Cat's Claw: Healing From Your Head To U. Tomentosa

Once known as the herb of the gods, cat’s claw has been used in traditional Incan medicine for centuries as a cure all for our entire body, with the benefits of U. Tomentosa truly ranging from our head to our toes. The unique abilities of the bark of the vine lie in their phytochemical profile, healing our brains, reducing pain and inflammation through anti-arthritic and anti-coagulative (clotting preventative) properties, promoting circulation through the reduction of blood pressure, as well as increasing immunity.

Sharp As The Claw: Cognitive Enhancing and Healing


Cat’s claw has the phytochemical talents in the bark of their vines' talons to both increase mental sharpness, as well as soothe our mind of worries and anxiety simultaneously. With the ability to increase tryptophan levels, the bark can raise serotonin bioavailability, essential for mood regulating and calming the brain. As a powerful anti-inflammatory, and rich with antioxidants to protect our bodies from free radical damage, the herb can reduce the chronic inflammation which can cause both depression and dementia. By inhibiting the synthesis of the pesky TNF-Alpha tumor growing protein, which has been linked to both mental and neurodegenerative disease, the herb can reduce the inflammation that contributes to this malaise.

The herb has proved to improve the memories of patients with Alzheimers and dementia, and despite minimization of the profound healing potential of this plant for those suffering from cognitive decline and loss of memory, the powerful properties of the vine live up to these healing claims through preventing and mitigating the damage of neurodegenerative disease. Through the phytochemical proanthocyanid, the plant is able to inhibit the building of beta-amyloid plaques and tau protein tangles, which tangle neurofibers of our brains like knots in our hair, preventing proper connection in our neurons and neurotransmitters, both of which are the primary causes of these most devastating neurodegenerative diseases. Cat’s claw is both an inhibitor, and a ‘detangler’, working as a disaggregator—a conditioner for our brains like one for our hair, if you will—to break up plaque cells already developed. This is the best keratin treatment imaginable for our brains, but not from Brazil, rather from Peru. Not only to be used as a neurodegenerative preventative, the herb has been shown to increase mood and social functioning for those already suffering from the disease, and as an anti-amnesiac, helps to improve memory.

The phytochemical profile rich in compounds called alkaloids specifically help memory. The memory enhancing phytochemical properties not only improve general recall, but are so powerful, they have been used to treat amnesia. The herb also has the potential to increase acetylcholine, or Ach, an important neurotransmitter in our brains which helps us think. The herb’s ability to support the hippocampus for neurogenesis, the rebuilding and healing of the tissues of our brains, also helps to improve learning ability, memory, and mood regulating.

The key to the sharpness of cat’s claw’s increased neurogenesis for promoting the creation and healing of neural tissue, is in cat’s claw’s ability to repair our DNA. A study in Phytomedicine showed that with the help of administering the vine through aqueous extracts, volunteers who had previously suffered DNA damaged caused by hydrogen peroxide experienced increased DNA repair. The repairing of DNA is integral not only for cerebral healing but for our entire bodies, because DNA is essential for the creation of healthy proteins which help us regrow both after damage, through disease and unease, and for maintaining our general homeostasis and health through strengthened cellular integrity today. Perhaps the miraculous ability to repair DNA, to heal our bodies from the very root of our cells, is why the herb is so efficacious in repairing and protecting our entire body, especially immunologically.

Phytochemicals Working In Unity For Stronger Immunity

Cat’s claw is rich in antioxidants, an anti-microbial, and a free radical scavenger to protect cells from oxidative and toxin and degradation damage. Oxindole alkaloids within cat’s claw help support the immune system, with seven different alkaloids providing a rich complex for adapting our responses to malaise. The alkaloid ‘Isopteropodin Isomer A’ shows the greatest potential for immunity supporting, which as an antioxidant serves as a free radical scavenger as well as a stimulant of the immune system to increase immune responses to the optimal degree when threats reach the body. For protection against harmful bacteria the herb’s glycosides—sugars that bind to toxins to help remove them from the body—also serve to help increase immunity. The proanthocyanid content, compounds which are present in berries known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities, reduce inflammation, as well as the vine’s beta sistosterol, which can lower cholesterol, reducing fats in the fluids which inhibit the speed of responses to malaise, and increase circulation throughout the body. As a powerful cleanser and detoxifier, especially for those suffering from digestive infections, the bark has the ability to completely cleanse the intestinal tract, which can support those suffering from stomach conditions.

Oncological Prevention, Treatment, And Support Of Healing Throughout Intensive Therapies’ Duration

Cat’s claw is anti-tumor, and with anti-cancer phytochemical properties can prevent and inhibit the formation of cancer cells. The strength of its antioxidant profile supports the prevention of the growth of cancer cells and tumors through absorption of oxidation toxins and free radicals. The herb is also anti-neoplastic, meaning it serves as a natural antileukemic, a treatment to help leukemia healing which is entirely organic. The oxindole alkaloids that increase immunity response throughout the body are also anti-leukemic, inciting the mechanism of phagocytosis, which leads to the breaking down of the cells of invaders such as harmful bacteria, viruses, as well as malicious tumors and cancer cells. Cat’s claw extract has been proven to inhibit the spread and division of cancer cells to halt disease propagation.

Reducing Pressure For The Right Measure

The alkaloid ‘hirsutine’ specifically helps to control blood pressure throughout the body. The plant’s blocking of calcium from entering the heart and blood vessel walls also has the ability to lower blood pressure, while simultaneously mediating tone relaxing the vessels for proper healthy flow, working to both regulate the increase or decrease of tonicity as needed by the body. The herb can also be used to help prevent stroke, with the help of an alkaloid able to inhibit platelet aggregation and thrombosis. Through increasing circulation the herb has the potential to help those at risk of heart attack, preventing plaque formation and the forming of blood clots in the brain, heart, and arteries.

Alleviating Pain

The glycosides which help increase immunity through binding to toxins for their removal from the body can also help reduce inflammation. Cat’s claw’s anti-inflammation property works through the suppression of TNF-alpha synthesis, through an immunomodulation mechanism that regulates the creation of this lipid which causes insulin resistance, which contributes to the building of fat throughout our bodies and the prevention of proper circulation which heightens inflammation. One form of TNF is pro-inflammatory as well as apoptotic—a mechanism of cellular destruction—while another is actually healing for wounds. Cat’s claw works to inhibit the synthesis of the harmful former, which can help support reduction of inflammation for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, as well as, aforementioned, through brain support benefits through reduced inflammation for Alzheimer's and depression. In addition, plant sterols are hypolipidemic, meaning they are capable of lowering the level of lipids (fats) in the blood for decreased cholesterol, helping promote healthy fluid flow, and are anti-inflammatory. The plant helps to treat rheumatoid arthritis with the help of the vine’s extract, which has been shown to significantly reduce painful joints, in a specific form rich in pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids. These glycosides which work to reduce inflammation are also able to alleviate pain, not only arthritically, but for those on their cancer healing journey to reduce the pain of chemotherapy and radiation.

Cat’s Claw For All

Once restricted for its healing power as a gift of spirit worthy only for the elite of Incan royalty, the herb is finally free to be used as it was meant to be, for all, for healing with cat’s claw to repair our bodies. For the most fruitful healing benefits, it is best not to use the root, but the bark of the plant. The herb can be enjoyed in tea, which is used during colds to reduce fevers, as well as in extracts, capsules, and tinctures. The vine can also be paired in combination with other adaptogens for strengthened and synergistic immunity and tonicity increasing throughout the body, with herbalists recommending pairings with herbs such as Echinacea, Eleuthero, and Astragalus.

After a life in Peru for the few, the plant has the chance to help heal so many of us with its incredible profile of phytochemicals to fight off disease and ill.

Resources:

- Snow AD, Castillo GM, Nguyen BP, Choi PY, Cummings JA, Cam J, Hu Q, Lake T, Pan W, Kastin AJ, Kirschner DA, Wood SG, Rockenstein E, Masliah E, Lorimer S, Tanzi RE, Larsen L. (February 2019)

- Murphy MP, LeVine H 3rd. (2010). "Alzheimer's disease and the amyloid-beta peptide". J. Alzheimer's Dis. 19 (1): 311–323.

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