Cranberry and Buchu
(Concentrate)
Cranberry
Cranberry is an all-American fruit. Known by the white man since the earliest
New England colonies, cranberries are said to have been on the menu of the first
Thanksgiving meal. For a long time the cranberry was used as nothing more than
food in the areas where it grew. As time went on, New England sailors found that
if they ate cranberries they didn't get scurvy.
Eating cranberries really didn't catch on until the Civil War. During the
Thanksgiving of 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant ordered that it be served to the
troops at the siege of Petersburg. General Grant considered cranberry sauce to
be a necessary part of Thanksgiving; apparently his troops agreed. We have been
eating them with our Thanksgiving turkeys ever since.
Except for scurvy prevention nothing was known about cranberry's health benefits
until the 1840s. German researchers discovered that cranberry caused people to
pass hippuric acid in there urine. Hippuric acid supposedly killed bacteria
along the urinary tract.
Later, at the turn of the century, American researchers thought that cranberry
acidified the urine and might prevent UTI. In the 1960s they changed their minds
and said that cranberries did not acidify the urine enough to make a difference.
By then it was too late. Cranberries already worked their way into the American
consciousness and were there to stay.
Fortunately naysayers of the past have not stopped research into cranberries. In
fact, a recent study showed that most subjects showed significant improvement in
urinary bacterial counts after drinking 300 ml of cranberry Juice cocktail a
day. Unlike past researchers, the researchers in this study think that the
benefits of the cranberry are caused by an ill explained chemical with the
ability to keep bacteria from sticking to the wall of the bladder.
Buchu
Buchu's main use and glory is as a diuretic. It has been used for this since the
first Europeans settled South Africa. Because of its rue-like smell, the native
Hottentots use buchu as a perfume.
Buchu was introduced to Britain in 1821 and has since moved to the US. Most of
the plants are still grown in South Africa where the government exercizes strict
control over the gathering of the leaves to prevent destruction of the wild
plants.
Cranberry/ Buchu
Now cranberry and buchu are together and you can get both of their benefits at
the same time: the bacteria protection of cranberry and the diuretic flushing of
buchu. Cranberry/Buchu should be used to prevent infection in individuals that
are already predisposed to UTI.
Cranberry/Buchu also has the advantage of containing no refined sugar to
interfere with its positive effects. Take one to two Cranberry/Buchu capsules
with a glass of water three times a day.
Sources: "Reduction of Bacteriuria and Pyuria After Ingestion of Cranberry Juice" by Jerry Avorn, MD; Mark Monane, MD, MS; Jerry H. Gurwitz, MD; Robert J. Glynn, Ph.D.;Igor Choodnovskiy; Lewis A. Lipsitz, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association, (March 1994).
Mark Pedersen, Nutritional Herbology: A Reference Guide (Warsaw, Indiana: Wendell W. Whitman Company,1994).
A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve, F.R.H.S., Volume 1 (New York, New York: Dover
Publications, Inc.).
"Pytotherapy Review & Commentary," by Donald J. Brown, N.D., Townsend Letter for
Doctors (July 1994).
Cranberry/ Buchu (100 capsules)
Go to my personal
NATURE'S SUNSHINE site for your Personal "Health Analysis".
You may
also check on product information, ordering and become a member for FREE.
Contact: Karen Olerich, Herb Specialist and Natural Health Consultant
Phone: (719) 495-4930
E-mail:
Karen
