Organ Specific Guide - Raintree Nutrition, Inc

CARQUEJA EXTRACT
Description: Carqueja is rather like the South American version of milk thistle. It contains up to 20% flavonoids,
including quercetin, luteolin, nepetin, apigenin, and hispidulin. The flavonoids are considered
carqueja's main active constituents. Raintree Nutrition's concentrated carqueja extract uses new and
proprietary extraction methods to concentrate and preserve the active ingredients found in this rainforest
plant. Concentration and extraction methods provide the equivalent of 500 mg of carqueja whole herb per
milliliter of extract.
Traditional uses by organ or system: Digestion/Elimination: For digestive disorders (gastric ulcers,
Helicobacter pylori ulcers, gastroenteritis, acid reflux, and ileocecal valve disorders) and as a natural
antacid. Liver/Gallbladder: To tone, balance, and strengthen liver function (also to eliminate liver flukes,
increase liver bile and to remove toxins from the liver), and for gallbladder disorders (stones, pain, lack of
bile, sluggish action, toxin build-up).
Ingredients: Carqueja whole herb (Baccharis genistelloides) extracted in distilled water and 40% ethanol.
Suggested Use: Take 60 drops (2 ml) 2 or more times daily.
Contraindications:
• Not to be used during pregnancy as carqueja has demonstrated uterine stimulant and abortive effects in
rats.
• Carqueja has been documented with mild hypotensive effects in animal studies. Persons with hypotension
should be monitored more closely for this possible effect.
• Carqueja has been documented to lower blood glucose levels in human and animal studies. As such, it
is contraindicated in persons with hypoglycemia.
Drug Interactions: None reported; however, it may potentiate diabetic and antihypertensive drugs.
Other Practitioner Observations and Possible Precautions:
• Carqueja has demonstrated antihepatotoxic effects in animal studies. As such, it may speed the clearance
of some drugs metabolized in the liver, thereby reducing the pharmacological effect (and/or side effects)
of certain drugs required to be metabolized in the liver.
Synopsis of research: (Please the online Tropical Plant Database for Carqueja for all cited research.)
Digestion/Elimination:
Carqueja's antacid, antiulcer, and hypotensive properties were documented in two Brazilian animal
studies in 1992. Its antiulcer and analgesic properties were reported in a 1991 clinical study that showed
that carqueja reduced gastric secretions and had an analgesic effect in rats with Helicobacter pylori ulcers.
That study concluded that carqueja "may relieve gastrointestinal disorders by reducing acid secretion and
gastrointestinal hyperactivity." A later study, in 2000, confirmed its antiulcerogenic effect when a water
extract of carqueja administered to rats protected them from alcohol-induced ulcers. Other researchers
documented carqueja's analgesic effects. This same research group in Spain also reported a strong antiinflammatory
effect—a 70%-90% inhibition—when mice were treated with the carqueja extract prior to being
treated with various chemicals that induced inflammation.
Liver/Gallbladder:
Carqueja's hepatoprotective properties were confirmed in a clinical study when a crude flavonoid fraction
of carqueja as well as a crude leaf/stem extract dose-dependently increased the survival rate to 100% in
mice administered lethal dosages of phalloidin (a liver toxin) as compared to only a 24% survival rate in the
control group. While these scientists indicated that the single flavonoid hispidulin evidenced the highest
hepatoprotective effect of the flavonoids tested (it increased survival to 80%), the crude extract and the
whole flavonoid fraction provided a stronger hepatoprotective and antihepatotoxic effect than the single
flavonoid. This led them to think that other constituents in the crude extract, besides the flavonoids, had
hepatoprotective and antihepatotoxic effects and/or there were interactions between the flavonoids and
other plant chemicals that potentiated the flavonoids' effects.