. One of my favorite past times is to delve into plant medicine and research about plants and maladies. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t have some research paper saved on my desktop to read over in regards to some sort of imbalance people are suffering from whether it be the Rona, POTS, Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, Lyme Disease or Parkinson’s. There is literally nothing herbs and mushrooms can’t help with, so I write this today to tell you about cinchona bark and why it is superior to other plants that contain quinine.
For one thing, it contains the highest amount of quinine of any plant. My second go-to is artemesia annua (Sweet Annie) another anti-malarial also employed for Lyme Disease and its co-infections. So you could probably guess that now I am going to start using cinchona for Lyme as well. Quinine is an alkaloid in the plant for all you science geeks like me and has been extracted and isolated out of the bark to make medicines like hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Chloroquine (CQ), but you don’t need to extract JUST the quinine to get benefits. This is what I love about whole plant medicine! I think people are so accustomed to synthesized medicine, plant medicine doesn’t seem strong enough and many definitely do not give the plants credence to do the job. IT IS strong enough! AND you can buy it locally in formulations right here in NH!
Cinchona has been used for a long time (since at least the 1630’s - but my guess longer for indigenous peoples) for its use as an anti-viral/anti-parasitic/antimalarial, and if you think about it, a virus acts much like a parasite, taking over a cell. Viruses also cannot live outside a cell (not for very long anyway) just like a parasite. Cinchona bark has also been used for fevers and heart arrhythmia's, so much so the bark was called the “fever tree” and “opium of the heart”. You may also know that some tonic water contains quinine. It gives it a slight bitter taste.
The mechanism of action of cinchona according to documentation, is poorly understood, but does have a direct affect on muscle membrane and sodium channels hence its use for legs cramps. Quinine acts to disrupt enzymatic action of parasites inhibiting them to breakdown and digest hemoglobin which then becomes toxic to them and they die. This is why quinine is so effective against malaria and especially the co-infection to Lyme, babesia. Both the Malaria parasite and babesia parasitize red blood cells and feed off the heme. Synthesized drugs made from cinchona: HCQ and CQ, change the pH surrounding cells to allow for zinc to enter the cell. These drugs are considered zinc ionophores, which is why we use both zinc and quinine together. Another very similar molecule to quinine is quercetin. Excellent at treating the Rona.
The formulations I have created for the Rona not only include cinchona, but an array of known anti-virals/anti-parasitics, blood cleansers, and immune stimulants that protect the body as well as kill off the pathogen and restore health.
Think Local, Act Local.
~Sara
Sara Woods Kender
sara@sarasherbs.com
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