A couple of centuries before the Europeans arrival, the Incas had begun to colonize those parts where the almost sheer mountains are covered in tropical vegetation at altitudes of between 500 and 2000 meters. The region was known as "Rupa Rupa" in Quechua meaning "Hot Hot", another name for it being "refuge of monkeys".

There were very powerful reasons for the expansionist plans of the Inca Empire, which were frustrated by the Spanish Conquest. Apart from the zone’s value in military terms and the gold that filled its rivers, the upper jungle was (and is), an area where alkaloids flourished. The whole fertile and abundant jungle area, with its rough terrain, proved ideal for growing the tea and coffee the Spanish brought with them, as well as tobacco and, above all coca, a shrub held sacred by the ancient inhabitants of Peru, not to mention the thousands of plants the natives have been using to heal their bodies and souls since time immemorial.

One of these plant species is the so-called Cat’s Claw. It is a gigantic rubiaceous that grows to a height of 25 meters and, with its shaggy lianas or vines, looks like it came straight out of a Tarzan movie set. Of the 50 or so varieties that have been identified so far, only two have curative properties. Their scientific names, which have an operatic ring to them, are Uncaria tomentosa and Uncaria guianensis.

The plant’s application in traditional medicine goes back a long way. The Pre-Columbian Peruvians considered it magical and healthy. Peruvians today, mainly the peasant and poorer sectors, drink it in the form of a tea brewed from the bark that covers the vines to cure rheumatoid diseases and tumors. The most recent studies carried out in Austria, Italy, Germany, The United States and Peru have shown that it is amazing therapeutic powers come from its acid and alkaloid components. The plant’s cytostatic action apparently enables it to suppress cancerous cells. At the same time, the increase in its phagocytotic action turns it into a powerful immunological stimulant and, possibly, a new weapon against AIDS.

Introduced in Lima and other Peruvian coastal cities, its trade, up until a few years back, was limited almost exclusively to street herb-merchants, while its consumers were generally considered to be unwary or superstitious. Nowadays, crushed into a fine powder inside capsules, or reduced to a highly concentrated extract in pills, it is industrially packaged product.

Cat’s Claw has been used for centuries by various Amazonian tribes. However, the first scientific studies and the drug’s application against immunological system complaints and serious inflammations were thanks to a German pioneer, who married and started a family in Peru and who lived for half a century in the jungle region of Chanchamayo. His name was Arturo Brell.

Sadly, the research into Uncaria after Brell’s death in Lima, in 1978, was very often erratic or simply left aside. It was not until 1990 that a large agro-industrial firm picked where he had left off, began sponsoring research and established contact with Peruvian and foreign scientists dedicated to extending the therapeutic frontiers of Cat’s Claw. This firm is today the only producer of Uncaria extract pills made by freeze-drying, which ensures that all the plant properties are maintained and guarantees a maximum concentration of its beneficial effects. Be that as it may, and in spite of certain spectacular achievements, we can safely say that the long history of this bountiful plant is only just beginning.

By: Antonio Cisneros