Eastern White Pine: Nature's Free Remedy

Here in Maine (The Pine Tree State) most of us take advantage of these majestic, often monstrously tall (the tallest trees in the Northeast) evergreens that surround us through all 4 seasons. We don't think much about them at all until one snaps in a windstorm and lands on a nearby wire, blocks a road or suddenly comes crashing through a window. I went an entire 4 decades without learning that they are the most amazing medicine that's readily available 365 days a year (to those of us blessed enough to live near them) to those all along the Eastern seaboard from New Brunswick to northern Georgia, east to the Great Lakes region and Appalachians.

The needles are widely known to be extremely high in Vitamin C and are a great addition to a tea for the common cold or as an immune system enhancer.  Once used to treat scurvy, they are actually reported to be 5x higher than lemons, per volume, in Vitamin C! A deficiency of Vitamin C can also negatively impact the adrenals, as well as the integrity of tissues in the body, its essential to almost ALL processes in the human body and is almost always in short supply for almost anyone!

What most people do not know (including myself up until 7 or 8 years ago) is that shikimic acid is an active component of Eastern White Pine and is also what they synthesize to make "tamiflu*. There are many clinical trials and studies that have been done but the most important I have read are the ones that tested the synergy of combining shikimic acid with quercetin (the master antioxidant) and how that combination increased the immune system's response time by 500%.

The medicinal benefits of drinking pine needle tea relate to the cardiovascular, circulatory, immune and respiratory systems, in addition to its antioxidant activity and ability to prevent degenerative and chronic diseases. These beneficial effects are the result of high levels of vitamin C, vitamin A, polyphenolic compounds, B vitamins, calcium, iron, potassium and phosphorous.

In fact, research published in "Nutrition and Cancer" discovered that pine needles exhibit “strong antioxidant, antimutagenic and antiproliferative effects on cancer cells and also antitumor effects in vivo and point to their potential usefulness in cancer prevention.” read more

The benefits of Eastern White Pine needle tea

1. Pine needle tea has a pleasant taste and smell (always a good start).

2. It is rich in vitamin C (5 times the concentration of vitamin C found in lemons) and can bring relief to conditions such as heart disease, varicose veins, skin complaints and fatigue

3. Vitamin C is also an immune system booster which means that pine needle tea can help to fight illness and infections.

4. Pine needle tea also contains high levels of Vitamin A, which is good for your eyesight, improves hair and skin regeneration and improves red blood cell production.

5. It can be used as an expectorant for coughs and to help relieve chest congestion; it is also good for sore throats.

6.Contains Shikimic Acid (what they use to synthesize oseltamavir)

7. It can help with depression, obesity, allergies and high blood pressure.

8. Pine needles contain antioxidants. These reduce free radicals, which are harmful to humans and can cause disease. 

9. Taoist priests drank pine needle tea as they believed it made them live longer. There is researched evidence that pine needle tea can help to slow the ageing process.

10. Clinically proven to help shorten the time that flu symptoms such as a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, cough, muscle or joint aches, tiredness, headache, fever, and chills last.

11. SURAMIN 

The real benefits explode when you combine shikimic acid and plant quercetin as we did with our Elderberry Elixir Clinical studies have shown that the powerful synergy created when these 2 are combined have up to 500% greater effect on immune system response time. You can read more here about the amazing power of elderberries to actually stop viruses from entering healthy cells to replicate.

Nature's medicine is all around us.

You can read more about Suramin here 

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