In three separate scientific studies, the ancient Chinese herb gou teng, also known as cat’s claw (Uncaria rhynchophylla), has been shown to improve the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Studies Show Chinese Herb Effective in Tr... - Cure Parkinson's
Studies Show Chinese Herb Effective in Treatment of Parkinson’s
Hi Farooqji, do you have any knowledge of dose used in this study?
The article is a little misleading because they refer to "Cat's Claw" as the herb used, but when you read the actual study, they used 11 TCM herbs for the study preparation . The study was done in 2009 and released in 2011. So it seems that Cat's Claw alone will not be equivalent to the study formulation and you would need to go to a TCM practitioner to replicate this formulation .
Table 1
Herbal preparation
Chinese name Pharmaceutical name Percentage
Dang shen Dried root of Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf. (Fam. Campanulaceae) 13.39
Sheng di Dried root tuber of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. (Fam. Scrophulariaceae) 13.39
Fu ling Dried sclerotium of the fungus, Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf. (Fam. Polyporaceae) 10.71
Gou teng Dried hook-bearing stem branch of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Jacks. (Fam. Rubiaceae) 10.71
Bai Zhu Rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (Fam. Compositae) 8.93
Dang gui Dried root of Angelica sinensis (Oliv) Diels. (Fam. Umbelliferae) 8.93
Fa ban xia Dried tuber of Pinelliae ternate (Thunb.) Breit. (Fam. Araceae) 8.04
Chuan xiong Dried rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. (Fam. Umbelliferae) 8.04
Huai niu xi Dried root of Achyranthes bidentata Bl. (Fam. Amaranthaceae) 8.04
Chen pi Dried pericarp of the ripe fruit of Citrus reticulata Blanco. (Fam. Rutaceae) 5.36
Sheng gan cao Dried root and rhizome of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. (Fam. Leguminosae) 4.46
Art
"...is a little misleading..." Thanks Art.
Marc,
Interestingly, Cat's Claw is called Uncaria tomentosa, but you don't see that exact name in the 11 ingredient formulation, but they do list Uncaria rhynchophylla which is referred to as Gou Teng and is also called Cat's Claw, but they are not the same as each other as discussed here and they have different effects though they can both be called Cat's Claw :
1stchineseherbs.com/1st-chi....
Here is a quote from the article :
' A mix up we often see in people first shopping for herbs is some confusion between Cat's Claw and ANOTHER Cat's Claw. Confusingly, some plants are named and nicknamed very similarly, even the same, and that is especially so in this case. Both Uncaria Tomentosa and Uncaria Rhynchophylla are herbs used popularly in herbal medicine, but with very different histories and uses. '
Uncaria rhynchophylla appears to be mainly sold in powder and tincture forms while
Uncaria Tomentosa is typically sold in powder, capsule, tincture and extract forms and would be the more common form available in the US. In any case, Uncaria Rhynchophylla is the form used in the study formulation, but it is just one of 11 herbs used in the formulation and is not the highest percentage herb used which leads me to believe that it, by itself will not have the same effects as the 11 herb formulation.
Art
"The Chinese investigators suggested that gou teng may ease PD symptoms by helping rid brain cells of an accumulation of a protein called alpha-synuclein. Too much of this compound may be to blame for the nerve cell degeneration." "The researchers reported that a gou teng component, called isorhy, was able to help reduce cellular levels of alpha synuclein, and that it worked as well for this as rapamycin, an immunosuppressant drug being studied for Parkinson’s treatment. Unlike rapamycin, which can have serious side effects, the Chinese researchers note that gou teng has been used for centuries with no apparent detriment."
The 2 human studies used 11 ingredients each. The fruit fly and cell culture study says it used the "Tianma Gouteng Yin" formula. The text also discloses 11 ingredients.
When I looked into Gou Teng I also found that Uncaria Rhynchophylla is the herb used, also known as Ramulus Uncariae cum Uncis.
There is no evidence that the preparation would be superior to Cat’s Claw alone
That is true, because they did not test one against the other in a modern day study. On the other hand, TCM has been developed well over a thousand years and the process certainly took much trial and error to determine what plants or combination of plants would be most effective for specific issues. As such, development of a treatment that requires 11 plant ingredients would have determined that the 11 was more active than any single component for the intended purpose. Each component would have to show some degree of effectiveness to be included, otherwise it would have been excluded.
Art
At first glance, none of these 11 herbs are toxic. Some doubts about the uncaria side effects.
I have purchased uncaria uncaria rhynchophylla extract and take 1 gram in the morning and 1 gram in the evening
hi Farooqji
Thanks for the info. Any comment on the effect ? Any noticeable difference ?
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?te...
House2,
I am interested in the exact benefits that you attribute to Uncaria rhynchophylla at what dose? Also interested in how long you have taken it and if you are still taking it? Lastly, if you are no longer taking it, why did you stop? Thank you!
Art
FYI, for those of you who want to try elixers, I spent 2 years as an herbal mad scientist winning the war with Lyme's. I ultimately purchased my products from a company called "Hawaiian Pharm". I am sure there may be other suggestions but in the world of "Amazon drug deals", I found them reputable.
I have also found that your body gets "used to" herbs and taking a break, or in my case, mixing different recipes at times made a big difference.