Herbal remedies for the male

No 12 Stinging nettles. Urtica dioica/ Urtica repens Urticaceae family

These plants are so well known by everyone on this island that they practically need no description. However, it should be pointed out that the two species are markedly distinct, as one (Urtica repens) is an annual with smaller leaves and generally grows much smaller with a more delicate stature, only reaching about 40cm in height, whereas the more common Urtica dioica is perennial from a creeping underground rootstock and can attain heights of 8 ft or more given reasonable growing conditions.

Introduced by the Romans according to legend, it was used by the soldiers as a flogging aid to warm them during long cold nights and as an aid for sore, stiff bones and joints. This practice is known as ‘urtication’ and is regaining popularity especially on the continent in places such as Germany where

a lot of the most recent and valued research into herbal remedies has been carried out.

This is possibly the uber herb for males of a certain disposition and age. The reason is due to its ability to arrest prostate complaints.

Parts used

Nettle tops….as a spinach and spring detoxifying herb

Root……….. inhibits prostate tissue enlargement

Harvest

Leaves when required, although as a vegetable they are better before the height of summer.

Roots are dug at their best in Autumn but can be dug and used at any time should circumstances dictate.

Active constituents

Leaves contain iron, vit c, minerals, especially calcium, potassium and sillic acid as well as phenolic acids and flavonoids. Formic acid in stings. Histamine, volatile and resinous substances. Glucoquinone

The roots are rich in polysaccharides, lecithin, several phenolic compounds and plant sterols.

Actions

Nutrative, haemostatic, astringent, circulatory stimulant, galactagogue, hypoglycaemic, diuretic(excreting uric acid) Anti prostatic.

Indications

The leaves are so high in iron and minerals that it is recommended for cases of anaemia and other deficiency conditions. Nettles increase excretion of uric acid. The tannins present exhibit astringency whilst the presence of glucoquinone helps account for the perceived hypoglycaemic action. Extract of nettle leaf has been found to slow the heart of lab animals as well as helping to dilate and constrict the blood vessels alternately under different conditions.

The root is the organ that contains the magic as far as the men are concerned. Rich in plant sterols, sugars and other funky medicinal compounds, it has been shown by much research to arrest the enlargement of the prostate gland.

Recently, the esteemed German ’commision E’

(an authoritive body researching and advising doctors of the therapeutic use of plants in Germany as well as the E.U during the conversion and redrafting of legislation concerning the use of traditional herbal medicinal products in 2004.) signified the use of nettle root for benign prostatic hypoplasia.(BPH)

Although more research is being carried out, many successful treatments in Germany with nettles are testament to its efficacy. It seems that the nettle root extract inhibits the enzyme aromatase which normally converts testosterone into other compounds such as estradiol. This then allows the testosterone to locate and attach to its receptor site, thus keeping the libido up and preventing any abnormality with the prostate gland. The action of inhibition is a different one to another reported remedy for prostate problems, Saw palmetto.

The fat soluble extract is pharmacologically active in fat tissues where androgens such as testosterone are aromatised, whilst the more water soluble methanol extract exhibits the greatest B.P.H arrest, with resultant high levels of inhibition of prostate growth.

Other Applications

Treatment of arthritis and gout. As an alterative both for skin and joints it can aid the clearance of acne and other skin complaints as well as reportedly helping counteract the overproduction of dandruff. Nicholas Culpeper rated it an herb that was hot and dry in the 2^nd degree. It is locally astringent and a valuable wound staunching herb for the nose. Nettles can help reduce blood sugar levels, making it useful in the treatment of ‘type-2’ or late onset diabetes mellitus. It is also esteemed as a flogging herb to assist with skeletal stiffness and pains.

Herbal medicine for men. Why?

This publication is intended for the weaker sex. It is not, however, exclusively for boys. If you are reading this and you are lucky enough to be a girl then you are advised to read it and immediately pass it on to the most needy or deserving male you know or can find!

So, now you know I’m working on a presumption that you’re a male in western society during the dying days of capitalism. Hi, welcome aboard! How does your body feel?

This booklet has been brought to you for a number of reasons…

1. The lack of free and informed herbal medical advice for men circulating generally is one.
2. The sorry state of mainstream medicine, both preventative and curative, providing misinformation and unnecessary expensive drugs to the majority of patients allowing the profiteering motives of big pharmaceutical companies to literally ruin peoples lives whilst proclaiming to heal them!
3. The 2004 E.U law on traditional herbal medicines which has restricted herbal medicinal practice for the first time in the UK since the ‘quacks’ charter (which allowed any man “to use cunning and herbs for the preparation of simples”) was signed onto the statute book by Henry the eighth in the mid 1550’s.

As with any civilisation which has passed it’s sell by date, there are a lot of excesses to cope with in daily life. The excesses of noise and pollution encountered en route to the excesses of wage slavery are built up during working life which usually brings forth, sooner or later, the excessive strains and stresses from within our delicate bodies. This will often lead to (as I found many times proceeding a tumultuous event in my life) any one of a myriad legal or illegal ways to alleviate the symptoms.

For many this will mean binge-drinking, binge-eating and binge-drugging alongside other forms of titillating consumption from which the body and mind will have to contend with whilst attempting to protect you from numerous pathogenic organisms. It is a fact of life that many life forms are here on you now, waiting to get a foothold in any system in your body when it becomes depleted.

‘Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food’…

This age old saying still rings true today, nearly two thousand years since the Greeks were aware of the connection between what we eat and how healthy we feel. Yet somewhat ironically, the food we are sold today in many retailers now resembles poison more than medicine. For evidence of this, check out the processed food isles at you local shop and have a quick look at the ingredients list. It makes for scary reading.

The regular use of ‘novel’ foods including GMO alongside strange and potentially carcinogenic food additives such as nitrates and nitrites are testament to a food chain gone badly wrong….

It’s not beyond the realms of possibilities that the lack of state regulations concerning Frankenstein ingredients is a direct policy of culling as any wrought upon the human race. We only have to look at the exponential rise in obesity and other dietary conditions in this century alone to see that the ‘laissez-faire’ approach to market forces controlling our food chain has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Meanwhile, the government, supporting and supported by multi national food retailers allow the health time bomb to tick away…

Reclaim your health, reclaim your life. Read Herbs for Men!

No 11 in a series of 36…Herbs for the boys waking with self inflicted injuries on a Sunday…

Elder. Sambucus nigra. Caprifoliaceae family

This exceptionally well known plant has a vast treasure trove of folklore as well as much scientific evidence to back up traditional claims for its prolonged medicinal use.

Elder is a deciduous woodland edge and hedgerow species. This plant is native to northern Europe and North America and can happily grow on most types of soil. It is one of the many interesting shrubby/tree species (like hawthorn) which can grow in either form, with the site and climactic factors determining this a lot of the time. Elder can often grow into the stature of a small tree, reaching 25 foot or more, although commonly 15 foot or so, given limiting environmental factors. Ideally the plant likes a rich and damp soil in a sunny position

Classic identifying features are the numerous air holes (lenticils on the stem which allow for gaseous exchange, especially during the winter months. This is followed as the plant gets older with light-ish brown, sometimes deeply pronounced fissures on the mature bark, which, to the peripheral vision or unexperienced eye can look very similar to the exotic anarchistic butterfly plant, Buddleja.

The similarity ends there however, for the Elder leaves are different, being compound comprising seven leaflets, each being about 3-4 inches in length. The leaflets are situated in three opposite pairs with one terminal leaflet as well as being a much lighter green colour. The leaves are also slightly serrated.

The previous years growth carry the flowers, being much like the horse-chestnut in as much as they are already formed upon breaking bud in late winter / early spring, yet need a time of growth to reach maturity and pickability in late spring. These flowering corymbs are on terminal stems, and comprise numerous, small, five-petalled flowers of a creamy white colour. Within each flower are many stamens which are firstly yellow white in colour, turning brown when past their best. It is at the yellow stage when they are good for picking for pleasure, leisure or medicine. The flowers have a small amount of natural yeasts on them which assists fermentation as will be testified by any who make the amazing thirst quenching drink, elderflower champagne!

The flowers give rise to clusters of the familiar and distinct dark purple / almost black berries, which are no bigger than 10 ml in diameter. These are ripe in September and therefore allows the cultivator/hedgerow harvester the opportunity to make a second batch of drinks of the season. For this, I have much respect for this plant!

The smell of elder is distinct and repels many who come across it, being oft described as akin to cats piss. This smell emits from leaves and to a lesser degree, the ‘gone over’ flowers. The ripe flowers have a delicious sweet lemony aroma which to me is surpassed only by meadowsweet.

Parts used

Flowers, berries and inner bark.

The flowers are picked when in full bloom. The berries are picked when ripe in the autumn and the fresh inner bark is also used although harvested less often and is secured after peeling off the blackish outer coating.

Active constituents

Tannins, potassium, mucilage, phenols and flavonoids. The bark contains sambucine, an alkaloid-like substance. The berries, due to their pigmentation, are rich in anthocyanins, folic acid and vitamins A and C. They also contain flavonoids and cyanidin glucosides, which are poisonous in large doses.

Pharmacology and applications

Elderflowers and berries are expectorant and diaphoretic, thus help to reduce to fevers and to rid the body of toxins. Elderflowers are also anti viral and are useful in combating herpes simplex type 1 virus ( responsible for cold sores and influenza types A and B) Elderberry extract has been proven to inhibit various strains of flu, especially if taken early enough. Elder can significantly reduce recovery times from influenza.

It is a staple of a classic UK plant influenza recipe of Yarrow, Comfrey, Peppermint and Elder which will blitz your flu in around 24 hours. I know through experience following my friend dosing me up on it the last time I had flu back in 1999. All the other plants are described in this series.

Elderflower is also mildly diuretic and the berries mildly laxative. It is for this reason that many books say do not eat them! I feel it is wiser to say they are safe to eat but don’t eat too many. Grazing is good!

The plant has much folklore from thousands of years of use.

Elder is revered by druids and is one of the sacred seven herbs used by the magicians. Superstition still says do not cut them down or burn them. Many people in the UK had a tradition of tipping their hat whenever they were walking by an elderflower tree whilst the plant was immortalised by Judas of Iscariot who famously hung himself on an Elder tree following his grassing up of Jesus to the Romans for thirty pieces of silver.

The Greek physician Hippocrates reportedly declared this plant as one of his favourite medicines. It certainly is for one of the 20^th century’s most respected herbal practitioners and writers, Juliette de B. Levy. She notably calls it one of the greatest of all herbs, used by many peoples across the globe as a powerful yet gentle remedy for all.

… Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria (formerly Spirea ulmaria) Rosaceae family. AKA ‘Queen of the meadow’

This is another of the ancient sacred druid herbs. Meadowsweet can still easily be found freely populating damp meadows as well as alongside the banks of streams, rivers and canals.

It is a perennial member of the rose family, returning each year via it’s fibrous root crown. It displays typical family characteristics through the leaf veins as well as serrated leaf edges, This alongside the typical composition of a rose flower which commonly have five petals.

The leaves are almost fern-like upon initial springtime arousal from winter slumber, being easily identified as compound, in this instance comprising a number of opposite leaflets which are generally 2-3 inches in length, rising up the usually dark brown/red leaf ‘mid-rib’ or central stem. These end in a terminal leaflet usually made of three/five co-joined leaflets. The foliage is not unlike the leaves of a raspberry of blackberry, both in colour as well as in a similar, if modified form.

Flowering spikes will appear from late spring onwards. These can reach over 1.5 metres in height although around a metre or so is more common. The flowers themselves are individually unremarkable, but collectively appear as a frothy mass of creamy -white flowering sprays, which emit a very sweet scent when in prime condition. Apparently, the virgin queen Elizabeth was so fond of this herb that she insisted on it being strewn around the floors of her palace apartments. The plant is another with a history of being added to beer for flavour.

Parts used

Stems,leaves and flowers

Harvest. spring, summer. (Some authorities say the flowers have the largest concentrations of active constituents, whereas others make no mention of any disparity between the aerial parts.)

Active constituents

Bitter, Tannins, Flavonoids, essential oil largely made up of salicylates, phenolic glycosides, quercetin.

Actions

Anti-inflammatory, Diuretic, astringent,

Indications

Atonic and acid dyspepsia, gastritis, peptic ulceration

Dose

1:1 liquid extract in 25%alcohol…. 2-6ml per day

Dried herb……………………………2-6 gram per day

As with any dose of ground dried herb, the medicinal concentration is higher than for fresh leaves. Bearing this in mind, I usually stick by a rule of thumb that says maximum of two t-spoons of each dried herb within each remedy as a guidance on volume.

Meadowsweet is famed for the large concentrations of salicylates contained within its aerial parts. As you may be aware, this class of molecules were first extracted from willow bark and meadowsweet in the 19^th century. At this time, Meadowsweet had its old latin name of Spirea ulmaria from which the pharmaceutical drug Aspirin got its name.

Unlike the chemical drug, Meadowsweet does not display anti-platelet activity

(prevention of blood clotting) and furthermore actively repairs the cells and membranes of the stomach lining whereas aspirin will irritate eventually leading to ulceration with even short term regular use. It is for this reason that Meadowsweet is prized for it acts on the Gastro Intestinal Tract (GIT) in a much more holistic fashion. The tannins and their general astringency reduces excess acid production in the stomach and the anti-inflammatory action of the salicylates reduces pain by reducing inflammation.

It cannot be over-stressed how much more beneficial this plant is compared to the range of aspirin derivative drugs now on the market, both prescription and over the counter remedies. The popularity of the range of non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAID) which include ibuprofen et al does not detract from the damage they will inflict on our bodies whilst purporting to be effective remedies. In short, the advice from this author would be to give them up unless it is absolutely necessary to embrace the final, nuclear war style solution.

It is worth crushing the leaves of this plant in early to mid spring when still relatively fresh and young to experience the smell that emanates from the plant. It can only be described as a smell similar to that of deep heat. This may well be the salicylates.

The author can testify to the remarkable healing powers of this plant, especially its abilities to heal and repair the stomach wall membranes. The over production of stomach acid is one of the ways our body will try and repair itself due to a) excessive consumption of harmful foods and beverages such as curries, alcohol and caffeine and b) stress. Many typically experience acid reflux as a ‘heart burn’ sensation and the unpleasant passage of stomach acid back up the oesophagus. This is one of the first signs of ulceration and needs immediate treatment in order to prevent the condition becoming more serious. It is necessary as with any course of herbal remedies to desist from taking the harmful food!

Meadowsweet is also utilised in the treatment of both rheumatic and arthritic pain. The combination of diuretic and anti-inflammatory actions seem can assist the joints where it is common for fluid build up to aggravate already painful bones. It must be pointed out however, that another plant containing the salicylate family of compounds, ‘Wintergreen’ is recommended more highly as an ointment. This said, the queen of the meadow is a more widespread plant in the Uk.

As with all plants containing the salicylates, Meadowsweet acts

on the physiology through its abilities to gently suppress the C.N.S as well as having a febrifuge action

(combats fevers). The salicylates increase peripheral blood flow whilst similarly increasing sweating (diaphoretic) through its direct action on the thermogenic section of the hypothalamus gland in the brain.

Traditonally the plant has been used as a diuretic and for conditions of the urinary tract.- often being recommended for overweight people and those suffering from bloating due to water retention. The plant is also recommended as a treatment for gout and headaches.