Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Christmas Gift for Blood Pressure

Family: Loranthaceae; all its botanical relatives are called mistletoe

Genus and Species: Viscum Album (European); Phoradendron Serotinum (American), also known as P. Tomentosum

Also known as: Viscum, Herbe de la Croix, Lignum Crucis

Parts used: Leaves, fruits (berries), young twigs

Mistletoe is best known as the plant under which people kiss at Christmas, a custom with an ironically gruesome origin. As a Healing herb, mistletoe is also fraught with irony. One scientific authority calls it “gentle … [and) nontoxic.” Others call it “poisonous,” and insist “all parts of the plant should be regarded as toxic.”

The truth lies somewhere in between. Mistletoe is potentially hazardous, but Europeans have used it extensively and apparently safely-to help treat high blood pressure and cancer.

The Kissing Herb

We owe the herb’s association with kissing to Norse mythology. Balder, god of peace, was slain by an arrow made of mistletoe. When his parents, god-king Odin and goddess-queen Frigga, restored him to life, they gave the plant to the goddess of love and decreed that anyone who passed under it should receive a kiss.

Early Christians believed mistletoe was a freestanding tree during Jesus’s time and that its wood was used to make the cross. God punished the plant for its role in the crucifixion by turning it into a parasite. This story gave mistletoe its Latin name, lignum crucis, wood of the cross, and its French name, Fler6e de la croix.

Ancient Controversy

Mistletoe is a parasitic shrub that grows in trees, rooting into their bark. Hippocrates prescribed the herb for disorders of the spleen, but most other ancient physicians, particularly Dioscorides and Galen, advised limiting this herb to external uses, foreshadowing the current controversy over its safety.

A French medical text of 1682 recommended mistletoe for “falling sickness” (epilepsy). and some herbals still recommend it for convulsions. (Ironically, high doses may cause convulsions.)

Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper reiterated Hippocrates’ recommendation, asserting the herb “doth mollify hardness of the spleen, and helpeth old sores.” He also advocated mistletoe for “falling sickness and apoplexy [stroke).” and advised wearing a sprig around the neck to “remedy witchcraft.”

Mistletoe Comes to America

Several Indian tribes used American mistletoe to induce abortions and to stimulate contractions during childbirth.

The 19th-century Eclectic text, King’s American Dispensatory, recommended both European and American mistletoe for epilepsy, typhoid fever, dropsy (congestive heart failure). and “hysterical” (gynecological) complaints: menstrual cramps, menstruation promotion, and relief from postpartum hemorrhage. King’s also warned that large amounts “possess toxic properties. Vomiting, catharsis, muscular spasms, coma, convulsions, and death have been reported from eating the leaves and berries.”

Koreans use mistletoe tea to treat colds, muscle weakness, and arthritis. Chinese physicians prescribe the dried inner stems as a laxative, digestive aid, sedative, and uterine relaxant during pregnancy.

American Versus European

Somewhere along the line, herbalists came to believe European and American mistletoe had opposite effects. European mistletoe was reputed to reduce blood pressure and soothe the digestive tract. while the American herb was said to raise blood pressure and stimulate uterine and intestinal contractions.

Contemporary herbalists are divided on mistletoe. Some say the two varieties have opposite effects. Others make no distinctions between them. Some consider the herb calming, asserting it reduces blood pressure, quiets the heart. and relaxes the nervous system. Others say it raises blood pressure and stimulates uterine contractions. In The Herb Book, John Lust. M.D., calls the berries poisonous: “Children’s deaths have been attributed to eating them.” In Weiner’s Herbal, Michael Weiner, Ph.D., disputes this: “There is good reason to believe … the reports of adverse effects and even death … are incorrect. There was no evidence … the plant Material ingested was really mistletoe.”

Despite the traditional belief that European and American mistletoe have opposite actions, science has found out that they contain similar active chemicals and have similar effects. Mistletoe has the ability to slow the pulse, stimulate gastrointestinal and uterine contractions, and lower blood pressure.

Blood Pressure - Mistletoe contains substances that may raise blood pressure as well as substances that may lower it, but blood pressure reduction appears to predominate. In Germany, where herbal medicine is considerably more mainstream than it is in the United States, mistletoe extract is an ingredient in many medications prescribed to reduce blood pressure. German medical herbalist Rudolph Fritz Weiss, M.D., writes: “Anyone who treats hypertension [high blood pressure] will confirm that mistletoe by mouth has definite benefit. For a gentle antihypertensive drug that is well tolerated and nontoxic in the usual dosage … mistletoe is the drug of choice.” High blood pressure is a serious condition requiring medical treatment. Use the herb only with the permission and supervision of your doctor.

Immune Stimulant - In one experiment, cells damaged by X-ray radiation regenerated more quickly when exposed to a commercial mistletoe extract (the Swiss drug, Iscador).

Cancer Treatment - Studies going back 25 years show mistletoe impairs the growth of test-tube tumor cells. In Germany, three mistletoe-based chemotherapy agents are administered by injection to treat human cancers. These drugs have reportedly shown significant benefit in treating lung and ovarian tumors. Dr. Weiss writes: “The great advantage offered by mistletoe extracts is that unlike [other chemotherapeutic] drugs, their … immuno-stimulant and tonic effects .,. are non-toxic and well tolerated.”

Mistletoe has not been seriously investigated in the United States for cancer treatment, however, because of its reputation as a poison. Ironically, many approved cancer drugs are also toxic.

Rx for Mistletoe

Mistletoe should be used only under the close supervision of a physician who has knowledge of herbs. To treat high blood pressure, Dr. Weiss recommends a tea made of equal parts of mistletoe, hawthorn, and balm. “Infuse 2 teaspoons of the mixture for 5 to 10 minutes. Take I cup in the morning and I at night.” Other herbalists recommend I cup a day of an infusion made from I teaspoon of freshly dried plant steeped in I cup of boiling water for 10 minutes.

In a tincture, the recommended dose for blood pressure control is 5 drops per day.

Mistletoe should not be given to children, and it may have unexpected effects in the elderly.

Most authorities on this side of the Atlantic scoff at Dr. Weiss’s suggestion that mistletoe is “gentle, nontoxic, and well tolerated.” The Food and Drug Administration calls it unsafe and has not approved any mistletoe preparation for treatment of any disease. In Natural Product Medicine, pharrnacognosists Ara Der Marderosian, ph.D., and Lawrence Liberti speak for most American experts when they write:

“Mistletoe’s use should be discouraged because of the documented toxicity associated with ingestion of all parts of the plant.”

How toxic is it? The Eclectics reported coma, convulsions, and deaths from ingestion of large doses of mistletoe leaves and berries. J. M. Kingsbury’s classic book, Poisonous Plants of the United States, reported one fatality from an overdose of berries. And Dr. Der Marderosian and Liberti report two mistletoe deaths, one from mistletoe tea intended as a tonic and another from high doses of the herb used to induce abortion.

On the other hand, a recent review of more than 300 cases of mistletoe ingestion in Annals of Emergency Medicine showed no deaths, and a majority of those who ingested the planttypically its berries-developed no symptoms of poisoning. The investigators concluded that while mistletoe is potentially toxic, adult ingestion of up to three berries or two leaves is unlikely to produce serious poisoning.

Keep It Away from Children

Child fatalities, however, have been reported from as few as two berries. Keep mistletoe out of the reach of children. If you hang it at Christmas, secure it carefully and explain to children that its berries should never be eaten-or remove the berries.

Caution for Women

Mistletoe contains a chemical (tyramine) that may stimulate uterine contractions. Pregnant women should not use it, except possibly at term and only under the supervision of a physician to induce labor.

Mistletoe’s abortion-inducing dose is close to its fatal dose. This herb should never be used to terminate pregnancy.

Those taking any MAO inhibitor antidepressant (Marplan, Nardil, Parnate) also should not use mistletoe, because the interaction of these drugs and the herb might cause a serious elevation in blood pressure, resulting in loss of consciousness.

Mistletoe may slow heart rate. People with heart disease or a history of stroke should not use it.

Other Cautions

Mistletoe may be used cautiously in low doses but only under the supervision of a medical professional. For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking MAO inhibitors or other blood pressure medications, mistletoe is thought to be relatively safe when used cautiously in small amounts for brief periods.

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

If any symptoms of toxicity develop-nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, decreased heart rate, hallucinations, muscle spasms, or convulsions-seek emergency treatment immediately. At high doses, fatalities typically occur within ten hours of ingestion.

The Christmas Parasite

Both European and American mistletoe are parasitic, branching, woody, evergreen shrubs that live on a large number of trees. The European herb has thin, leathery, tonguelike, 2inch leaves. The American variety also has leathery leaves, but they are broader and up to 3 inches long. Both plants produce small, sticky white berries, which contain single seeds.

Mistletoe is well adapted to its aerial existence. Its sticky white berries attract birds, which carry them to perches in other trees. The birds eat some but drop others, which stick to the tree bark. Within a few days, the seeds inside newly “planted” mistletoe berries produce tiny roots, which bore their way into the host tree and establish new plants.

Mistletoe is gathered from the wild, not cultivated, but some crafters of mistletoe Christmas products reportedly “plant” the sticky seeds by inserting them into the bark of host trees.