CASE STUDY
Samento Normalizes Blood Pressure
Associate Professor Ludmila Ivanova, MD, Ph.D. Atanas Tzonkov, Herbalist and Healer
Assoc. Prof. Ludmila Ivanova, M.D., Ph.D. is a nutritionist and dietitian, currently head of the Nutrition Laboratory at the National Center of Hygiene, Medical Ecology and Nutrition; consultant at the Lechitel Health Center, Sofia, Bulgaria.
SAMENTO is a natural herbal product with a proven versatile beneficial effect on health. Its action is above all immunomodulatory, antimutagenic, antibacterial, diuretic, antiviral, etc.
SAMENTO is a unique plant species, Uncaria tomentosa, not containing tetracyclic oxindole alkaloids (TOA) that inhibit the action of the biologically active pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids (POA). It is namely the POA that display a potent stimulating and modulating effect on the immune system and are probably implicated, along with the other active components of the herb, in the famous anticarcinogenic effect of SAMENTO. Although some Uncaria species (Uncaria rhynchophylla) show hypotensive action in animal tests, Uncaria tomentosa’s effect for normalizing human blood pressure is less studied.
The aim of our research was to analyze the results from the use of Samento 600 mg with or without Rooibos tea in hypertensive patients, based on data from readers’ letters sent to Lechitel Weekly’s editors’ office between November 2002 and May 2003. The majority of these patients were treated according to schemes prescribed by us. After analyzing a significant number of letters sent by people with different diagnoses, a total of 25 patients were selected - 29 women and 16 men, aged between 46 and 82, who had been diagnosed with essential hypertension with values of 160-190 mm Hg / 90-100 mm Hg.
The schemes according to which SAMENTO was applied vary as follows: 20% of all patients have taken 1 capsule daily for more than 6 months, 60% - 2 capsules daily for more than 3 months, 15% - 3 capsules daily for 2 to 3 months, and 5% - 6 capsules daily for 1 to 2 months. 35% of the patients report having taken Samento together with Rooibos tea.
The hypotensive effect occurs after different periods of use of the product, most often after a 30-days application of two 600-mg capsules daily, in combination with Rooibos. The blood pressure reaches normal values: 120-130/70-80 mm Hg, after taking the product for 2 weeks. In some of the patients the normalization leads to discontinuing of the antihypertensive drug treatment. Several cases have been registered in which the blood pressure normalizes before the 10th day!
The data analysis shows that SAMENTO 600 mg demonstrates a clear hypotensive effect in patients with essential hypertension. The likely mechanism is the vasodilative and myocardial relaxant effect of the active substances - the pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids, as well as the diuretic effect exerted by the combination of the product with Rooibos tea. It is even likelier that this extremely important healing effect is due to the complex action, including anti-inflammatory, of SAMENTO, with the active participation of its glycosides, organic acids, polyphenols, flavonoids, etc.
These positive results from the application of SAMENTO 600 mg in patients with essential hypertension can be treated also as preliminary. The further extended and detailed examination of the hypotensive action of SAMENTO is not only indispensable but also extremely promising.