- Clin Med Insights Womens Health
- v.6; 2013
- PMC3941187
Clin Med Insights Womens Health. 2013; 6: 31–35.
Published online Jan 30, 2013. doi: 10.4137/CMWH.S11214
PMCID: PMC3941187
De Materia Medica Versus Codex Alimentarius for the Reinforcement of the Gynecologic Immune System: the Case of Endometriosis
Abstract
Since
the first Pharmacopoeia under the title “De Materia Medica,” the
importance of the utilization of plants and herbs has been an invaluable
medicinal tool successfully employed for strengthening the immune
system for combating a number of diseases in general, or assisting
fertility and reproductive issues in particular. The beneficial use of
herbal extracts, constituting the basis of modern medicines, is lately
under the shadow of Codex Alimentarius that threatens, if not properly
applied, serious immunity features rendering the host defenseless for
intercepting harmful invaders, one of which is the mesenchymal
endometriotic stem cell causing endometriosis.
Keywords: Codex Alimentarius, endometriosis, immune system, reproductive issues, infertility, De Materia Medica
Historical Background
“De Materia Medica”
According
to “De Materia Medica,” the first ever Pharmacopoeia written by the
Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist Pedanius Dioscorides (who
lived during the first century BC), there are a number of plants and
extracts that have been successfully employed for treating various and
serious gynecologic conditions.1
Among them, there is special mention on the use of the alfalfa and/or
red clover, containing plant estrogens and isoflavones, prescribed for
women suffering from endometrial hyperplasia, while mastika and/or its
oil was used for alleviating pelvic pains since—as it is known
today—mastika diminishes the production of Vascular Endothelial Growth
Factor (VEGF) inhibiting the proliferation of the cells of the vascular
endothelium in vitro as well as in vivo.2
In addition, although in the Hippocratic oath there is mention for the
avoidance of abortion due to medical, ethical, and personal issues,
during the seventh century BC, controlled abortion was supported by the
ancient Egyptians and later by the Greeks using silphium, a member of
the giant fennel family used for contraception, a treatment used
abundantly by the famous gynecologist-obstetrician Soranus from Ephesus
and the ancient herbalist/physician, Dioscorides.3
It
is worth mentioning that even though silphium was eradicated due to its
massive use, it was replaced by the similarly active fetid horehound, Mentha pulegium (pennyroyal), absinthe, Commiphora molmol, and Ruta graveolens, or commonly named rue.4
Finally, the action of the Chaste-tree fruits (chaste berries) used to
regularize monthly periods and treat amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, and
also to ease menopausal problems and aid the birth process should not be
ignored. Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and Theophrastus mention the use of
Agnus Castus for a wide variety of conditions, including hemorrhage
following childbirth and also to assist with the “passing of
afterbirth.”5
The decoction of the herb and of the seed was good for inflammations
about the womb (Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Section: 1.135; Ref 1)
and, when used in sitz baths, found suitable for diseases of the uterus
(endometriosis) and female infertility. Although not significantly
investigated, preliminary studies have shown that extracts of Agnus
Castus can stimulate the release of leutenizing hormone and inhibit the
release of follicle stimulating hormone.5 Agnus Castus may also decrease excessive prolactin levels, an action that may help infertile women.6
Similarly,
a number of plants and extracts, used alone or in combination with
other natural products, have been described by Dioscorides as suitable
for the strengthening of the immune system to combat streptococcal and
viral infections, inflammations, edemas, and arthritis problems. Thus,
in his great Greek herbal “Peri Ylis Iatrikis” (Latinized as “De Materia
Medica” or “On Medical Matters” in English), there is mention on the
beneficial action of many herbs, plants, trees and roots on the above
named and related to immunity conditions.1
Some representative restorative elements for the immune system found in
Dioscorides’ work included valerian, nard, hazelwort, chestnut,
Alexandrian senna, cardamom, saffron crocus, bitter and/or sweet almond,
laurel, oil of fenugreek, lily, henna shrub, Egyptian privet, iris oil,
oriental plane, coarse myrrh, pines, pine cones, savin, cedar of
Lebanon, oil of cinnamon, olibanum resin, cypress, cane, bamboo,
gooseberry, rose, acacia, oil tree, pickled olives, walnut, garlic, wild
rhubard, yellow gentian, bachelor’s button, mabberley, winter-sweet
marjoram, pennyroyal, pudding grass, white dittany, potherb thyme, wild
trefoil, king’s clover, herb of grace, cumin, coriander, tormentil,
holly herb, psyllium, lily of the valley (ephemeron), mother of
thousands (helxine), water lettuce, mullein (phlomos), black sesame,
indigo plant, ochre, stinkwort, old wine with honey, vinegar honey,
thyme vinegar, sediment of wine and/or vinegar, grape wine, and many
more.
“Codex Alimentarius”
The Codex Alimentarius, from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus,7
established in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire between 1891 and 1911,
provides guidelines and recommendations relating to foods, food
production, and food safety.8
Lately, a controversy has arisen about the purposes of such an
application, which relates to the perception that a mandatory standard
has to be applied for food safety, including vitamins, mineral
supplements, and/or other naturally occurring substances of plant
origin. Although there is no obligation on countries to adopt Codex
standards as a member of either Codex or any other international trade
organization, there are fears that certain supplements, vitamins, and/or
herbal products with known beneficial action will be banned—if not
timeously registered—as dangerous for the public health. This alarming
view stems from a proposal set in 1996 by the German delegation that no
herb, vitamin, or mineral should be sold for preventive or therapeutic
reasons, and that supplements should be reclassified as drugs.9
Thus, Codex Alimentarius appears as one of the major bodies behind the
effort to limit access to nutritional products, creating a hole in
health and competent immunity issues especially when the European
Union’s Food Supplements Directive agrees with these guidelines
concerning vitamins and other supplements.10
Although Codex Alimentarius’ position is that no supplement is going to
be banned, but rather it will be subjected to labeling and packaging
requirements for setting the criteria for maximum and minimum dosage
levels according to their ingredient sources, these statements have not
been totally persuasive about the free and/or legal use of certain
plants, herbs, and other natural products, representing the alleged
“mother nature’s traditional remedies.”
The Case of Endometriosis
Published work has proposed a rational hypothesis,11,12
according to which the dietary habits of today’s young female
population and the uptake of certain fat-burning supplements,
experimentally shown to be responsible for the establishment of
infertility and stage IV endometriosis in the mouse,13–15 may lead to an imbalanced caloric restriction (CR) pattern,16,17
that in turn sets the conditions that are (or resemble those of) a
“premature” immune senescence state ultimately dictating a problematic
surveillance mechanism and thus a crippled immune system.18
Although the term “immune senescence” refers to age-related conditions,
and the term “premature immune senescence” may be judged as unrealistic
given that it contradicts age-related cases, such a state actually
exists and has been reported for a number of medical cases—for example
in juvenile idiopathic arthritis,19 or in unbalanced CR states.20
The establishment, however, of premature senescence may not only be due
to the modern lifestyle or the uptake of certain nutritional
supplement(s) as mentioned above, but also to genetic/hereditary,
environmental, endocrinologic, immunologic, and many more factors that
have been accused for the initiation of the disease (for a full review,
see Vassiliadis).12
Thus,
a frail immune system suffering premature senescence and lacking the
proper surveillance renders the immune mechanisms incapable of
intercepting the non-hematopoietic mesenchymal endometriotic stem cell
(MESC),18,21 which ultimately differentiates, invades the system, and migrates to tissues creating an endometriotic state (Fig. 1).
As an antidote to such weakness, the use of natural products and their
extracts has been proposed for the fortification of the immune system as
they can reconstruct its functionality and render it fully competent
against the invading MESC. Briefly, there is documented proof from
European as well as US patents that certain natural products like pine
bark extracts (Pycnogenol®: Horphag Research, Cointrin, Geneva, Switzerland [http://www.pycnogenol.com/home/home/]), almond skins, Agaricus Blazei
Murrill, and Oleuropein have been tested successfully and represent the
ideal “herbal remedies” able to fortify the immune system vis-à-vis a
number of harmful invaders, one of which is the endometriosis-causing
MESC (for a full review see Vassiliadis).18 This novel therapeutic suggestion stems from the teachings of Pedanius Dioscorides’ “De Materia Medica,”1
since the utilization of plants and herbs, some of which have been
named above, has been proven successful for fighting and/or confronting
many diseases via the strengthening of the immune system,22 as well as managing several conditions dealing with fertility and reproductive issues.23
Portrayal
of events leading to endometriosis: imbalanced caloric restriction as
the cause of an inoperative immune system unable to intercept the MESC.
Finally,
it is worth mentioning that another possibility of why the MESC escapes
the attention of the immune system may be found on the MESC itself. It
is known that this non-hematopoietic cell lacks the class II surface
histocompatibility antigen postulated to account for immune surveillance
escape in natural and malignant conditions.24,25
Since the acquired knowledge on MESCs is still sparse, such an option
needs to be further investigated especially in relation to a fortified
immune system, according to Dioscorides’ teachings.
Conclusion
Taking
into account today’s socioeconomic parameters, it becomes apparent
that, for a strengthened immune system (in relation to (in)fertility
and/or possibly other health-related issues), the use of natural plant
products gains grounds vis-à-vis conventional chemical treatments.
Compliance with Codex Alimentarius is imperative; however, there must be
a serious reconsideration of some of the stringent conditions imposed,
as well as a clear thesis on the use of a number of natural substances
with known and documented healing properties.
Footnotes
Competing Interests
The author discloses no potential conflicts of interest.
Author Contribution
The author, SV, wrote and had the responsibility for the final content.
Disclosures and Ethics
As
a requirement of publication the author has provided to the publisher
signed confirmation of compliance with legal and ethical obligations
including but not limited to the following: authorship and
contributorship, conflicts of interest, privacy and confidentiality, and
(where applicable) protection of human and animal research subjects.
The author has read and confirmed his agreement with the ICMJE
authorship and conflict of interest criteria. The author has also
confirmed that this article is unique and not under consideration or
published in any other publication, and that he has permission from
rights holders to reproduce any copyrighted material. Any disclosures
are made in this section. The external blind peer reviewers report no
conflicts of interest.
Funding
This
Short Commentary, launched and monitored by this author, is part of the
international project, “Program for the eradication of endometriosis
via the interception/incapacitation of the non-hematopoietic mesenchymal
endometriotic stem cell using natural remedies having the potential to
act through the fortification of the immune system,” where each
participating laboratory funds its own part of research. The present
communications have not been sponsored or otherwise financially
supported.
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