Showing posts with label good for diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good for diabetes. Show all posts

Friday, May 30, 2014

Legume Tree Billy Webb (Acosmium panamensis) good for diabetes, dry cough and fever.

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 201-365

The species is part of the evergreen tropical forests


The hard, durable wood of this tree is used in heavy construction, and to make such household items as washing tubs, breadboards and mortar sticks.

The bitter-tasting bark is used as a remedy for coughs and fever. It is the main ingredient in "Sweet Blood", one of the Rain forest Remedies bottled by Ix Chel Farms, which is good for diabetes, dry cough and low appetite.
 
Oral application of water extracts at doses of 20 and 200 mg/kg and of butanol extracts at doses of 20 and 100 mg/kg significantly lowered the plasma glucose levels in diabetic rats within 3 h. Glibenclamide was used as reference and showed similar hypoglycemic effect like the extracts.
Three structurally new compounds were isolated from the plant and shown to be the main constituents in both extracts.
 

Ecological Restoration

New Root supports the ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems. We value the careful study of local forests to ensure that we are actually restoring the land to be a functional ecosystem that supports biodiversity. 

To do so, it is imperative to use native species. Where possible, we encourage the use of natural regeneration, which allows forests to replant themselves. In some cases this is difficult due to an absence of seed dispersing animals or due to the degraded state of the soil. In such cases it is necessary for people to plant seedlings. 

 Depending on the land, these include nitrogen fixing trees such as Gliricidia sepium, fruit trees that attract animals such as Dialium guianense, trees that have medicinal uses such as Acosmium panamense, trees that bind soil to prevent erosion such as Persea americana, and a number of large trees that sequester remarkable amounts of carbon such as Cedrela odorata. In some forests it is possible to find over 100 species on a single hectare.

Legume tree species, which are abundant in tropical dry forests, may be a critical regulator of soil nutrient dynamics because of their high foliar nitrogen (N) and potential for symbiotic N fixation.  

The legume tree species (Acosmium panamense, Dalbergia retusa, and Gliricidia sepium) have distinct soil chemistry under their crowns compared to nearby non-legume species (Rehdera trinervis, Swietenia macrophylla, and Quercus oleoides) when grown in two habitats.

Acosmium had the highest values for total soil C and N, labile C, and potential N mineralization rates.