Geranium Extracts inhibit HIV-1

Science Daily
That is one of the stories, there are several out about the release of this medical discovery.

Short summary - researchers have found a potent drug to fight HIV that works with a different mechanism than the current classes of drugs, works like a fusion inhibitor and also kills the active virus (something the other drugs don't do), and it is already available...with a bonus....

unlike the other drugs that may cost as much as $1800 / month (before insurance) for the standard prescription, and unlike new drugs that would need some more years to get into the pipeline...this can already be purchased as an approved alternative health supplement, and even grown at home as an ornamental flower.

This plant has already been credited with a lot of benefits, and is already approved for cold and flu remediation in some countries (Germany)..
and this thread mentions it several times as a suspected cure for some cancers:
Collection of possible cancer cures

With what they already know about it, it can immediately become one of the primary drugs of the standard three-drug combo...and if it has a good resistance profile, AND it is found to kill the latent virus hiding in the reservoirs..it may just be natural cure.

Hope it don't get squashed by Big Pharma. Can't make a lot of money off geraniums.

The only thing I could see that could be a problem is if they start taking surveys from people about the "nasty smell of geranium." The last thing the world needs is some corporation deciding to "remove the "annoying" smell out of the plants with recombidant dna technology" (GMO)! I would not put it past one of the many companies out there to try to remove the smell, which is where the medicine is stored. Geranium oil is germ-killing, antifungal, and smells good as an ingredient for deodorants made from essential oils.

A lot of people do not like the smell, but others like it very much. I have smelled the plant before. The geranium the article is mentioning is an essential oil which is extracted from the plant. The whole plant has the oil in it, and you can buy it at most hardware stores that sell plants in the spring, most plant nurseries, and most department stores that carry flowers in the spring also have it.

The essential oil can be gotten online from many sources. The best grade geranium oil is a little expensive, but it has health benefits that have probably not even been discovered yet.

Edit to add: Geranium in the garden also drives bugs away from the food you want to eat. Even better than onions and garlic.

Nice find LSP. This will be great news for a lot of people.

I'm going to come back to this after my second brew.....
There are many different geranium EO's available from different parts of the world, and they have differing therapeutic properties.
Rainbows
Jane

Regarding the smell of the essential oils. The more one can benefit from a certain oil, the worse it smells to that person.

As an essential oil is benefitting someone, the small becomes more pleasant.

reply to post by opal13


Yes...that is a very good rule of thumb
Rainbows
Jane

There are variations in the scent of geranium, like Rose geranium for example, which is used as an alternative to rose oil in some fragrances, it has a great many uses, often for the skin.

www.organicfacts.net...

reply to post by lakesidepark


I put geranium tincture in my teas, and use the EO in my body oils, lotions and perfume. It is one of the best EO for your skin. I'm not surprised that it has been found to have even greater healing properties.

Thank you for the information.

lakesidepark

Hope it don't get squashed by Big Pharma. Can't make a lot of money off geraniums

This is a common fallacious argument people on here make. Fact is, lots of drugs are developed from plants and other natural sources. Medicine commonly isolates and extracts the key components of said natural products so that they can be manufactured with a consistent dosage and with none of the unwanted/unneeded compounds also in the plant.

Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean that it cannot be refined.

reply to post by GetHyped

And your comment shows how little you understand of plant chemistry.
rainbows
Jane

reply to post by angelchemuel


What exactly are you disputing here? That drugs can be manufactured from plants? That the process can be refined by extracting the active ingredient alone from plants? That this refining process can tightly control the strength and dosage of the active ingredient? That a lot of common medicine is actually derived from natural sources?

reply to post by GetHyped


I should have noted /sarcasm to avoid this confusion. I'm a minion of Big Pharma doncha know? The man keeps me hooked up with lots of porche's and big swimming pools, and I help count the bags of money.

Seriously, it looks like this extract is being studied extensively by a lot of researchers looking for ways to use it (exploit it for the conspiracy-minded). Its already marketed in UK and elsewhere in Europe as an effective upper respiratory treatment, a treatment for drug-resistant staph and for persistent bronchitis.

Now it is proven in-vitro as a powerful anti-retroviral for HIV, and with already established effectiveness in-vivo for other disorders, will almost certainly prove to be effective in part of existing combo.

(speculation) But this property that kills the virus (inactivates it) outside of the cell is NEW in the current arsenal of drugs, as nothing has been found to this point that can kill HIV outside the cell without adverse effects. Its already proven against other viruses and bacteria with rapid mutation profiles, and may surpass the current resistance profiles of existing drugs. Those properties give it potential to do more than surpress the virus - this could eradicate it from the hidden reserviors. Then the drugs would no longer be needed. And there is no toxicity profile and no common adverse reactions.

If that happens, that's not a treatment, thats a cure. But even if only a treatment, it is an affordable treatment easily produced.

Should I wait 3 - 5 years for the trials to prove this discovery in-vivo, or just go ahead and spend my $14.99 for a 90-day supply?

reply to post by GetHyped


I'm not a big fan of big pharma, but they have in the past come up with a few things that have really helped a lot of folks. There are many plant qualities that have been used by the industry and I have yet to find one that has been criminalized for the rest of us.....well excluding the obvious.

If as a society we promoted healthy choices in diet, and were taught the benefits of geranium and many other botanicals as prevention, big
pharma would not be so big.

reply to post by lakesidepark

Should I wait 3 - 5 years for the trials to prove this discovery in-vivo, or just go ahead and spend my $14.99 for a 90-day supply?

I'm going to butt in and answer that question. Yes, get yours now. Also buy the dried Geranium and make your own tinctures. Very easy to do.

Put the EO in bath water and soak. add a few drops to some light weight oil and smear it on your body, put it in your tea, then feel all the healing that it does.

reply to post by Witness2008


Just to clarify, using EO as a foodstuff is not advisable, unless food grade, which most EO aren't. The leaves however can be used as a foodstuff.

rose scented geranium lemonade recipe other scented geranium can be used, eg mint, also good for making Turkish Delight

''A wonderful delicate lemonade! There are at least 150 different varieties of scented pelargonium (commonly known as scented geraniums), including mint, rose, apple, apricot, nutmeg, lemon, orange, lime, ginger, cinnamon and coconut, to name a few. Species of Pelargonium are evergreen perennials indigenous to Southern Africa and are drought and heat tolerant, and can tolerate only minor frosts. For this lemonade I use rose scented pelargoniums leaves that I became from my friends in Crete (Greece)''.

Read more: www.food.com...

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
10 rose-scented geranium leaves (clean!)
1 cup fresh lemon juice (lime juice is nice too!)
chilled water, to serve
Directions:

1
In a small pot boil water with sugar.

2
Remove from heat, add leaves and let infuse until cold (if possible let stand overnight).

3
Squeeze out leaves well (you can repeat this step for more flavor).

4
Add lemon or lime juice.

5
Pour it into bottle and refrigerate.

6
To serve, add 1 tablespoon of this concentrate to each cup of chilled water and mix well.

7
Serve over ice in a goblet garnished with a small scented geranium leaf of rose petals.

8
Store refrigerated for at least two weeks.

Read more: www.food.com...

reply to post by theabsolutetruth



The tinctures can be added to food. I should have qualified that better in my post.

With the amount of information on line, I trust that most folks do their own research.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


In the cold weather I heat fresh squeezed lemons, add some water, honey and a few drops of rose geranium tincture, I use one drop of tincture for every ounce of fluid. It's warming and relaxing.

reply to post by Witness2008


I am very curious on how this is normally used as a health supplement. I.e. what would be effective for preventing colds and flu is probably a good estimation of maintenance dosage; and the dosage for treating bronchitis may estimate a higher dosage / shorter term that may have an effect on the hidden reservior. It'd most likely reduce the setpoint a little even if it doesn't have the power to flush it all out and kill it. It'll be another 3 years before we hear that answer from the clinical trials.

This is an exciting discovery for me, I'm on this site so just like others here I partake in some good ole' doom porn now and then. Spoils the post-apocylyptic dreams when they include commando raids on pharmacy warehouses as a survival plan. I'd much rather grow flowers as a backup contingency plan, and this will work for that, at least for one of the typical three drug combo, or in rotation with it.

Still hoping the method this works doesn't lend itself to mutations. That WOULD make this the miracle single drug.

lakesidepark
reply to post by Witness2008

 

I am very curious on how this is normally used as a health supplement. I.e. what would be effective for preventing colds and flu is probably a good estimation of maintenance dosage; and the dosage for treating bronchitis may estimate a higher dosage / shorter term that may have an effect on the hidden reservior. It'd most likely reduce the setpoint a little even if it doesn't have the power to flush it all out and kill it. It'll be another 3 years before we hear that answer from the clinical trials.

This is an exciting discovery for me, I'm on this site so just like others here I partake in some good ole' doom porn now and then. Spoils the post-apocylyptic dreams when they include commando raids on pharmacy warehouses as a survival plan. I'd much rather grow flowers as a backup contingency plan, and this will work for that, at least for one of the typical three drug combo, or in rotation with it.

Still hoping the method this works doesn't lend itself to mutations. That WOULD make this the miracle single drug.

We speak the same language. I catch a bit of the twisted side shows here myself, but threads like this keep me involved.

Geranium root has a fairly good amount of tannin, and is good for gastrointestinal problems. I use it in my teas and different concoctions as maintenance, because of all of the free radicals we are all exposed to. Geranium provides more oxygen at the cellular level.

I make all types of tinctures and extracts. I mostly use them in the body products that I make, and have for the past couple of years been experimenting with them in my drinks and food.

I believe that healing involves all of our senses, our state of mind and a balance with nature.

There is only one rule that I keep for me, if it feels good to me, then it is good for me. Hot lemon juice with a few drops of geranium or red clover makes me feel wonderful after a cold day out.

I'm excited for this discovery, as I have always known that any garden anywhere holds the cures to just about every one of our ills.

GetHyped

This is a common fallacious argument people on here make. Fact is, lots of drugs are developed from plants and other natural sources. Medicine commonly isolates and extracts the key components of said natural products so that they can be manufactured with a consistent dosage and with none of the unwanted/unneeded compounds also in the plant.

Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean that it cannot be refined.

That's not the primary reason, though. Pharmaceutical companies, like any other corporation, exist to make a profit. To make a profit, they need to be able to own what they are selling (patent). Due to the DSHEA legislation, they can't patent most naturally occurring substances sold before a date in the 1990's.

Because of this, they generally have no interest in developing herbal extracts and most components of them to be put through large scale human trials. Instead, they will allow the small university studies to be done in animals to show that they are effective for whatever the disease is (and sometimes small human trials). Then the biochemists will try to isolate the particular chemicals in the extract. Then pharmaceutical companies will try to come up with their own synthetic, man-invented chemical that shares the biochemical properties of whatever the natural chemical is. Then, they can patent it.

What often happens is that the manmade chemical has a laundry list of side effects that the natural extract or constituent does not.

There are some times that pharmaceutical companies will go after the natural compound itself, but this not common. They did successfully do this with fish oil and got a patent by making it ultra refined and successfully argued that it was a product different from the raw product. They also managed to get their hands on pyridoxamine because it was a form of vitamin B6 supposedly not sold before 1994. There have been legal challenges to that one.