Do your joints C-R-E-A-K??

Mine use to, even though I drink lots of water daily, which is important... then I started taking a vegan based joint formula and it helped, but I also lost a lot of weight by changing my eating habits to a lifestyle of hormonally balanced foods, avoiding skin and hair care products that throw my hormones out of whack, and supplementing with progesterone cream to ensure balance. I wasn’t sure which to attribute my non-achy joints to – weight loss or the supplement. So, I decided my parents would be the perfect people to try an essential joint supplement. My mother is on enough medications, and has an adversity to pill swallowing, so my father had to become the one to swallow a joint support supplement. I was actually surprised that in as little as two weeks he said his knees were MUCH better and asked me to get him another bottle as he did not want to run out.  This successful testimony got me to wondering a bit more about the ingredients in essentials joint formula. I knew from reading Dr. Russel Blaylock’s newsletter that a number of ingredients were high on his list as anti-inflammatories. But as is typical of myself, I wanted to probe further. I was able to locate lab reports and studies on the internet of which the data impressed me. Here is the scoop on some of the ingredients listed in the joint formula from which my father obtains results:

Boswellia Serrata

The report I found was a 2008 Thorne Research, Alternative Medicine Review Report Vol. 13, #2
The report states that boswellia serrata has been shown to reduce asthma, and decreases Crohn’s disease activity; inhibits human leukocyle elastase, which stimulates mucous secretion and may play a major role in cystic fibrosis, chronic bronchitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome. It has also shown to inhibit the growth of leukemia HL-60 cells.
Granted, I am not a scientist, but I understand enough of that statement to be duly impressed!

White Willow (salix alba)

I admit, I started taking these notes a while ago and cannot recall the site for data on white willow bark. It stated: Native Americans are thought to have used ground willow bark and bark steeped for tea as a medicinal remedy for everything from pain relief to fevers. Today, white willow bark is often used as a natural alternative to aspirin. The active ingredient in white willow is salicin, which the body converts into salicylic acid. The first aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) was made from a different salicin-containing herb--meadowsweet--but works in essentially the same way. All aspirin is now chemically synthesized. It's not surprising, then, that white willow bark is often called "herbal aspirin." The salicylic acid in white willow bark lowers the body's levels of prostaglandins, hormonelike compounds that can cause aches, pain, and inflammation. While white willow bark takes longer to begin acting than aspirin, its effect may last longer. And, unlike aspirin, it doesn't cause stomach bleeding or other known adverse effects.

Pine (pinus massaoniana)
For this ingredient I found a study found here, that offered several interesting bits of information. I admit – none of you may find this interesting, but I really want to know why a supplement works so well – and this is fascinating to me.
AIM OF THE STUDY: Pinus massoniana bark extract (PMBE) with known anti-oxidant activity is comprised of various flavonoids including several bio-active compounds. We found that PMBE contains 1.27% taxifolin, a well-studied compound with known anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated the effects of PMBE and taxifolin on intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression.
This study read in a language way over my head, but from the summary I could glean: These results indicate that PMBE, grown in China, exhibits great potential as a therapeutic treatment for inflammatory skin diseases.
Another study that reads over my head, but again – I looked to the final sentence for something I could grasp, which reads: indicate that PMBE is a natural antioxidant that could potentially be used as a food supplement or as a candidate precursor substance for new anticancer therapeutics.
A third study, if you care to read even more about pinus massaniana, can be found here.

Rooibos

Previously I had blogged about rooibos after learning it replaced another very good anti-inflammatory in the joint formula I had been using. What I learned about rooibos impressed me that the research and development team was really on top, and indeed ahead of the game, when it comes to selecting beneficial ingredients.

A study on roobias can be found here.  Some of what I have found may be a repeat from my previous post, but bears redundacy in order to help further educate about the wonderful properties of this plant.
Rooibos, Afrikaans for "red bush"; is a member of the legume family of plants and may be used for example to make tea. The scientific name of rooibos is Aspalathus linearis. Rooibos tea is often called South African red tea or simply red tea or bush tea. Rooibos tea has been popular in South Africa for generations, but is recently consumed increasingly in countries all over the world.

Rooibos tea is also becoming more and more popular in particular in Western countries among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of antioxidants. The present inventors have now found that Aspalathus linearis also possesses potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Consequently, one embodiment of the present invention is a composition comprising Aspalathus linearis or an extract thereof to treat or prevent inflammatory disorders; and/or a composition comprising Aspalathus linearis or an extract thereof for use in the treatment or prevention of inflammatory disorders.

The present invention also relates to the use of a composition comprising Aspalathus linearis or an extract thereof for the preparation of a product to treat and/or prevent inflammatory disorders.

The inflammatory disorder that can be treated or prevented according to the present invention can for example be selected from the group consisting of acute inflammations such as sepsis, infections, burns and chronic inflammations such as inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, asthma, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel syndrome, liver inflammation, alcoholic cirrhosis, allergy, atopy, bone inflammation, arthritis, in particular rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, systemic lupus, Gougerot-Sjόgren's syndrome, Reiter's syndrome, poliomyelitis, dermato-myositis, thyroiditis, Basedow, Hashimoto, type I diabetes, Addison's disease, auto-immunes hepatitis, celiac disease, Biermer's disease, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia, encephalomyelitis, eye inflammation, obesity-associated inflammation, age-related low-grade inflammation, Blau's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, gingivitis, paronditis, or the symptoms thereof.

In a particular preferred embodiment of the present invention, the composition comprising Aspalathus linearis or an extract thereof is used to treat and/or prevent inflammatory disorders of the gut and/or of the cartilage.
For example, the composition comprising Aspalathus linearis or an extract thereof may be used to modulate the ratio of cartilage anabolism and cartilage catabolism, in particular to increase the ratio of cartilage anabolism and cartilage catabolism. It may also be used to inhibit cartilage catabolism.
Suitable extracts of Aspalathus linearis may be prepared by any means that are known in the art, e.g., by steam extraction, solvent extraction, distillation, pressing or grinding.
It is however preferred if the extract is obtainable, in particular obtained, by extraction with a solvent from Aspalathus linearis plant material, in particular by a water extraction or an alcohol/water extraction, for example by a ethanol/water extraction.

I pondered whether or not to include all of that about rooibos…but reading it, I just though you deserved to know all of the anti-inflammatory benefits of this amazing plant! If you didn’t get bored with this perhaps overly technical/medical post – I hope you, too, are impressed by the joint formula that my dad is having such good results with. There is much more to anti-inflammatory than glucosamine – gluc helps for certain and my doctor recommended it, but how much more effective when it is combined with additional anti-inflames that help reduce swelling in so many areas of the body, from cellular structure to joints.
In addition to drinking water (1/2 your body weight in ounces daily), I found a link on my nephew's Cross Fit Sanctify web-site that has a video with simple exercises you can do with a rolled up towel and small ball, to help open up the mechnics of the knee. Check it out here.

I hope the only creaks you hear are that of the attic door!! I know I am grateful to have quiet knees after years of morning creakiness.

To your health!

Rita S.