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CAT'S CLAW The Rainforest Plant Making An Impact On Western Medicine Indigenous to the Amazon Rainforest, Cat’s Claw is a thick woody vine that can climb over 30m up the sides of trees using its hooks, which resemble the claws of a cat. Its stem when cut provides a valuable source of drinking water. The name Cat’s Claw is given to two closely related species: Uncaria tomentosa and Uncaria guianensis used interchangeably in the rainforest by various Quechuan Indian tribes to treat a selection of ailments. In Western society, the plant has been only fairly recently acknowledged, being first researched in the 60’s and more extensively so by Austrian researchers in the 70’s. Extracts were then sold as prescription medicines in Germany and Austria. Only as late as 1994 did the plant receive official recognition as a medicinal plant by the World Health Organisation when it was noted that no other rainforest plant had made such an impact on Western medicine since quinine was discovered in the 17th century. Some of the active components (alkaloids) of the plant have documented anti-leukemic properties and appear to inhibit the cancerous mutation of cells. The immune system is known to be stimulated by the plant which has been used alongside other treatments for AIDS and cancer. An adverse group of alkaloids, the TOA (Tetracyclic Oxindole Alkaloids) inhibit the healing action of more beneficial groups. However a rare strain of Cat’s Claw lacks these alkaloids, making it ideal for medicinal use. Lyme Disease is a tick borne infection
(generally deer ticks) caused by Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria It
is becoming increasingly popular by the medical profession to treat
this disease with Cat’s Claw and several case histories have
shown remarkably successful results. |
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