COVID-19 Herbs: Researchers Discover Potent Herbs Used In Most TCM Formulations In China Against COVID-19 Are Ephedra And Bitter Apricot

COVID-19 Herbs: From the beginning of the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis in China, the Chinese health authorities brought in the top TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) experts to develop and test formulations against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and to treat various stages of the COVID-19 disease. Some were used alone and some were used as adjuvants alongside standard pharmaceuticals including the various antivirals and anti-inflammatory agents.


Ephedra sinica 
 
As it became apparent that more of the pharmaceutical products were not working, the Chinese government focused massive resources on TCM research and it bore fruit as almost 14 different formulations emerged that could be used to treat the various stages of the COVID-19 disease and also depending on the specific profile of the patients.
 
The Chinese authorities however kept many of these formulations as state secrets and whatever formulations that were publicly disclosed in the various versions of the public medical guidelines were merely to provide competitor countries with the wrong information.
 
Many of these formulations were made by state owned factories and send to state hospitals to be dispensed in highly controlled ways to Chinese patients with no one ever knowing what was in these formulations. These products are also considered as controlled items and are not allowed to be exported out of the country.
 
The key thing however is that all these formulations worked, and despite occasional outbreaks in various provinces off and on (Expected in a massive country with a population over a billion people), China has managed to keep the situation since then under control.
 
In a study by researchers from Macau University and the Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine that was sent for publishing on a preprint server on the 21^st Of July (kindly note that all 9 researchers are currently relocated in Europe), the researchers did a detailed study of various TCM formulations that were used in China and also used the basis of TCM rules in the formulation of such preparations for the treatment of such a disease as COVID-19 using the traditional TCM system of utilizing two main key herbal pairs besides the numerous other minor herbs that had potent efficacy to treat the disease.

The researchers identified the herbs Ephedra sinica Stapf and Amygdalus Communis Vas as two herb pairs that high potential efficacy to treat the COVID-19 disease.
 
The study has been peer-reviewed and will be published in the BMC’s journal  of Biomolecular Science shortly https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-46828/v1
 
Both herbs are incorporated in Thailand Medical News new specially blended Therapeutic Teas that are patented and that involve new proprietary processes in its manufacture in order to obtain the right quality and quantity of phytochemicals to be released in the teas for therapeutic purposes. https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/new-therapeutic-teas-
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Ephedra sinica is a plant species native to Mongolia, Russia, and Northeastern China and Northern parts of Thailand.
 
Amygdalus Communis Vas is a component of the kernels of bitter apricot (do not get confused with almonds as there as often been mistranslations. Also do not attempt to take any of these herbs oneself as which parts of the plants and how to treat the herbs is not divulged due to patent and proprietary rights issues. It should be noted that both if used wrongly can cause toxic and dangerous medical conditions. Ephedra can cause heart failures or issues and apricot kernels contains amygdalin, which is often marketed misleadingly as vitamin B17, and can release the toxin cyanide after it is eaten. In herbal preparations, certain portions of the bitter apricot are used and are non-toxic and the ephedra has to be pre-treated to remove the dangerous ephedrine alkaloids and phytochemicals. Also the USA FDA only allows pre-treated safe ephedra constituents to be used in any products including our teas.)
 
In the study the researchers identified 26 active phytochemicals in the two herbs including quercetin, kaempferol and luteolin.
 
Also the researchers identified 44 potential targets, which may be relate to the herbal pair against COVID-19 such as Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase 1 (MAPK)1, MAPK8, Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB) p65 subunit (RELA) and so on.
 
Interestingly, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) cluster demonstrated that IL-6 was the seed in the cluster, which plays an important role in connecting other nodes in the PPI network. The significant pathways mainly involved in tumor necrosis factor (TNF), Toll-like receptor (TLR), hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor(NLRs).
 
The researchers conclude that both herbs may have therapeutic effects against COVID-19 by affecting the pathological processes such as inflammatory and immune responses, cell apoptosis, hypoxia damage and other pathological processes through multiple components, multiple targets and multiple pathways.
 
The researchers are now planning animal and clinical trials in Europe using these two herbs.
 
For more on COVID-19 Herbs, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.

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