Hydrangea is a wild, deciduous shrub that produces delightful lacy flowers. It grows in the woodlands and on riverbanks all over Eastern America. But the elegant hydrangea plant is much more than just another pretty face. Recent research indicates that this lovely plant may provide remedies for numerous diseases. The chemical payload is concentrated in the roots of the plant.

Getting to the Root of the Matter

Although hydrangea root has not been widely used in current western medicine, the shrub has long been a primary ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. The Cherokee Indians of North America also traditionally used the hydrangea for medicinal purposes. And now hydrangea root is beginning to be a significant factor in herbal medicine worldwide, as an anti-inflammatory agent, to treat malaria, and, perhaps most significantly, to strengthen the immune system.

Immune System Dysfunction

Certain health problems may arise when the immune system attacks the body as it would a threatening invader. Serious conditions that stem from immune system dysfunction include:

• Multiple sclerosis
• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Psoriasis
• Antiseptic
• Diuretic
• Cystitis
• Gout
• Gallstones
• Prostate problems

Current Treatments

Some medications suppress the body’s immune functions in order to keep a runaway immune system under control. The problem with these medications is they are very strong and may have disastrous side effects. Moreover, the use of these medications puts the patient at a heightened risk of getting an infection.

The Hydrangea Alternative

Chemical agents extracted from the root of the hydrangea plant are a safe and effective alternative to current treatments for immune-related medical conditions.
Researchers have discovered, for example, that the medication halofuginone, derived from hydrangea root, keeps the body from producing harmful white blood cells that are commonly associated with immune system diseases. Happily, it can do this without interfering with immune system functioning.

Orphan Drug Status

Halofuginone has recently been given FDA Orphan Drug Status for treating a condition called scleroderma. Scleroderma is an autoimmune condition that attacks the connective tissues of the body, stimulating increased production of collagen type 1. The excess collagen leads to disfigurement, and worse, it can be deadly. The current uses of halofuginone are relatively limited considering the many promising uses for the medicine.

The Future

More research will be necessary to discover all of the potential uses of medications derived from the roots of they hydrangea plant, but the future looks bright indeed.

References

1.University of Georgia: Growing Bigleaf Hydrangea
2.USDA: Hydrangea Questions and Answers
3.ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
4.Erowid Hydrangea Vault

BPA (Bisphenol A), a plastic hardener used in baby bottles, water and juice bottles and aluminum can linings, is a dangerous toxin that produces a wide variety of adverse effects, including brain, reproductive and cardiac disorders.

Plastic peril

Recent studies have determined that BPA has negative effects at doses far lower than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s current standards. To put it bluntly, toxic BPA seeps into whatever liquid your baby bottle, water bottle or juice bottle contains.

Exposure from receipts

It gets worse. US News recently reported that BPA has also now been found to be present in ordinary cash register receipts, such as you get at your local supermarket. According to Science News, said US News, John C. Warner of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry found that the majority of receipts in use today are coated with BPA. Warner contends that exposure from receipts is an even greater danger than exposure from other products, such as plastic bottles.

“When people talk about polycarbonate bottles,” said Warner, “they’re talking about nanogram quantities of BPA leaching out.” The average cash register receipt, Warner went on to say, contains something like 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA. Free BPA is that BPA not bound into a polymer as in plastic bottles. Which means that this highly toxic substance is more easily ingested or inhaled.

Half a teaspoon of BPA

Let’s say you go shopping at the supermarket and, thrifty shopper that you are, you read over your cash register receipt before leaving the store. You go home, unpack your groceries and start cooking dinner. Unless you’ve washed your hands very carefully after touching that cash register receipt, you’ve just loaded up your spaghetti and meatballs with toxic BPA.

What you can do

Wash your hands after handling a store receipt, or sign up for an electronic receipt service. Do not use polycarbonate baby bottles, water bottles and food containers insted use HDPE plastic containers.

Canada has announced plans to ban BPA. Let’s hope the US follows suite.

Water. One of the five basic elements. Water is essential for life—in its most natural form, that is. Therefore, swimming, immersing oneself in a pool of water, should be the healthiest thing in the world. But the problem is, our water is no longer water in its natural form. It contains chemicals which, ironically, are put there to protect us for infection. The irony stems from the fact that these very chemicals are responsible for some seriously adverse effects on our skin, hair and internal organs. The primary culprit? Chlorine, a gaseous greenish-yellow element renowned for its disinfecting power.

Don’t drink the water

Numerous scientific studies report that chlorinated tap water is a skin irritant and can be associated with rashes like eczema. Chlorinated water can destroy polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E in the body while generating toxins capable of creating free radical damage.

Taken internally chlorinated water destroys much of the intestinal flora, the friendly bacteria that help in the digestion of food and protect the body from invasive pathogens. These bacteria are also responsible for the manufacture of several important vitamins like Vitamin B12 and Vitamin K. Enter chlorinated water. Chlorine destroys the good bacteria along with the bad. It doesn’t discriminate. Because of this, it is not altogether uncommon for chronic skin conditions like acne, psoriasis, seborrhea and eczema to clear up or to be significantly improved simply by switching to unchlorinated drinking water and supplementing the diet with friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus.

Chlorinated water and carcinogens

Chlorinated water contains chemical compounds called trihalomethanes—carcinogens resulting from the combination of chlorine with compounds already present in water. These chemicals, also known as organochlorides, do not readily degrade and instead are frequently stored in the fatty tissues of the body, such as in the female breast. Organochlorides can cause mutations by altering DNA. They can also suppress immune system function and interfere with the natural controls of cell growth.

The Pacific Center for Health says that chlorine can also destroy much-needed proteins in our bodies. Depleted of protein, skin and hair can become excessively dry. Hair can become unmanageable and color-treated hair can be turned into a frizzy mess.

Chlorine has been documented to aggravate asthma, especially in children who regularly swim in chlorinated swimming pools. Several studies also link chlorine and chlorinated by-products to a greater incidence of bladder, breast and bowel cancer as well as malignant melanoma. One study even links the use of chlorinated tap water to congenital cardiac anomalies.

What you can do

Anything you can do to filter tap and shower water that eliminates or at least minimizes chlorine will go a long way toward eliminating these serious health problems. Home water filtration devices are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly affordable. Showering with a filter that removes harmful chlorine can greatly lower harmful effects. Also, wetting the hair with non-chlorinated water prior to swimming will lessen the amount of that element that can be absorbed. A pre-swim shampoo such as UltraSwim, and pre-swim conditioning treatments can help keep hair healthy when swimming. Bathing caps are also well-suited to protecting hair (you may have noticed that Olympic swimmers wear them). After your swim, be sure to shampoo, and for the skin, apply a moisturizing lotion or cream. Above all, never swallow pool water when swimming.

References:

Fackelman, K.A., “Hints of a chlorine-cancer connection.” Science News.

Flaten, T.P., “Chlorination of drinking water and cancer incidence in Norway.” International Journal of Epidermiology.

Messina V., “Chlorine and cancer.” Good Medicine.