Using Thunder God Vine Extract To Fight Inflammation

More and more, doctors and researchers are finding that inflammation is key underlying factor in many diseases. Auto-immune diseases, like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Psoriatic Arthritis and other inflammation-related conditions may benefit from the use of the Thunder God Vine Extract.

Records of natural medical practices have been around since the first humans learned to write and record events. Prior to that, medical lore was generally passed down orally, through traditions of storytelling, songs and apprenticed positions in ancient tribes and peoples. Medical applications of plants natural varied throughout regions – in some regions, plants would be available and prolific and in other regions, different plants would be used to treat the same ailments.

The Thunder God Vine has been around in Eastern medicine for centuries. The extract of its peeled root has been used to fight inflammatory conditions for hundreds of years, and modern medicine today is finally taking notice of the plant and studying it.

The Thunder God Root is passing many of these scientific studies and proving to be a beneficial herbal remedy for conditions that many holistic practitioners have been using if for over the last several hundred years. Some find it ironic that time tested practices have to be vetted by “science” before they are seen as truly healing, and some find that scientific evidence to be the last bit of proof they needed before making their own decisions.

One of the diseases that Tripterygium Wilfordii can help is Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, according to scientific trials and ancient Chinese medical lore. As far back as 1993, studies were being done on an ethyl acetate extract of the peeled root which indicated that Triptolide, one of the active compounds in the roots. The conclusion of the study done by Xuelian Tao and others was that “The EA extract of TWHF at dosages up to 570 mg/day appeared to be safe, and doses greater than 360 mg/day were associated with clinical benefit in patients with RA” (Abstract).

Another reason that scientists have found that this herbal extract is effective against RA and other immune diseases is because Triptolide has been found to be a weapon for the body against a specific factor of inflammation, which is Nitric Oxide (NO) (Wang, B et. al.) Sustained and excess production of Nitric Oxide can play a role in not only in inflammation but also in tissue damage (Wang, B et. al.).

Tissue damage in RA can be devastating and irreversible. Did you know that Rheumatoid Arthritis can damage more than the joints? It can damage many of the soft tissues of the body as well, including lungs, eyes, your heart, blood vessels, skin and nerves. Lei Gong Teng (the Chinese name for Thunder-God Vine) has been shown to combat this in scientific studies.

Scientists, of course, will more than likely be working to create a synthetic medication from the thunder god root extract. Creating a synthetic medication takes years, and it expensive. It doesn’t look like we will have a prescription any time soon for this herbal treatment, but the extract itself is available for purchase.

References

Tao, X., Younger, J., Fan, F. Z., Wang, B. and Lipsky, P. E. (2002), Benefit of an extract of Tripterygium Wilfordii Hook F in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 46: 1735–1743. doi: 10.1002/art.10411 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/art.10411

Wang, B., Ma, L., Tao, X. and Lipsky, P. E. (2004), Triptolide, an active component of the Chinese herbal remedy Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, inhibits production of nitric oxide by decreasing inducible nitric oxide synthase gene transcription. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 50: 2995–3003. doi: 10.1002/art.20459 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.20459/full#bib1

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