Jamaican Roots

Jamaica is a relatively small island but it contains a wealth of tonics.   Health consciousness permeates almost every aspect of the culture.  You can’t eat anything in Jamaica without being reminded of the health benefit or reason for eating it.

One popular beverage is called ‘Roots’.  It comes by many colorful and descriptive names.  If you look for ‘Wood Root’ or ‘Roots’, you should be able to find it.  One very popular one is this one:

Popular Root Drink
Popular Root Drink

There are about as many different formulations as there are names for this drink.  Some are extremely bitter.  Some are sweetened and fermented.

Jamaicans say these drinks are ‘good for the back’.  You need a strong back to accomplish things in life, among other things.

Try it and report back!

Horny Goat Weed?

Despite it’s unfortunate name (who wants to bring this stuff to the counter), Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium, is an amazing chinese herb.  Bodybuilders take it for increased testosterone (weak anecdotal evidence) and for the ‘pump’ (very strong evidence).  It’s also thrown into herbal preparations for PDE-5 inhibition effects (very strong scientific evidence).

I like to check http://www.pubmed.com for scientific experiments related to the herbs and supplements I’ll be discussing here.

It’s very cheap as a raw herb you can purchase in any chinese herbal shop or over the net.  It’s basically dried leaves packed tightly into little bricks that resemble a pack of dollar bills.

Epimedium
Epimedium

Scientists have found that it has strong Estrogenic qualities.  What??  Yes, despite all the hype around male performance, it has been shown effective for woman going through menopause and for the prevention of Osteoporosis!  Check out pubmed for the studies.

One substance that has been isolated from epimedium is a chemical called icariin.  Again, check pubmed for this one.  It’s PDE-5 inhibition rivals viagra.  In fact, one study mentioned how they were working on derivatives of icariin to produce even more effective inhibition.  Do your research!  Check pubmed, don’t just believe me.

Despite all the clinical evidence pointing to epimedium being estrogenic, this herb has a strong reputation for being a testosterone booster.  I think it’s probably due to it’s PDE-5 inhibition that get misinterpreted as libido enhancing.  Another possibility is that the body absorbs these natural weaker estrogens instead of the dangerous estrogens purported to be in our drinking water, detergents and certain food additives.  So it could have a protective effect against those dangerous substances.  I haven’t studied the estrogen story in depth, but there seems to be strong suggestions that our environment is polluted with toxic estrogens.