Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

No one questioned burdock’s safety until the Journal of the American Medical Association linked it to one case of poisoning that could have proved fatal.

A woman who drank a strong decoction experienced blurred vision, dry mouth, and hallucinations-classic symptoms of atropine poisoning. Burdock does not contain atropine, but a plant that looks similar does-belladonna. Presumably, some belladonna accidentally adulterated the woman’s burdock.

One case of adulteration is not cause for alarm, but if you use burdock, buy it from a reliable source, and if you develop any symptoms of atropine poisoning-dry mouth, blurred vision, and hallucinations-seek emergency medical treatment immediately. The Toxicol0gy of Botanical Medicines identifies burdock as a uterine stimulant. Pregnant women shouldn’t use it.

The Food and Drug Administration lists burdock as an herb of “undefined safety,” but except for that one case of atropine poisoning, it apparently never has caused problems. For otherwise healthy nonpregnant, nonnursing adults, burdock is considered safe in amounts typically recommended.

Burdock should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If burdock causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience any unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Medicine is in the Roots

Burdock’s medicinal root has brown bark and a white, spongy, fibrous interior, which becomes hard when dried. Its stem is multibranched, with long, egg-shaped leaves. Each branch is topped by a bristled “flower,” actually a clump of many purplish flowers, which produces its infamous burrs.

Burdock grows easily from seeds planted in spring. Thin seedlings to o-inch spacing. Burdock prefers moist. rich, deeply cultivated soil and full sun but tolerates poorer soils. Many herbalists mix wood chips and sawdust into burdock beds to keep the soil loose so roots are easier to harvest. Burdock roots deeply, so transplanting is not advised for established plants. Harvest the roots during the fall of the first year or the spring of the second.

Many modern herbal experts say thumbs down to burdock as a healing herb. In Natural Product Medicine, Ara Der Marderosian, Ph.D., and Lawrence Liberti write: “There is little evidence to suggest burdock is useful in treatment of any human disease.” And in The New Honest Herbal, Varro Tyler, Ph.D., writes: “In spite of its long folkloric use, no solid evidence exists that burdock exhibits useful therapeutic activity.”

Most traditional claims for burdock have not withstood scientific scrutiny. It does not treat leprosy, arthritis, uterine prolapse, or congestive heart failure. But several studies suggest the herb may prove to be therapeutic after all.

Infection - German researchers have discovered fresh burdock root contains chemicals (polyacetylenes) that kill disease-causing bacteria and fungi. Though dried burdock contains less of these chemicals, their presence may help explain the herb’s traditional use against ringworm, a fungal infection, and several bacterial infections, including gonorrhea, skin infections, and urinary tract infections.

However, burdock is no substitute for professional medical treatment of fungal and bacterial infections.

Intriguing Possibilities - Burdock has been used extensively around the world as a cancer treatment. and several studies show that substances found in the herb do, in fact. have antitumor activity. An article published in Chemotherapy identified a chemical (arctigenin) in burdock as an “inhibitor of experimental tumor growth.” And a study published in Mutation Research showed the herb decreases mutations in cells exposed to mutation-causing chemicals. (Most substances that cause genetic mutations also cause cancer.)

Of course, cancer requires professional care. If you’d like to try burdock in addition to standard therapy, discuss it with your physician.

Finally, burdock has an as-yet-unexplained anti-poisoning effect. Experimental animals fed the herb were somehow protected against several chemicals known to be toxic.

In view of these tantalizing findings, let’s hope scientists cling to burdock research as tenaciously as the plant’s burrs cling to just about anything.

Rx for Burdock

If your physician gives the okay, use burdock in conjunction with other cancer therapy. The herb may also be used as part of the treatment for certain infections, such as those that attack the urinary tract, and also for gonorrhea. Take it as a decoction or tincture.

For a decoction, boil I teaspoon of root in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Cool. Drink up to 3 cups a day. It has a sweet taste similar to celery root.

In a tincture, take 112 to I teaspoon up to three times a day. Do not give burdock to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

Likely to Stick Around

Family: Compositae; (includes Daisy, Dandelion, Marigold)

Genus and Species: Arctium Lappa

Also known as: Great Burdock, Burr

Parts used: Primarily Roots, also Leaves and Seeds

Burdock - the name is a combination of bur, from its tenacious burrs, and dock, Old English for “plant” seems to reach out and grab anything that comes near it And the same could be said for its place in modern herbal healing. While many scientists have dismissed burdock as useless, it seems destined to hang on as a healing herb, particularly as a potential treatment for cancer.

Burdock has had its ups and downs in the past. When it wasn’t being reviled as a pest, it was being recommended as a healing treatment for a surprising variety of conditions. The medieval German abbess/herbalist Hildegard of Bingen used it to treat cancerous tumors.

Early Chinese physicians considered burdock a remedy for colds, flu, throat infections, and pneumonia. India’s traditional Ayurvedic healers used it similarly.

An Herb for All Reasons

During the 14th century in Europe, burdock leaves were pounded in wine and used to treat leprosy London’s overly imaginative 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended burdock for uterine prolapse, a condition in which the ligaments supporting the uterus weaken, causing it to fall into the vagina. Culpeper’s bizarre prescription: Place burdock on the crown of the head to draw the womb back up.
Later European herbalists prescribed burdock root for fever, cancer, eczema, psoriasis, acne, dandruff, gout, ringworm, skin infections, syphilis, gonorrhea, and problems associated with childbirth.

America’s 19th-century Eclectic physicians considered it an excellent diuretic and prescribed it for urinary tract infection, kidney problems, and painful urination, in addition to skin infections and arthritis.

The Cancer Controversy

Centuries after Hildegard recommended burdock for cancer, the herb’s reputation as a tumor treatment spread to Russia, China, India, and the Americas.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, burdock was an ingredient in the alternative cancer treatment marketed by ex-coal miner Harry Hoxsey.

Contemporary herbalists have abandoned burdock as a cancer treatment (perhaps prematurely) but continue to recommend it for skin problems, wound treatment, urinary tract infection, arthritis, sciatica, ulcers, and even anorexia nervasa.