The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Andrographis and Aloe

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome to today's show. We're going to continue our series on bitter medicinal herbs. These are some of our most potent herbs and today I may actually get to two. We'll see how it goes. We're going to start with one. It's known as andrographis. Common name is green charretta and this one's fairly new to Western herbalism. It has a really long use in Indian and Asian traditional medicine. Like Genshin in the West,

Starting point is 00:00:32 angiographus in the East is known as the king of bitter herbs. It may actually be one of the most bitter substances found in nature. So why would you want it? Well, it's hepatic. That means it's good for the liver. It has liver protective qualities. It stimulates the gallbladder. It's been traditionally used to aid in digestion stomach issues. And beyond it's being strongly bitter, it has many important medicinal properties. It is good for the small intestine, large intestine, the lungs, the stomach. It is, well, let's see, it stimulates the immune system. It stimulates bioproduction

Starting point is 00:01:17 and bioflow. It protects the liver from toxins, which is super important. It counters the damaging effect of free radicals. So it could actually have some, could help prevent certain cancers. Now, you know I never give cancer advice, but when you're looking at free radicals, that's one step you can take antioxidants to help against those oxidizing free radicals. It's anti-inflammatory. It is well again good for the stomach. It has some laxative properties. It's said to help increase appetite, strengthen digestion, diminish flatulence, help with hyperacidity and bilessness in small doses.

Starting point is 00:02:05 acidity and bile-lessness in small doses. Traditional uses include loss of appetite, atonic dyspepsia, flatulence, diarrhea, dysentery, gastroenteritis, and bowel complaints of children, liver infections, diabetes. Yes, it really does help with blood sugar spikes and such. It's very good. A lot of the bitter herbs are very good to help prevent or help with diabetes. Genitability and convalescence after fevers, respiratory and

Starting point is 00:02:33 skin infections. It also, again, clinical trials has been shown to help with bacterial and viral infections, including the common cold, pharyngitis, and terric infections, urinary tract infections. Really good to grow this one in some pots if you can't, you know, grow it in your environment where you live. It is more of an eastern hot weather type of plant. It's been widely studied actually by scientists. It helps in clinical studies. It was shown to help with headaches, tiredness, earaches, sleeplessness, sore throats, nasal secretions, phlegm, and frequent intensity of cough, frequency and intensity of cough I should say. And these are

Starting point is 00:03:19 double-blind placebo studies. It's really been studied. It has really good antiviral properties. It's used for preventing cold and treatment of colds and flus and all that kind of stuff. Definitely one you want to look into. You know, it's really more of an Ayurvedic or Indian herb. I got a lot of information on that. It gets a little deep into the weeds, really, for what we're talking about right here. An article, you know, I used to work with the Grow Network, and I saved an article back from 2018 where it was listed as one of the top 10 immune boosting herbs. And my old friend Tori said, though you likely haven't heard of it before, green charetta is a common herb in Indian Sri Lanka

Starting point is 00:04:06 that is well studied for the immune system. Studies show that it works both to reduce your risk of developing a cold and to help you recover faster. The evidence shows that the plant works to promote the ability or variety of immune cells to fight off foreign invaders before they can establish themselves. So, Tori's a great herbalist.

Starting point is 00:04:28 If you want to hear an interview I did with her, go to my regular podcast, Southern Appalachian Herbs, or Judson Carroll Master Herbalist on Substack. And you'll find, oh gosh, I don't know, 270 plus hours of herbal information in addition to what I do here for the Prepper Broadcasting Network. So when I say that I offer more free herbal information at a high quality level than anyone else in the world, I mean it. At least in terms of those modern herbalists that I know of. You know, I put out a lot of info, a lot of info. So now let's talk about one with which you may be a bit more familiar,

Starting point is 00:05:13 but it's going to surprise you. It's aloe. When I first received a batch of Swedish bitters, and I've talked about Swedish bitters a couple shows back. I was really surprised to find aloe lists as the first ingredient. I mean, I grew up with aloe plants, you know. My mother, my grandmother always had a couple growing in a sunny window and they were used as first aid for burns. When you burn yourself, you cut a piece of aloe and you put the juice on there and it helped. I knew of aloe juice being used for stomach and digestive complaints and such, but I never thought of it as a bitter. And I was especially surprised when I opened Maria Trevon's classic, Helt Through God's Pharmacy, to find out that not only was aloe listed as a primary urban Swedish bitters, but it was listed that gentian or wormwood could substitute for aloe, meaning aloe was a primary bitter.

Starting point is 00:06:09 If you didn't have gentian or wormwood, and actually they're saying aloe was the primary, substitute gentian or wormwood for aloe. So that was really surprising. Medicinal use of aloe seems to have originated in the ancient Middle East where it's used modestly and in religious symbolism. Ms. Grieve wrote in a modern herbal, my word, my tongue's getting tired today, let me get a sip of water here. The Mohammedans, that means Muslims, especially those in Egypt, regard the alo as a religious symbol. And the muzzle man, that means Muslim, who has made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the prophet, is entitled to hang the alo over his doorway. The Muhammadans also believe that this holy symbol protects a householder from any malign influence. Obviously I don't know anything about that but I'm just glad we don't have to call them muzzle muzzle men. You talk about a tongue twister, Muhammadans and muzzle men?

Starting point is 00:07:14 I'm in trouble with that one. But in Cairo the Jews also adopted the practice of hanging up aloe. In the neighborhood of Mecca at the extremity of every grave on a spot facing the epitaph, this is the inscription, Buckhardt found planted a lowly, a low shrubby species of aloe whose Arabic name Saber signifies patience. The plant is evergreen and requires very little water and its name refers to waiting time between burial and resurrection morning. So very interesting actually. And you can see how this, you know, in a desert, you can see this plant is almost like a symbol of resurrection because it can die back and come back. It can survive, you know, really bad droughts and such.

Starting point is 00:08:06 In ancient Egypt, Aloe was known as the plant of immortality. It's mentioned by King Solomon in the Psalms for anointing a Christ body, you know, as a foreshadowing, you know, the Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament. Greek physician, Dioscorides, was the first Westerner to write about the plant's benefit and Dioscorides learned about aloe while traveling with the Roman armies and wrote that aloe vera acted as a laxative and it encouraged sleep, oddly enough. I'm not sure how that worked. It said that Cleopatra used aloe in her beauty regimen and that Alexander the

Starting point is 00:08:43 Great even battled over an island to secure its aloe. her beauty regimen and that Alexander the Great even battled over an island to secure its aloe. A war was actually fought by Alexander the Great for aloe. That's how important, right? It was brought to the New World by Columbus. Again, it was considered so essential that was one of the things you brought with you to plant as soon as you could find suitable ground. And it was an herb commonly used by the Jesuit priests in Peru and throughout South America and the New World. The bitter flavor profile of aloe is evident in the meaning of its name. Aloe is said to have derived, the name aloe I should say, from an Arabic term meaning shining bitter substance,

Starting point is 00:09:22 which is odd considering that one would have such a limited use of such a word with a specific meaning Imagine having a word in your language meaning shining bitter substance I have you know who knows but I'm gonna go with it, you know It may be true. It may be not I don't speak Arabic if you do. Maybe you can tell me is there a word That means shining bitter substance seems a little odd to me but what do I know. Quick internet search shows up so many articles titled why does aloe taste so bad or how to mask its bitter taste. I mean it's obviously pretty bitter and but there is a variety of aloe that is bred to be less bitter. Actually, plant, you know, people bred this plant to actually take some of the bitterness

Starting point is 00:10:07 out of it. And it's called aloe ferox. F-E-R-O-X. Yeah, F-E-R-O-X. So if you want to check into that. But for those of us who recognize the health benefits of bitters and additional actions of the very bitter flavor, we need not fear or alter our aloe. It seems the bitterness of the bitter compounds in aloe depends on an individual's taste.

Starting point is 00:10:31 Some describe aloe as bittersweet, while others find it to be among the most bitter substance on earth. That's something a lot of people don't understand. People don't have the same number of taste buds. That's actually a hereditary thing. If your parents had a very advanced, evolved palate, if they could taste a lot of different flavors, you likely can. You inherited a lot more taste buds than the average person. I did.

Starting point is 00:10:58 That's part of my French heritage. That's why we're all cooks. We actually taste things and levels of flavor that most people don't. And unfortunately as we started taking bitter foods out of the American diet, even people that would have inherited taste buds that were more advanced are being born with fewer bitter taste buds. That's just part of the way people evolve over time. More taste buds for sweet and that's why people crave sweets these days. We're

Starting point is 00:11:30 eating you know hundreds of pounds per person more sugar than our great grandparents did. Literally. I mean from like Civil War time to now and even not not war scarcity time people might have had about a pound of sugar and that was that was luxury and now we're the average Americans eating like a hundred pounds of sugar a year and our taste buds are changing genetically so that we have essentially just taste buds for us for sweet and salty and you wonder why you know people go crazy over the food at McDonald's. It is simply sweet and salty. I think it's disgusting, honestly. I'm very hard pressed. I will eat at McDonald's

Starting point is 00:12:13 if I have to, if it's the only option. If someone pays for it, I'll be very grateful and I never turn down a gift, especially a food, but I choose not to eat there because I don't think the food is good. And I say the same thing about Wendy's. Wendy's used to actually be pretty good.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Now it's just sweet and salty, sweet and salty and that's all you get. And you know, we have an epidemic of diabetes and heart disease and kidney disease and everything goes along with a diet that is very, very, very, very very very high in sugar. That's just you know the human body was not designed to consume this much sugar. Anyway so how do you transform the mucilaginous juice of aloe into something you can actually dry into an herbal formula? This really confused me because I'm like you know this is like it's like okra slime coming out of here. How is this going to turn into something? Well, by 600 BC, Arab traders had found a way to easily separate the gel part of the aloe plant from the rind.

Starting point is 00:13:15 They did this by crushing the leaves and placing the pulp into goat skin bags to dry in the sun. The dried aloe was then powdered and it made it very easy to transport to different parts of the East including Asia and Persia. I actually found that for a resource to learn about the ancient spice trade. It wasn't even part of herbal lore. I had to trek it down that way. So, if you want to grow your own be sure not to overwater it. Aloe is a desert plant that likes hot dry conditions. At least to a point. You've got to give it some water. But when you have an aloe plant that's wobbly at the base, it's been overwatered.

Starting point is 00:13:54 It needs to be nice and firm and strong and it'll grow abundantly. It does need sun though. It really does need sun. Specific properties of aloe. Pliny the elder and his name apparently is Pliny. I've been told that I always said Pliny but some Italians have taken issue with that. Mentioned aloe as an ingredient in two formulas. Deascortides though gives us the most full use of the herb in the ancient world. Let me get through his description and he talks about how to find the best types and then all that and if you're buying it from Arab traders how to make

Starting point is 00:14:31 sure you get a pure product because there was a lot of adultering of herbs and spices. Swallowed with rosin or taken with boiled honey it loosens the bowels but three teaspoons full fully purges. A lot of people who did that aloe diet will swear to that. You had a little too much, you're gonna be on the toilet for an hour. Mixed with other purging medicines, it makes him less harmful to the stomach.

Starting point is 00:15:00 Sprinkled on dry, it heals wounds. And aloe actually does have an astringent property. A few years ago I got a terrible sunburn and I went to the pharmacy and was recommended just an aloe gel. And it really did soothe and it tightened the stringent. What that means is it was pulling the inflammation out of the skin.

Starting point is 00:15:20 It was great stuff. But eventually I found it too drying and I had to stop using it. It was great stuff, but eventually I found it too drying and I had to stop using it. It efficiently heals ulcerated genitals and the broken foreskin. Mixed with sweet wines, it cures the joints and cracks of the perineum.

Starting point is 00:15:39 I don't know what joints there are there. Anyway, it stops the discharges of blood from hemorrhoids. Again, that is stringency. It helps prevent scarring, takes away bruises, and lowers blood pressure with honey. That's very interesting. It soothes rough skin, itchiness of the eyes, especially in the corners of the eyes, and headaches rubbed with vinegar and rosaceum on the forehead and temple. So for headache, aloe vera with vinegar and rose, that would be rose oil, but you know, rose water, any way you can get some extract of rose.

Starting point is 00:16:20 With wine it stops the hair from falling. He said it was good for alopecia. No idea, but again, if it's reducing the inflammation in the tissue of the scalp, it might. With honey and wine is good for the tonsils, as well as the gums, and all sorts of the mouth. It is roasted for eye medicines in a clean red hot ceramic jar, turned continuously until it is roasted evenly. Of course this is written 2,000 years ago, plus, okay, so that's how it was done at the time in a ceramic jar. I'm sure you can figure out other ways to do it now.

Starting point is 00:16:53 When washed the sandy part separated is useless and the fat and smooth part, the creamy part, you know, that's what you. Anyway, St. Hildegard von Bingen, that's Bingen as the Germans have told me, writing around 1100 A.D., recommended aloe as a topical poultice for daily stomach fevers, for a hot stomach, if you ever had that before, it's very unpleasant, and I have,

Starting point is 00:17:22 to strengthen a person and remove similar issues from the head. Similarly she recommends the herb as a chest plaster for cough. Internally she recommended it as infused with wine and whorehound with licorice. And that would actually be quite tasty. Whorehound is a bitter herb. If you ever had whorehound candy you've had it sweetened quite a bit. Licorice is a bitter herb. If you ever had Hohrhauk candy, you've had it sweetened quite a bit. Licorice is a sweet herb. And generally speaking, licorice and ginchen, or another bitter, actually cancel each other out medicinally.

Starting point is 00:17:56 They nullify each other's effects. It's kind of amazing. It's something that's been noticed for hundreds of years by herbalists. But in wine with also the aloe, I guess, I don't know why it works, but I can kind of see it and I would also think it'd be quite tasty actually. But anyway, probably a lot like vermouth. Yeah yeah it would be one of those herbal drinks like vermouth but anyway father nape tells us that aloe continued to be used

Starting point is 00:18:34 in monastic and German folk medicine the 1800s but he actually preferred the American variety so this 1800s they were actually importing aloe plants from the Americas he said this plants home is far away in America thence it has been So this 1800s they were actually importing aloe plants from the Americas. He said, this plant's home is far away in America. Dense it has been brought to us and is not seldom to be seen in windows of friends of flowers. In other words, people were growing it in pots

Starting point is 00:18:57 in the windows in the 1800s in Germany, just as my mother and grandparents and great grandparents did when I was a kid. He said, let's see, one of these leaves boiled in water and a cup full of decoction taken purges the stomach and bowels. This plant is also a remedy for liver complaints and for jaundice if it is pulverized and taken a pinch twice a day. A leaf of the aloe, boiled with a teaspoon of honey and a half-pite of water, taken in small quantities, will take away interior heat and will also prove serviceably in cases where there are blisters on the palate

Starting point is 00:19:36 or whooping cough. A small part of the leaf boiled in a spoonful of honey takes away heat from the eyes if they are thoroughly washed with it. If you've hurt yourself or you have an ulcer in any part of your body, the application of this leaf will relieve it for you. It is an excellent remedy. Wormwood boiled with aloe drives out bad watery matters from which dropsy is likely to originate. Moreover, it improves the stomach. On account of its many good qualities, I advise every lover

Starting point is 00:20:05 of flowers to give this plant a place in his flower pots." Father Nape was a great writer. Brother Aloysius was his student and he listed, he more formalized this School of German Folk Medicine, he said, "'Aloyus uses a stomach tonic and strengthening purgative to bring on late menstruation as an eye wash for sores, scars, and fresh wounds. The Ashkenazi Jews brought much of the Middle Eastern herbal medicine throughout Europe. Dietrich Cohen and Adam Siegel wrote a great book on their tradition and said throughout,

Starting point is 00:20:43 this would be Germany, Poland, Ukraine and such that whole region, the Ashkenazi Jews kept a flower pot with aloe in their windowsills. In Poland, Sophie Hotaruk's nab again says people grew it in the windowsills. Igor Vilevich Zevin from Russia said it was grown the same way. Beginning in the 1930s was when aloe was introduced into Russia and it was used for cuts, scrapes, burns, cold sores, sunburns and other skin irritations. They were very big in growing aloe in England in the 1500s and 1600s. They built these big glass houses, huge greenhouses.

Starting point is 00:21:26 I mean these things are massive and they would grow everything in there from palm trees to aloes and uh yuccas and tons of ferns and pineapples. They even had these specific pineapple houses that they built so they could bring in you know all these exotic plants from the British Empire and grow them in the cold, damp climate of England. And it was used a lot in English herbal medicine, the 1500s, 1600s. Let's see, he said, it purges the belly with a wholesome and convenient medicine for the stomach. It bringeth forth the collar. I'll skip a little bit of this. We're always getting a little long on this.

Starting point is 00:22:15 He just talks about a lot of similar uses, but of course he's speaking in Shakespearean English, Elizabethan English. He really liked it for hemorrhoids and ulcerative weighted wounds and for the bowels and stomach and everything. 100 years later, a cold pepper, see if he says anything we haven't heard of before. It opens the belly, helps the hurt stomach, and cleanses and dries up all superfluous humors. Same kind of

Starting point is 00:22:47 thing basically. It may be taken with cinnamon, ginger, mace and galangal. Galangal is sort of a cousin to ginger. Aniseed to assuage and drive away the pains of the stomach and to warm it and expel phlegm. Also good against the jaundice and spitting of blood, made into a powder, used in wounds to help stop bleeding, cleanses up old ulcers, especially when combined with honey, heals rifts and hemorrhoids,

Starting point is 00:23:15 takes away black spots, stripes and bruises, and is good against inflammation, hurts and scabs of the eyes, and the running and dimness of the same. He talks about the same headache remedy, we talked about with the rose oil and such. It cures sore mouth, sore gums, sore throat, kernels under the tongue and outwardly applied

Starting point is 00:23:34 as a good, consolidated medicine. It likewise powerfully resists putrification. That means infection. Removes obstructions of the viscera, kills worms in the stomach and intestines, is good for ague or fever, green sickness, and provokes menses. So, I mean, it was considered to be almost a variable cure-all in 1600s England. Now, by the 1930s, a lot had changed in British medicine, but it was still very popular. Ms. Grieve wrote, the drug aloe is one of the safest and best warm and stimulating

Starting point is 00:24:09 pergatives to persons of sedentary habits and phlegmatic constitutions. It ord... no, an ordinarily small dose... Ordinarily a small dose is all it's needed to produce an effect. Its action is exerted mainly on the large intestine. It is also a vermiculitis, meaning it helps get rid of worms, but when used in that way, it can be so powerful it can actually cause hemorrhoids. So she gives a little bit of a warning there, a little caveat. It was used a lot in veterinary medicine. She talks a lot about that.

Starting point is 00:24:48 Getting up to modern use, we'll go to plants for future and they say medicinal uses of aloe vera. Aloe vera is a fairly well-known herbal preparation with a long history of use. It is widely used in modern herbal practice and is often available in proprietary herbal preparations. It has two distinct types of medicinal use. The clear gel contained within the leaf makes an excellent treatment for wounds, burns, and other skin disorders, placing a preventative, no, a protective coat over the effective area, speeding up the rate of healing, and reducing the risk of infection. It's very good for that and in a survival situation that would be very important. I mean, one, you can burn yourself real easy around a campfire as we all know.

Starting point is 00:25:32 But two, wounds and preventing infection. This action is in part due to the presence of allocetin B, which stimulates the immune system. To obtain this gel, the leaves can be cut in half or split and rubbed over the affected area of the skin. It has an immediate soothing effect on all sorts of burns and other skin problems. The second use comes from the yellow sap at the base of the leaf. The leaves are cut transversely at their base and the liquid exudes from this is dried.

Starting point is 00:26:03 It is called bitter aloes and contains anthraquinones which are useful digestive stimulant and a strong laxative. When plants are grown in pots the anthraquinone content is greatly reduced, so stronger in the wild. The plant is a minnagognate, brings on menses, a mullollient which means softening, laxinant, prerogative stimulants, stomatic, tonic, vermiculite, and vulinary or wound healing. Extracts of the plant have antibacterial activity. Apart from its external use of skin, aloe vera, usually the bitter aloe, is taken internally in the treatment of chronic constipation, poor appetite, digestive problems, etc. It should not be given to pregnant women

Starting point is 00:26:45 or people with hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome. That's internally. You can use it externally for hemorrhoids. The plant is strongly prerogative, so great care should be taken over the dosage. Again, anybody that did that aloe juice diet will tell you it's not pleasant. I never did it, but I heard plenty of horror stories. It sounds like the worst case of food poisoning you've ever had. The plant is used to test if there's blood in the feces. This plant has a folk history in the treatment of cases of cancer. Again, we're not going to get into that. But known hazards of aloe vera, none known. So aloe, very safe, very familiar, very easy to use herb. And if you have a sunny window, run down to the garden center, get yourself an aloe vera. There are several varieties, but any

Starting point is 00:27:37 of them are pretty much interchangeable really. Some are bigger than others. Some require more sunlight, more heat than others. Pick one that works best for you and go for it. I mean this is a no-brainer. Keep it by the kitchen, you know, in your kitchen window and when you burn yourself on the stove put some on there. It's one of the most well-known intro level herbal plants that I know of. So y'all have a good one and I will talk to you next time. herbal plants that I know of. So y'all have a good one and I will talk to you next time. The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition.

Starting point is 00:28:12 Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice.

Starting point is 00:28:27 I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs, help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you.

Starting point is 00:28:51 You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.

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The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Andrographis and Aloe

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