The native sassafras tree has a crazy wonder drug history that you’ve never been told. Dating back hundreds if not thousands of years, #Native tribes such as the Choctaw used sassafras as a cooking spice and medicine to purify blood and treat various ailments. After arriving in North America in the 1500s, the Spanish and English colonists discovered #sassafras and began to export it. Believe it or not, some historians argue this was the first herb exported to Europe. The English soon started to collect sassafras roots during the great sassafras hunts. Sassafras quickly gained the status of being a wonder drug that could cure all ailments, even old age. Sassafras became so popular that its exports were said to match #tobacco. The tree was used to make tea for centuries, and in the late 1800s it was made into a soft drink that we know of today as root beer. Sassafras was commonly used for its anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-cavity benefits and to treat a number of medical conditions and diseases. I have sassafras on my property and make it into tea, but here’s where things get very interesting. In 1960, the #FDA banned the use of sassafras as an additive to food because studies found safrole oil injected into rats caused liver cancer. The FDA also banned sassafras tea in the 70’s and seized California herb company’s sassafras. However, research done by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and others has contradicted the original findings. The Lawrence research found that safrole doesn’t break down in human’s digestive systems like it does in rats and thus is not carcinogenic. Other researchers corroborated these findings and concluded that a person could drink sassafras tea daily and still not be exposed to anywhere near the same dosages administered to the rats. Other researchers have come to the same conclusion and pointed out that boiling sassafras removes almost all of the safrole oil. Here’s where I want your opinions. There’s three very interesting ideas as to why the FDA quickly banned sassafras. The first is that since safrole oil is used to make mdma, the federal government wanted to control sassafras production. The second is that the FDA banned sassafras, so it could apply food additive regulations to the growing #herb industry. The third is that the FDA wanted to stop people from consuming sassafras because of its potent medical benefits. Let me know what you think in the comment below!
#herbal #root #herbalhealing #naturalmedicine #herbalremedy #herbalmedicine #farming #history #colonial #wellness #medicine
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