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You may know it as an aromatic spice to add flavor to your dishes or as a soothing herbal remedy to use for upset stomachs, but researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University have uncovered promising findings that Kencur, a tropical plant in the ginger family native to Southeast Asia, possesses anti-cancer effects. Led by Associate Professor Akiko Kojima, the researchers demonstrated that Kencur extract and its main active component, ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EMC), significantly suppressed cancer cell growth at the cellular and animal levels. While previous studies on EMC indicated its anti-cancer potential by decreasing the expression of mitochondrial transcription factor A...

As Hong Kong's outbreak became the deadliest in the world, among the aid Beijing sent to the financial hub were 1 million packets of honeysuckle, rhubarb root, sweet wormwood herb and other natural ingredients, all mixed according to principles of traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners of the centuries-old medicinal system argue such herbal combinations can be just as effective as antiviral pills like Pfizer Inc's Paxlovid.

Seeds from the morning glory (Convolvulaceae) family of plants contain LSD-like chemicals, which have the potential for treating everything from depression to Parkinson's disease, at least if studies are allowed. Morning glories are tropical vines with flowers that only open in the morning. They thrive in disturbed forests and at river edges. More importantly, they form symbiotic relationships with highly specialized fungi of the Periglandula genus, and mother plants pass their fungus on through the seeds. The fungi in question are known to sometimes produce ergot alkaloids, a family of molecules that produce psychedelic effects in humans. Indigenous Mexicans have...

In a shocking claim the President of Madagascar has said that the WHO offered $20m bribe to poison COVID-19 cure. The herbal remedy called COVID-19 Organics made from Artemisia can cure COVID-19 patients within ten days said the President. He also raised the question that if it was a European country that had actually discovered this remedy, would there be so much doubt? The President of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina has accused the World Health Organisation of a plot to have its COVID-19 Organics, the local African ‘cure’ for the virus poisoned. Rajoelina claims WHO offered a $20 million bribe to...

If cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum) is not the king of medicinal herbs, it is certainly a prince among them due to the incredible health benefits it gives. It may have been presumptuous for me to have first coined it "king of herbs" but I feel it is just that -- for there is no other medicinal herb or spice that can do what it can. If you have heard about Capsicum or are interested in its benefits, you've come to the right place. Bold to say yes, but I stand by it. For I am the one who conducted the...

New research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston suggests that ancient Chinese herbal formulas used primarily for cardiovascular indications including heart disease may produce large amounts of artery-widening nitric oxide. Findings of the preclinical study by scientists in the university's Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) appear in the Sept. 15 print issue of the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine. Nitric oxide is crucial to the cardiovascular system because it signals the inner walls of blood vessels to relax, which facilitates the flow of blood through the heart...

Source: University of California, Davis - Health System Date: April 7, 2007 High Arsenic Levels Found In Herbal Kelp Supplements Science Daily — A study of herbal kelp supplements led by UC Davis public health expert Marc Schenker concludes that its medicinal use may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused. Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine over-the-counter herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them. The new study, published in the April issue of Environmental Health Perspectives was prompted by the case of a 54-year-old woman who was...

President of Queens Firm Found Guilty of Criminal Contempt For Violating Court Order Not to Market Bogus Cancer Cure Over the Internet ROSLYNN R. MAUSKOPF, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and MARK B. McCLELLAN, M.D., Ph.D., Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced today that a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York has convicted Jason Vale, president of the Queens based company Christian Brothers Contracting Corporation ("Christian Bros."), of three counts of criminal contempt in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 401(3). On April 20, 2000, in a civil suit brought...

If you're one of those who find [herbal remedies] useful, however, you'd better start stockpiling now. A raft of EU legislation looks set to nip the natural medicine market in the bud: soon, that popular vitamin C, echinacea and zinc combination may not be allowed on the shelves. A shadow looms large over the alternative health sector. Estimates of the impact of this new legislation vary, but hundreds of vitamin and mineral supplements could be banned outright, while an as yet incalculable number of common herbal remedies will disappear unless consumers challenge it. The National Association of Health Food Stores...