Organ Specific Guide - Raintree Nutrition, Inc

AMAZON IMMUNE SUPPORT
Description: A synergistic formula of 7 rainforest plants traditionally used in South America to support
immune function.
Traditional uses by organ or system: Immune/Lymphatic System: As an immunostimulant to enhance
immune functions and immune cell production (T-cell, B-cell, NK-cell, and phagocytosis).
Ingredients: A proprietary blend of cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa), anamu (Petiveria alliacea), mullaca
(Physalis angulata), fedegoso (Cassia occidentalis), sarsaparilla (Smilax officinalis), samambaia (Polypodium
decumanum), and macela (Achyrocline satureoides).
Suggested Use: Take 2-3 capsules twice daily.
Contraindications:
• Not to be used during pregnancy, while breast-feeding or while seeking to become pregnant.
• Do not use before or following any organ or bone marrow transplant or skin graft due to its immunotimulant
properties.
Drug Interactions: Will reduce the effect of immunosuppressive drugs. May potentiate ACE-inhibitors and
antihypertensive medications.
Other Practitioner Observations and Possible Precautions:
• Several plants in this formula may reduce blood pressure. Those with hypotension, or those on medications
to reduce blood pressure should be monitored more closely for this possible effect.
Synopsis of research: (Please the online Tropical Plant Database for all cited research.)
• Cat’s claw has been the subject of much research on its documented and patented immunostimulant
actions. Many of these studies published from the late 1970s to early 1990s indicated that the whole
oxindole alkaloid fraction (which included both POA and TOA alkaloids), whole vine bark and/or root bark
extracts (which included all alkaloids), or six individually-tested oxindole alkaloids, when used in relatively
small amounts, increased immune function by up to 50%. These study results were substantiated by
Canadian researchers at the University of Ottawa (1999) and by Peruvian researchers (1998), both
working with the whole vine extract (which included both TOA and POA alkaloids).
• Anamu has been found in both in vivo and in vitro studies to be an immunostimulant. In a 1993 study with
mice, a water extract stimulated lymphocytes and Interleukin II cell production. In the same year, another
study with mice demonstrated that an anamu extract increased natural killer cell activity by 100% and
stimulated the production of even more types of immune cells (Interferon, Interleukin II, and Interleukin
IV). Additional research from 1997 to 2001 further substantiated anamu's immunostimulant actions in
humans and animals.
• Mullaca has been the subject of recent clinical research (which is still ongoing), based on the preliminary
studies showing that it is an effective immune stimulant, is toxic to numerous types of cancer and
leukemia cells, and that it has antimicrobial properties.
• Fedegoso has been reported to have significant immunostimulant activity by increasing humoral
immunity and bone marrow immune cells in mice, and protecting them from chemically-induced immunosuppression.
• Flavonoids in sarsaparilla have been documented to have immune modulation and hepatoprotective
activities. A U.S. patent was awarded in 2003 describing these flavonoids to be effective in treating
autoimmune diseases and inflammatory reactions through their immunomodulating effects.
• Samambaia has been clinically documented with immunomodulatory effects. It has shown to moderate
proinflammatory cytokines responsible for inflammation processes as well as some of the specific
immune modulating effects needed to treat the imbalances in the immune system that are peculiar to
psoriasis.
• Macela was reported to have a strong immunostimulant actions (increasing phagocytosis and immune
cell activity) in humans and mice by researchers in Germany in the mid-1980s.