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by Chris Kilham
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Chris with LifeFlower plants. |
I AM A MEDICINE HUNTER AND EXPLORER IN
RESIDENCE IN THE MEDICINAL PLANT PROGRAM
AT UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT
Amherst. As a medicine hunter, I seek
natural, plant-based remedies of high
value to health and help to make them
more widely distributed and better
known. My research generally takes place
in faraway locales, ranging from Siberia
to the South Pacific. In those areas I gain
an understanding of traditional medicines,
thanks to generous sharing of time
and expertise on the part of local experts.
Indigenous natives, harvesters, cultivators,
herbal healers, traders, processors,
botanists, chemists and physicians contribute
to my understanding of a plant,
its place in culture and its known health
benefits. I have chronicled some of my
work in various books, including Kava,
Medicine Hunting In Paradise (Park Street
Press), Tales From The Medicine Trail
(Rodale) and Psyche Delicacies (Rodale). My latest book, Hot
Plants (St. Martin’s Press), focuses on my work with effective
sex-enhancing botanicals around the world.
I envision a
future era of health care, in which people come before profits
and in which the U.S. embraces WHO’s
recommendation that each nation will
create a category called traditional medicines.
I envision a time when U.S. health
officials will acknowledge the five billion
people in the world who utilize plants as
primary medicines. I imagine a future
when the environment will be better preserved
for its importance to planetary
and human health, and as a source of as
yet undiscovered medicines. And I
imagine a time when the indigenous
people who cultivate, harvest, collect and prepare the herbs
we use will be paid fairly, and will share in the profits and
technologies that arise with botanical success. I am committed to those outcomes.
In this article, I could tell you stories of various countries and plants. But I am choosing instead to focus an exciting new discovery,
a plant whose folk name is LifeFlower, a true lifesaving botanical.
In the spring of 2003, I met a woman named Joy Pan, whose company
Farlong holds the U.S. distribution rights for an extract
of Lifeflower, Erigeron breviscapus, which
is used in China to treat stroke patients.
Joy provided me with a toxicity report, a
positive mouse memory study, a positive
human memory study, a group of study
abstracts and results of an 18,000 patient
study conducted in 21 Chinese hospitals
showing that LifeFlower helps to restore
muscular control and overall function in
a high percentage of stroke patients.
The intriguing information suggested
that LifeFlower might be one of those few
Holy Grail plants, a true lifesaving
remedy, of potential value to vast millions
of people. In the U.S. alone, an estimated
half million people suffer strokes
annually, 30 percent of which result in
death. If a plant demonstrated significant
benefits against this killer, it would be a
miracle medicine.
In the 1960s Chairman Mao Tse Tung
made an appeal to the Chinese people to
share any information they had on traditional
medicines. An old traditional
medicinal text entitled Dian Nong Ben
Cao, published in the Han language,
listed the use of Erigeron breviscapus for
stroke. Subsequent pharmacological
investigation of the plant con.rmed its
uses in cerebrovascular therapy.
A Remarkable Plant
On July 4, 2002, the U.S. Patent Office
granted a patent to Farlong International
in California for a proprietary extract of
Erigeron breviscapus and an active compound
called breviscapinum. The patent
cited the following findings: “. . .breviscapinum
increases cerebral blood flow
for significantly decreasing cerebrovascular
resistance; raises permeability of blood brain barrier, increases nutritional
blood flow of myocardium; raises
immune function of body macrophage
cell and counteraction against blood
and oxygen depletion induced by
hypophyseal pituitrin and thrombocyte
agglutination induced by adenosine
diphespate inhibiting internal thrombosis
and promoting activity of cellulose
dissolution; increases peripheral
and coronary blood flow, effective for
sequelas induced by cerebrovascular
accident: palsy, coronary heart disease
and angina pectoris.”
Believing that LifeFlower warranted
more investigation, I spoke with Joy, who
arranged a trip to Yunnan, China, for me
to see the LifeFlower situation for myself.
When I arrived in Kunming, the
provincial capitol of Yunnan, I met with
Joy and several other people who would
be part of our group for the entire project.
In the city of Gejiu we toured SuperTrack
Bio-Pharmaceutical. Company executives
showed us their manufacturing
facility, where LifeFlower is transformed
from a plant to an injectable dosage form
designed to save lives. Each injectable
ampule contains 10 milligrams of extract.
The extraction and manufacturing are
conducted under sterile pharmaceutical
conditions, using highly sophisticated
processing technology. The LifeFlower
ampules are used in hospitals
throughout the country to treat stroke
patients. According to the leaders at
SuperTrack, the plant is restoring many
thousands of stroke patients back to
healthy function.
SuperTrack also manufactures tablets
of LifeFlower, each of which contains 20
milligrams of extract. The daily recommended
dose is six tablets. A Mr. Jin told
us, “The injection is for acute cases, but
the tablet form is also highly beneficial to
the brain.”
LifeFlower Cultivation
Outside of Gejiu in Mile, we traveled
roads that led us up into rough terrain
and into progressively higher mountains.
There our group toured a remarkably
well-tended 3,000-acre LifeFlower plantation.
Vast rows of the plant grew at the
2000-meter altitude, and the combination
of altitude, moisture and just the
right amount of sun kept them healthy.
Most were without flowers, but in one
section, a great many plants were in bloom. Thus we were able to see the
plant, from the smallest specimens, to
fully grown and in flower. Mr. Yu, a
botanical specialist, told us that the
plantation would be greatly expanded in
that area. “We have worked very hard
with LifeFlower. We know the conditions to
grow the plant and what is needed to produce
a healthy crop. This is going to be a
very large agricultural product in this area.”
LifeFlower is a small perennial plant
with oval leaves about six inches in diameter,
that lie close to the ground, with
slender stalks and purple flowers. The
plant grows wild in various regions of
Yunnan. LifeFlower can grow between
1100–3500 meters, but grows best
between 1700–2500 meters. The plant is
sparse and over picking would surely
endanger it.
“There are plans to grow 50,000 to
100,000 acres of LifeFlower in this region,”
Mr. Guan of SuperTrack explained. “And
still, that will not be enough to meet the
needs of all people who could benefit from
this medicine.” The plant is started from
seed. After three months, seedlings are
transplanted from shaded nurseries to
larger fields. LifeFlower takes one year to
mature. It is then harvested, dried and
cleaned. After that, the plant undergoes a
patented extraction process which yields
breviscapinum, the agent believed to be
responsible for its protective and healing
activity. According to Mr. Guan, one acre
of LifeFlower yields 150 kilograms of the
dried plant. One hundred kilograms of
the dried plant will yield only one kilogram
of the final extract. One kilogram of
extract will yield 100,000 injectable
doses.
The Center of LifeFlower Research
In Kunming we made our way to the
state-of-the-art Kunming Institute of
Botany. There a large and dedicated team
of scientists investigates the properties
and uses of a plethora of beneficial
plants. At the forefront of much of this
research is Professor Han Dong Sun.
Along with Deputy Director Li De Zhu, Professor Sun explained to us some
of the Institute’s findings on Erigeron
breviscapus.
“This is a very important medicine,”
Professor Sun explained. “Erigeron breviscapus
is highly beneficial in the treatment
of cerebrovascular disease. The whole
herb is used to treat a variety of paralysis
and the problems that arise from that
condition.” Having worked on Erigeron
breviscapus for over 10 years, Professor
Sun is one of the best-informed people
about the plant. He believes that though
the agent breviscapinum may play a
major role in the plant’s activity, other
synergistic compounds are highly important
for maximum efficacy.
Professor Sun informed us that there
is more science on the oral use of
Erigeron breviscapus than on the
injectable form. “Both forms of the plant
extract are used in clinical settings,” he
explained. Professor Sun agreed that
translation of Chinese findings is an
essential next step to bring more complete
information on this medicinal plant
to the international research community.
Summing Up the Knowledge
In China, thousands of stroke patients
each year are treated with LifeFlower,
either in tablet or injectable form.
According to the studies I have seen so
far, treatment of paralysis due to stroke is
at least somewhat successful in over 80
percent of cases. Even if positive results
were half that, LifeFlower would still be a
medical miracle.
The science on LifeFlower shows that
the plant improves circulation in the
brain and enhances cerebral function.
Studies reveal that LifeFlower is a unique
plant possessing protective and restorative
properties. Considering the great
number of people who need brain
enhancement of these kinds, LifeFlower
has the potential to become one of the
most important and widely used plantderived
medicines of all time. Translation
of existing science, plus expanding availability
of this plant, may help to save
many lives.
Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter and
the author of 13 books. He is explorer
In residence at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, where
he teaches ethnobotany.
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