Cascara Sagrada Long-Term Safety

[Owen B]

I've been using the Nature's Way cascara for about a year. At first 3-4 times a week one capsule at a time. Then off a few days. But now I find it does not work as effectively.

I've been using a capsule a week now but still it does not seem to be effective.

BTW, when people are saying here "1 TBSP" how many mgs. is that?

Carrot fiber? Bingo. Works very effectively. I always keep baby carrots on hand.

Good research Dave!

 

[Tzheng2012]

I've been using the Nature's Way cascara for about a year. At first 3-4 times a week one capsule at a time. Then off a few days. But now I find it does not work as effectively.

I've been using a capsule a week now but still it does not seem to be effective.

BTW, when people are saying here "1 TBSP" how many mgs. is that?

Carrot fiber? Bingo. Works very effectively. I always keep baby carrots on hand.

Good research Dave!

I just use like 100mg a day in a herbal formula (1 cap of formula) and havent expiriences any weakened effect. Some days i take 2 if i ate really poorly.

1 tbsp is about 15 grams, 15000mg. I think your colon would implode on itself if you took that much, but not really. Ive heard of stories saying people would need up to 40 caps of the formula i take until their colon got strong enough to not need any extra stimulus. Cascara is supposed to strengthen the colon through its astringent action so you need less over time.

But didnt someone say on these forums that baby carrots are dipped in chlorine before theyre bagged and thats why they get this slimy film when you leave them in the fridge too long and it can be washed off? True or not idk.

 

[BigYellowLemon]

I didn't see it written in this thread, but just so everyone is aware, melanosis coli is apparently due to lipofuscin in macrophages, not melanin. At least, that's what wikipedia says.

Lipofuscin is the same stuff Peat talks about sometimes, oxidized PUFA residue.

From what I understand, all the quinones are oxidizers, and this might be the reason for the lipofuscin seen in long term cascara use. This can be good for some purposes, but I think they can also have some bad effects when dosed too high.

For instance, the reason acetaminophen is toxic at high doses is because some of it is metabolized into a quinone.

Imo, magnesium citrate is the best laxative, no tolerance ever forms, and it has no direct effect on the bowels.

Another laxative that is worth trying is plain ole vaseline/petroleum jelly. Apparently in elderly homes vaseline is used as an unofficial laxative by doctors and nurses.

You gotta be careful with it, you do NOT want to inhale it (lipid pneumonia). Btw, that also goes for activated charcoal, inhaling it unintentionally could lead to death pretty quick, so don't toss and wash it (like I have done in the past... thank god I never choked on it).

With vaseline, you take a small ball of it, like 1/4 the size of the nail of your little finger, and roll it in sugar until there's no vaseline peeking out. Then you put this on a plate in the freezer for an hour until it hardens, and then you carefully swallow. This is an effective, and as far as I know safe, laxative. I don't think it shares the same properties that ricinoleic acid does in terms of your bowels. I agree with Koch, and I've said it before, swallowing castor oil is just crazy.

Also interesting:
[Interaction of n-alkanes with respiration and oxidative phosphorylation in rabbit heart mitochondria: n-dodecane, n-pentadecane and n-octadecane]. - PubMed - NCBI

^alkanes (which petroleum jelly is made of; saturated fatty acids without the carboxylic acid), seem to uncouple respiration. Though of course, these were shorter than the alkanes found in petroleum jelly.

 

[papaya]

the italian cascara that peat likes is actually an extract vs just the whole ground herb. i did research on it back when i was deciding which cascara to use. i use the swanson one & it works great. extracts are stronger/harsher.

 

[Tzheng2012]

I didn't see it written in this thread, but just so everyone is aware, melanosis coli is apparently due to lipofuscin in macrophages, not melanin. At least, that's what wikipedia says.

Lipofuscin is the same stuff Peat talks about sometimes, oxidized PUFA residue.

From what I understand, all the quinones are oxidizers, and this might be the reason for the lipofuscin seen in long term cascara use. This can be good for some purposes, but I think they can also have some bad effects when dosed too high.

For instance, the reason acetaminophen is toxic at high doses is because some of it is metabolized into a quinone.

Imo, magnesium citrate is the best laxative, no tolerance ever forms, and it has no direct effect on the bowels.

Another laxative that is worth trying is plain ole vaseline/petroleum jelly. Apparently in elderly homes vaseline is used as an unofficial laxative by doctors and nurses.

You gotta be careful with it, you do NOT want to inhale it (lipid pneumonia). Btw, that also goes for activated charcoal, inhaling it unintentionally could lead to death pretty quick, so don't toss and wash it (like I have done in the past... thank god I never choked on it).

With vaseline, you take a small ball of it, like 1/4 the size of the nail of your little finger, and roll it in sugar until there's no vaseline peeking out. Then you put this on a plate in the freezer for an hour until it hardens, and then you carefully swallow. This is an effective, and as far as I know safe, laxative. I don't think it shares the same properties that ricinoleic acid does in terms of your bowels. I agree with Koch, and I've said it before, swallowing castor oil is just crazy.

Also interesting:
[Interaction of n-alkanes with respiration and oxidative phosphorylation in rabbit heart mitochondria: n-dodecane, n-pentadecane and n-octadecane]. - PubMed - NCBI

^alkanes (which petroleum jelly is made of; saturated fatty acids without the carboxylic acid), seem to uncouple respiration. Though of course, these were shorter than the alkanes found in petroleum jelly.

I think the point of taking cascara is to first of all get those emodin gains. The laxative effect is only secondary. So taking magnesium or petroleum kind of defeats the first purpose.

the italian cascara that peat likes is actually an extract vs just the whole ground herb. i did research on it back when i was deciding which cascara to use. i use the swanson one & it works great. extracts are stronger/harsher.

Yeah i wanted to say that also. I think many people are confused about that product lol. I dont agree that extracts are harsher though since you just adjust the dosage accordingly.

 

[Greg says]

1 cap is stronger than two you say?

after using it long enough to notice how it works on me, I've always had uncomfortable sharp pains on 1 cap. but not with two caps.

 

[sladerunner69]

after using it long enough to notice how it works on me, I've always had uncomfortable sharp pains on 1 cap. but not with two caps.

Okay, sure. I believe you!

 

[Kray]

If you had access to a top view of Italy, you would notice how women there start to agglomerate when a distinct point moves on the map. That point happens to be Such, and they try to grab him with passion and desperation because they don't want him to leave, ever. They do everything to keep him around, it's exactly what they need. Since there are many of them, it's this dense mass that can be viewed from the top. Contrary to that, other men are kicked, booed and thrown spoiled produce at. They don't want them around, in fact they want them to leave as soon as possible before they can cause trouble in their life. If the mayors decided to invite more of those men to the cities, the women would be so busy trying to get them out that they wouldn't have time to enjoy time with Such. The problem is when Such falls in love, which happens often as well, and it affects the flow, but it's tempting to solve the issue if inviting those men is an accessible option, however the proper way to solve it is by inviting pboy, burtlancast, Travis, Waynish, Makrosky, haidut, Ahanu, gbolduev, paymanz, Drareg, Diokine, mayweatherking, DaveFoster, and last but not least, you.

 

[Kray]

I do.

I did notice some distinct clustering on the Via Sacra in Rome; namely, at the intersection of geographical coordinates 41.890464°N and 12.489472°E (Google maps).

¶I was thinking that aloe's laxative effect had something to do with osmotic potential. Acemannan can hold more water than most polysaccharides because of it's unique acetyl groups. This is probably how a desert plant such as aloe pulls water into it's leaves.

Most plants can pull water through their roots by using capillary action caused by the solar evaporation at the leaf. Desert plants can't do this because the water would quickly be lost and they would fry. They need to attract water some other way.

But the prevailing idea is that emodin is responsible for the laxative effects, not acemannan.

I think Koch was trying to say that the treatments the he recommends work mainly by osmotic potential, a colligative property. Sodium chloride works the same way, and nearly any mineral salt should do given that it is non-toxic enough to drink in high concentrations.

Aloe, cascara, and senna are thought to work in a different way. Koch described this as chemical "irritation", but this is crude. Just because it has a chemical mechanism does not mean that it's harmful. Here is what pharmacologist Klaus Ewe [sic] had to say about this in 1980:
Notice the scare quotes around "irritation".

So how does emodin work? Some drugs, like deoxycholate, seem to open the intestinal pores. Others effect muscle function. Castor oil is thought to work this way. After Koch's time, in 1972, Christensen and Freeman examined the effect of castor oil (ricolineic acid) on the cat.
View attachment 6330
The castor oil completely de-synchronized the myoelectric impulses in the cat colon.
No blistering was noted by Christensen and Freeman.
Not very precise. The "irritant affairs" (as opposed to osmotic affairs) have been shown to work in two radically different ways: muscle stimulation and pore-size dilation.

I think prostaglandins might have something to do with this. Ricinoleic acid from castor oil acts on "the EP3 prostanoid receptor for prostaglandin E2", according to Wikipedia. Also, emodin has been shown to increase prostaglandin synthesis.* This effect is blocked by indomethacin.

*Capasso, F., et al. "Effect of indomethacin on aloin and 1, 8 dioxianthraquinone-induced production of prostaglandins in rat isolated colon." Prostaglandins 26.4 (1983): 557-562.

@Travis,

I believe “you do”, but you may have overlooked the ’’’’’’’’’’’s at this intersection. These are not wanted, as they cloud the view: “it’s” is something that is not desired by these women for what “it is”. They want these men, like you, to “own” your view by using, “its”, appropriately.

 

[syncronicity]

I just use like 100mg a day in a herbal formula (1 cap of formula)

What brand do you use?

 

[ddjd]

Shouldn't this be about Emodin long term safety

 

[Tzheng2012]

What brand do you use?

Dr christophers lower bowel balance

 

[Swogger]

I think this gives the impression that a tablesoon of cascara could be harmful long term, but like you said in the original post, even the darkening is thought to be benign and might just be correlated, but not causative.

I actually use about a tablespoon and have for some time. I've been taking it for years now and it is by far one of the most beneficial things I take.

I still get almost instant improvement in mood, brain fog and energy from cascara, and haven't found anything else to be as helpful for digestion as CS, although caffeine is a close 2nd.

Is there any definitive evidence that long term use of cascara is clearly harmful?

Hi Tom, do you still use Cascara daily since this post? That would probably be the longest case study we have so it would be great to know if you've noticed any negative effects. I have averaged around 800-900 mg daily for about 2 and a half years now and I haven't noticed anything negative that can be directly linked to chronic use.

Also, the darkening effect on the bowel has been the primary topic here, but conventional health sites often list kidney and liver damage as consequences of long-term Cascara use. Does anybody know more about this or if Ray has debunked these ideas?

 

[Peato Diet]

Dr christophers lower bowel balance

How do you know there is 100 mg of cascara in each capsule? Looking at their website, the ingredient list is listed as a proprietary blend and does not give the amounts of each ingredient in milligrams.

View product | Dr. Christophers

 

[GreekDemiGod]

Has anyone found continuous use of Cascara beneficial to reduce bloating?

 

[Chad_Catholic]

Has anyone found continuous use of Cascara beneficial to reduce bloating?

Yeah me. My stomach is flat by the morning