Ep 31: Doc's Herbal Corner: Pygeum Root

In this episode of Doc's Herbal Corner, host David Maloof and Dr. Stephen Tates discuss the benefits of Pygeum root, a medicinal herb derived from the African cherry tree. They explore its anti-inflammatory properties and its role in reducing swelling and inflammation in the body. 

The conversation highlights the connection between kidney health and prostate health, emphasizing the importance of maintaining proper kidney function for overall prostate health. The episode concludes with a discussion on the limited research on Pygeum root and the potential benefits it offers for those with prostate issues.

Takeaways
Pygeum root, derived from the African cherry tree, has anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce swelling and inflammation in the body.
Maintaining proper kidney function is crucial for overall prostate health.
Pygeum root can be taken in capsule form and is recommended for consistent use, even as a preventive measure.
There is limited research on Pyogenium root, but it has been used for centuries in Africa for its medicinal properties.

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Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to Adventures in Good Health. I am your host, David Maloof, and we are in Doc's herbal corner. The herb that we're going to talk about today is sage. So, to help walk us through everything we need to know about sage is my guest, Dr. Steven Tates. Dr. Tates is a master herbalist, a naturopath, and author.

an ambassador of integrative medicine, and he has over half a century of herbal medicine experience. That's a lot. So with me today is Dr. Stephen Tates. So, doc, that is quite an introduction. Absolutely.

And 50 years, excuse me, half a century is a lot of time to be learning about herbs. So, what are you going to talk to us today? What are we going to learn today about sage? We're going to learn a lot about sage. A lot of times when people think of sage, they think of sage. It's like a kitchen medicine or, you know, using sage in seasoning for their turkey or.

you know, on the salad and stuff like that. So, I'm going to tell you when, when, when you mentioned we're going to talk about sage, there's like two things I know about sage. One, I think of Thanksgiving dressing and then two people will burn it around their house to purify the house and which is kind of a separate off topic. So, but from a medicinal standpoint,

I've never really given Sage any thought. Well, today we're going to learn that Sage needs to be in that, you know, top tier or maybe a step down from that top tier as far as a medicinal herb. And I hope when we finish this podcast, people will be like, oh, I need to give Sage more consideration other than sprinkling it on my turkey.

David Maloof (02:28.758)

You know, on my meatloaf or something else on my salad. Absolutely. Now, we know sage has been used in a variety of recipes. We see all the time, aloe, sage, linole, cinnamon, nutmeg, all those kinds of things. But sage falls in that category. You always hear me say about a kitchen medicine. Kitchen medicine is my definition of herbs that can be used as seasoning.

But then also removing it from thinking of it as a seasoning is a very, very powerful herb all by itself. Sage alone or sage with peppermint really helps open up those lungs and sinuses, helps them drain from sinus allergies, seasonal allergies like pollen and ragweed and stuff, clogs up the lungs and sinuses where it helps stop.

to clear up or open up those lungs and sinuses to help that mucus and stuff start to drain out of the system. So it's used a lot from people who know about Sage to help in sinus clearing, sinus draining, lung cleansing, draining mucus out of the lung and even out of the head and bringing it down and pushing it out of the body. Okay.

Now. All right. So, it does all it has a lot of respiratory benefits to it then. Yes. But that's not all. And now a quick word from our sponsor, Dr. Tate's herbal tinctures and tonics. Dr. Tate's offers the herbal blood tonic, Doc's detox, herbal male tonic, herbal female tonic, and the herbal fat burner. If you would like to order your tonics or learn more information, you can go to drtates .com.

dot online. And if you click the link in the description and enter the special promo code adventures in good health, 2024, you will receive 10 % off your entire order. For more information, click the links below and now back to the show. I'm just kind of curious because I see Sage is just this kind of a dry plant. Um, it's.

Do people use it as a tea or is it a diffuser? It's used, no it's not used as a diffuser. Okay, so it's not an essential oil type plant. It's not an essential oil kind of plant, but it is used in what we call an infuser. There's two terms when you're making a tea, infusing or decoction. Decoction is when you're boiling the herbs because they're roots.

Infusion is when you're steeping the herb. So you're making sage as a tea. You're boiling the water You're shutting off the water and then you're adding the sage into the hot water Covering it and letting it steep Because sage is infusion. That's called infusion process. That's a terminology called infusions. That's an herbal terminology We don't call them teas. We call them decoctions or infusions.

Okay. In an herbal world. So if you're steeping an herb, that's an infusion because then the hot water is drawing the medicinal qualities out into mixed with the water and you're drinking it to gain the benefits, not only of the taste. Taste is a whole other story, but for its medicinal purposes. And I'm going to run through.

A number of things when it comes to SAGE, because I want our pocket viewers to really appreciate what SAGE is about. One is an antioxidant. Antioxidant, alright, A powerful antioxidant. Anybody knows my antioxidants because I hear it all the time. It helps destroy free radicals, it gets a little blood, it weakens the system, it causes a lot of problems. And it's up there.

Not at the top, but in that general category as an antioxidant. Now remember, this is a seasoning as well. It will help with oral help. Sometimes people will take the tea or the infusion, that's new word, and mix with stuff and gaggle it in their mouth. Don't swallow it. Although if you accidentally do that, it is taken as a tea.

See, you got the wave of, oh, I took too much of corn. But it's good for oral health because it kills that plaque and fungus that gets into the gums. It's also good when you take it as an infusion, because you're not going to use the word tea anymore. We're going to use this infusion to help with brain function, because it's opening up and draining blockages in the brain.

And you know how we see some people in the United States, what's wrong with them? I always think they got blockages in their brain. They need to kind of drain all that stuff. A general term. Yeah, I mean, a nice PC kind of term, OK? But it helps with brain function. But I'm just wondering. When you say brain function, you mean like alertness? Alertness, memory, concentration, retention of information, because what we don't understand.

is if we're eating wrong and our system from our intestines are clogged, then our lungs get clogged and our lymph glands get clogged. Then our sinuses get clogged. Then our eyes and ears get clogged. But it doesn't stop there. The clogging goes up into the head as well. So it's time to drain and move stuff out. Okay? Now. Okay.

because of its antioxidant and other benefits, it helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Because of how it's the antioxidants and the anti -inflammatory ingredients. So it helps lower your cholesterol level, the total cholesterol and the LDL. You've got borderline blood sugar issue or...

your diabetic medication, it will not interfere with the medication, whether it's cholesterol medication or blood sugar medication like the insulin and stuff like that. It's just gently removing out the junk that contribute to the blood sugar going up and the cholesterol going up or that fat deposit because how it's moving stuff out of the system.

So if someone is on, let's say type two diabetic and let's just say they're, they're on metformin or something similar to that. Yeah. Um, it is the sage something that could have enough of an effect that they would still, they would really want to carefully monitor their blood sugar. In other words, could it cause their blood sugar? If the insulin is making it go down here.

Will the sage might overdrive? Is there a risk of overdriving that? No, no, no, no. That's a good question. Not at all. Okay. You know, certain herbs, yes, you know, they would interfere with your medication. Sage doesn't. I mean, if it did, and you're a diabetic or a high cholesterol and you're seasoning with the sage all the time.

then there would have been a problem a long time ago, but it's safe to use as an infusion or as a tea on a semi -regular basis without clashing with the medication. But that's a very good point you make because there are a lot of herbs that you can't take when you're on certain types of medication. I hear people say that your high blood pressure medication, you can't take grapefruit or anything that has grapefruit.

qualities in it because it clashes with the weapons of medication. So your point is very valid. But it belongs to the mint family. So sage is a kitchen herb. Mints are like oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, which are some of the things that people mix with the sage when they're seasoning their food. So it falls into that mint family. Like there's a bitter family of herbs, there's a mint family.

You know, these are some of the some of the relatives in the mint family. OK, you use you use in small amounts because it's concentrated. You don't have to use a lot of sage in your infusion. You could do like a teaspoon. And your teapot with some hot water, maybe with some peppermint in it, you don't need to use much more than that at all. Is it is it the leaf?

Is it the flower? It's the leaf. It's the leaf, all right. It's the leaf. Because if it was a flowering thing, then it would fall into potentially an essential oil. But this is the part of the plant that's the leaf part. See, what people have to understand when you've got a plant, there's certain parts of the plant that are more effective. The sage, you know, you use small amounts, you know, like in your teapot, like a teaspoon or something like that.

Okay. And, and you're not tea, but what is it called now? Infusion. There we go. It's a new term. Cause you're in your infusion pot. Yeah. You're a fusion. All right. Well, infusion is a method of preparation. So it still goes in a tea pot. Yeah. Tea pot. You're doing an infusion in the tea pot. Okay. It helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar without.

classy with the medication. And as I said before, it's part of the mint family. Mint family being oregano and rosemary and basil and thyme. All herbs that are used as seasonings along with the sage when you're making your meatloaf or on your steak. I'm a vegetarian, right? On my salad or my rice or something like that. Small amounts.

It's a natural cleansing agent. So it helps with pesticides. When it's used in some of the spray bottles and stuff, okay? You know, we've talked about other things, and we've talked about essential oils that we mix, you know, with some water. You can make an infusion, a strong infusion, and then spray that around.

your house. Now you're not drinking it, but it's a strong infusion and all in the corners and everything. And they will discover your way to move to your next-door neighbors. All right. So the, the pests, certain bugs, uh, does it affect rodents? It affects anything that doesn't belong in your house. All right. So it kind of repels them and they don't, they don't like it. So they don't like it and they'll move next door to your neighbors.

You know, but you can't help your neighbors, you know, but hey, you know. That's not very neighborly. I mean, you just don't tell them. I sprayed my house and chased all the rodents and everything away. Do you have the rodents down? That's not a neighbor conversation, you know. But now we explain what you think. I do. Primary things as any oxygen is an anti -inflammatory, lowers cholesterol, lowers blood sugar.

It's a natural cleansing agent. So I mean, normally when you're talking about an herb, that's enough to be beneficial, right? But that's not all. All right, here we go. Okay, okay. I know I'm going rogue now. Okay. All right, here we go. Very, very, very, very high in vitamins and minerals. Oh. So not only is it helping drain and help.

but it's a very nourishing herb. Now, the things that certain herbs are unique when they can cleanse and nourish and build at the same time. So that elevated sage automatically to a whole nother level is in its infusion. Yes, it's a cleansing agent. Yes, it will help the lungs and sinuses, but it's re -nourishing the body. That puts it in a different category altogether.

It has protein, it has carbs, it has iron, it has B6, it has vitamin K, it has manganese in it. You know, I'm going to say that again. It has protein, small amounts, but it still has protein in it. It has vitamin K, it has iron, vitamin D6, you know, D like in David, okay? Calcium, manganese.

It has about 10 % of the vitamin K that you typically get from your dark green leafy vegetables. So when you're drinking this tea periodically, it's starting to nourish. But that's not all. It has a fairly good amount of zinc and copper in it, as long as I said, the vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E.

Wow, it's like a super food in a sense. Yeah, in a sense, you know, as an infusion. No, you still do the others, but it complements and adds to your bitters or your essential oils, you know, or your supplements you're taking by when you're drinking that, say, we talked about it being an antioxidant and it has antioxidants have different was called polyphenols, okay, that

identifies antioxidant. Sage has 160 distinct polyphenols. So it has 160 distinctly different types of antioxidants. 160. 160. 160. In your simple little kitchen medicine that you use on your turkey or on your salad. Sage. Wow.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. One cup of... All Let's go sage. Yeah. Hey, listen, it's already, its status has already been immediately elevated. It's like, wow. All right. Yeah. That's exciting. One cup of sage tea, say a couple of times a day. And it was really tasty when you mix it with peppermint leaves. Oh my goodness. Cause sage by itself is like, eh.

We mix it with some peppermint. Ooh, you got a real tasty mixture. You add a little lemon, a little maybe a little dash of honey if you're not a So just because it's good for you doesn't mean it has to taste bad. No, no. The bitters, that's not true. It's going to taste bad. But you get used to the bitters. I mean, honestly, people, I mean, you get used to them. But sometimes you can take something that tastes good. Yeah. And say sweet like that. And.

And it's good for you. Yeah, but there's more. All right, here we go. It's like a car salesman and there's more. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got four good wheels on the car or something like that. But wait, there's more. Yeah. And like I said, it reduces total cholesterol, but it also reduces what's called LDL, which is the bad fats in it. But it reduces the bad fats.

and the total cholesterol, but raises the LDL, which is the good fats. So it's helping to reduce the bad fats with the LDL. Wait, wait, wait. So the bad ones are the LDLs? LDLs. And the good ones are the? HDLs. HDLs, okay. Now, and so there's three categories. Total cholesterol, which should be below 200, then your LDL, which is your bad fats.

and your HDL, which is your good fat. Drinking sage is one of those teas that helps with reducing the bad fats and the total cholesterol numbers, which eventually leads to cardiovascular disease or heart condition. And then it elevates the HDL, which also protects you from heart issues and stuff like that that ends up screwing with the body. Now, that should be enough, right?

I would think, but I have a feeling there's more. See, you know me well. Yes. Okay. There's a reason why I picked sage today, you know, just to take us out of the box. Okay. So along with that, and I wrote it down, it's good for oral health. Okay. It helps women with hot flashes and menopause symptoms. All right. Excellent. Okay.

Is that well known? Among certain women that are kind of, you know, into herbs and stuff, you know, or women I've recommended to have those hot flashes and real hot menopause stuff. There's several herbs I might mention, but I said, start drinking you some sage. You mean the seasoning? Start drinking some sage, add some peppermint. Does it make it go away totally? But no, but it will ease it by 50, 60 percent.

as far as the symptoms at a minimum. Like I said before, it lowers blood sugar, helps with memory and brain health, but it also strengthens the bone health because of the calcium and magnesium and the vitamin D and stuff, so it's feeding. Now, is that the only thing you need to take? No, but see, when you're doing your supplements and herbs and bitters,

and you want to be drinking them, what do we call them now? We don't call them teas anymore. Infusions. Infusions. Then you want an infusion that adds to everything you're doing in trying to improve your overall health. So, you know, a cup of sage with some peppermint. It tastes good, but it's not a commercial. It tastes good, but it's good for you. Now, you know, this tastes good and it is really good for you.

You know, so that gives you the listing of sage. But here's the other thing that makes it unique. And you know, from the podcast that we've done in the past, there was no known side effects to sage. It's the use of the food, it's the use of the seasoning in the food. If there was side effects, it couldn't be used in foods. So what about someone, but what if they're using it for medicinal purposes?

Can they just take it for long periods of time and there's no concerns or are there generally limits? There's generally limits to most herbs that you take. There are exceptions to that, like things like bee pollen and ginseng and stuff like that. They'll always say, this is something that you can take every day because it keeps building and building and building. But I can't imagine somebody drinking sage every day for like forever.

You don't want to drink something different. You want to have something different. But when you're doing, say, a couple cups a day, and I always say as a standard rule, if you're taking like the infusion and you're doing it twice a day for a week, 10 days, you take two or three days off. Go and make you some chamomile tea or something or some ginger root tea.

change it up, but you want to know like, oh, I've got cholesterol issues. You know, I've got blood sugar issues. I'm going to incorporate my sage as frequently as I can because it's going to help with everything else that I'm doing. And that's what sage comes in. So sage, if you were doing a list and it wouldn't be the top five or top 10 herbs, you know.

I was doing the top 25 herbs, say to be in that mix. So it's a good one. It's a good one, yes. It sounds like it's pretty easy to take an infusion or to drink an infusion, a tea. It seems like it's readily available. I you see it available in a lot of places, certainly in grocery stores. Let me ask you.

Is that is the sage that you can buy at the local grocery store? Is that a pretty good version of the sage or would you generally recommend someone go to say to an herb store? I would recommend them going to an herb store or to a farmer's market, you know, to get, because your farmers market on an herb store, especially if they have an in bulk, you know, in the jars and stuff, then that's the same sage.

but it's fresher and stronger and tends to be in glass, which you're dealing with leaves and flowers and stuff. To preserve the strength of the leaves and flowers, you're never keeping in those plastic bags that you get with a helpful stuff. You always want to put your leaves and your flowers, as a standard rule, in some glass jars. They can be small.

You mean like Mason jars? Is that what you're thinking? Mason jars, you know, any kind of glass because you keep the life of your herbs three times longer when it's in glass, stored in glass in a cool place than if it just stays in the bag that you get when you dish it Does it need to be in a dark place or can it be just out in the kitchen somewhere?

I do the kitchen. A lot people keep it in the pantry because that's when they want to store all the herbs. But it's not something that needs to be in light or needs to be in darkness. There are certain herbs that need to be in darkness or need to be in light, but most of your kitchen remedies, no. Sage is one of them. So you want to always have a bunch of nice glass jars.

and in the row with your sage and your chamomile and all your other kind of herbs and they're in the glass and you'll know because with some herbs like peppermint or sage and stuff, they have a distinct smell. Some of them are subtle. Some of them are not as strong as they peppermint or eucalyptus, but you can smell it after a while, especially when it opens up your sinuses. It starts to drain where you can breathe and you can open it up like.

Yeah, this is still fresh, you know? And you make your tea. And then I said, I'm getting a bunch of vitamins and minerals and it's helping my health. And it tastes good with the peppermint at the same time. And I'm having a salad with some of the sage sprinkling on there, along with some of the other mint herbs and stuff. So I've got sage in my food and I'm drinking some tea, you know, with the sage. All right. That's a lot.

Um, doc, if anyone has any questions about sage or anything else, uh, they can reach out to you. Uh, your contact information is coming up on the screen and it's also in the show notes for the podcast or YouTube. Uh, it's your phone number and your website. Uh, they can reach out to you if they have any questions. Absolutely. So doc, thank you very much for your sage advice on this episode.

You couldn't help yourself, could you? There you go. I always wanted to hit that button for the drums. But yeah, thank you very much. We appreciate you and appreciate your knowledge and your wisdom. I appreciate you saying that. I've been doing this for a while, but I have to say this in closing. I had good teachers. I was blessed coming up to be around.

some of my elders that have been into this whole natural healing and herbal kingdom. And, you know, I was blessed with knowing how to go out and pick and identify herbs and, you know, getting in with them. And this is not just a schooling. These are teachers that I, you know, got to spend time with and start to appreciate, you know, the whole herbal kingdom. So and sharing this knowledge with other people on the podcast.

David Maloof (28:59.534)

is just passing on the information that my teachers gave me and I'm trying to give to you and to the listeners and viewers. There we go. All right. Thank you, Dr. Tate's. To my audience, thank you very much. If you are still listening, we appreciate that. We appreciate you liking and commenting and engaging with the videos. I do have another request.

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to good health. That does it for this episode of Adventures in Good Health. We would like to hear from you regarding this podcast and any suggestions you have for future podcasts. Please subscribe and leave a rating or a review.