Today, we are once again looking at the healing power of nature. We must always clearly distinguish between what is evident, what is plausible, and what is pure speculation. For example, it is evident that Cistus extract inhibits HIV, Ebola, and Marburg viruses in vitro. This does not yet mean that the same applies to humans, that is, “in vivo.” But it would be plausible.
We can attribute this effectiveness to polyphenols, flavonoids, or whatever molecules may be responsible. That is certainly interesting. Personally, I like to look at this from a historical perspective. What distinguishes a wild plant from a cultivated plant? Why do wild plants in particular seem to have the strongest healing properties?
About ten thousand years ago, we began practicing agriculture. We bred grain from a simple grass. Almost everything that is on our menu today is the result of intensive cultivation. This naturally made it possible to increase yields. On the other hand, cultivated plants were increasingly “pampered,” meaning that they would have become less and less capable of surviving in the wild.
That makes sense to me. A plant that has to assert itself, that has to demonstrate strength and adaptability, is probably more medicinally potent than a cultivated plant, perhaps even a hybrid variety. Although a hybrid variety produces higher yields in the first generation, it would not be able to survive in the wild. Genetic engineering takes this even further. In many parts of the world, genetically modified food has become standard. Approval is stricter in the EU, but through animal feed and imports, the issue has long since reached us as well.
The majority of research considers approved genetically modified foods to be safe. My skepticism is directed more toward the systemic level: monocultures, patents on life, corporate power—and the fact that we have only been able to observe long-term and ecosystem effects for a relatively short time. It becomes even more extreme when we have created entirely new plant varieties of our own, as is already happening in the field of synthetic biology. I do not even want to think about in vitro meat, that is, “meat lumps” produced in a nutrient solution.
Let us return to the progression from wild plants to cultivated plants, hybrid varieties, genetic engineering, and synthetic plants from the laboratory. On the one hand, purported benefits increase, such as nutrient content, yield, and supposed resistance to certain diseases, among other things. On the other hand, plants are becoming increasingly weak and completely unable to survive in the wild.
At the same time, our diseases of civilization are increasing dramatically—from diabetes and cancer to burnout and cardiovascular disease. Is there a connection between our increasingly denatured and industrialized diet and these diseases? Much suggests that there is! Perhaps we eat too many fast-acting carbohydrates and too much sugar; perhaps we are missing precisely the substances that we have successfully bred out of our food?
Why are wild plants the stronger medicinal plants? Is it because they grow in their natural environment? Because they have to assert themselves in the “struggle for existence” and have developed mechanisms that enable them to survive in the wild? Does this evolutionary “fitness” transfer to us when we use these plants? To me, that is plausible.
Why does Cistus produce so many polyphenols and flavonoids? Because they protect it against UV radiation, fungi, viruses, and other parasites. What happens when I consume this plant? Either the plant’s substances protect me from unwanted invaders, or—even more intriguingly, and this is precisely what needs to be researched—the plant “trains” my immune system. By stimulating my immune system, the plant activates self-healing powers within me that can then overcome everything else as well. There is still much to research!
Find out more about the ingredients, research, and our experience with Cistus in our comprehensive Cistus overview.