Gynostemma and Saponins

[Slappy Hands]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynostemma_pentaphyllum

Apparently it contains the most saponins of any plant ever discovered. I'm curious if anyone has heard of it/had experience with it? I've been using it on and off for about 2 years (I much prefer the taste to green tea, which it basically replaced) but I'm curious how it fits into this "diet". I've read a few very interesting articles about it on pubmed and actually noticed a change in my throat issues only after making a pot of fresh tea 2 days in a row (not saying it's the reason, only stating what I noticed)

I'm browsing this http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 6X10001346 but it's difficult for me to understand and was hoping someone more scientifically minded could make sense of it. All I've really concluded is it's uber-death for cancer (similar to cannabis) and the pubmed articles support this, but I am not sure of the hormonal effects it may have (since I seem to remember green tea being praised as anti cancer as well, though I never read much into those claims). I've read that it's both water and oil solluable and has a very similar structure to our hormones in our body, and since it is claimed to be adaptogenic, I was wondering if this is beneficial for something like hypothyroidism, or detrimental.

Here are a few of the studies I've read:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20558230 - anti inflammatory
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24320209 - anti inflammatory
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23804546 - anti obesity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20213586 - anti diabetic
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15330499 - pro colonic/anti ulcer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16167531 - regarding mutagenesis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17201150 - regarding cancer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20555000 - this one I don't understand. I don't know if it means it structurally damaged the DNA of cancerous cells, or generic cells.

There's like 40 years of studies though, so like I said, curious for a smarter person to dive in and swim around.

 

[aquaman]

I'm sure they talk about this on one of the KMUD shows?

This is why we need the transcripts :)

 

[Slappy Hands]

I'm sure they talk about this on one of the KMUD shows?

This is why we need the transcripts :)

Do you remember the general consensus? I've listened to maybe 10 or so of the interviews but there are like 50 or 60 of them total, some over 2hrs long...finding it may be difficult

 

[Jennifer]

Slappy, you may already know this, but if you go to Dan's site toxinless.com, you can click on the Ray Peat search engine and put in what you're looking for more info on and you should get links to his articles, interviews ect. if he's mentioned it.

I tried searching for gynostemma pentaphyllum and jiaogulan, but nothing came up. I put in saponin and a few of Ray's articles came up where he mentions it as a toxin.

 

[Brandin]

Slappy, you may already know this, but if you go to Dan's site toxinless.com, you can click on the Ray Peat search engine and put in what you're looking for more info on and you should get links to his articles, interviews ect. if he's mentioned it.

I tried searching for gynostemma pentaphyllum and jiaogulan, but nothing came up. I put in saponin and a few of Ray's articles came up where he mentions it as a toxin.

about the last part, pretty sure that depends on what saponin it is but who knows...

 

[Jennifer]

about the last part, pretty sure that depends on what saponin it is but who knows...

Wow, this is an old thread. I don’t even remember posting that. Anyhow, I’ll take your word for it, Brandin. :)