Coca Tea Medicine

Many people are curious to know more about coca tea medicine, in other words, what kind of uses does coca tea leaves and powder have medicinally.

This article will explore in detail how you can use the coca plant as a powerful home medicine that is cheap and very effective and without nasty side effects linked to other drugs.

Gastrointestinal & Stomach Problems

In South America, to this day, traditional Indian tribes still coca tea leaves as a medical treatment for many aches and pains. Obviously, they also rely on coca tea as a natural stimulant and mood enhancer. In fact, coca leaves have always been regarded as the best medicine for upset stomach and other gastrointestinal problems. Coca leaf tea or chewing coca tea powder relieves bloating, stomach aches, headaches, nausea, indigestion and gut spasms.

Even further, coca tea is wonderful for stopping constipation and eliminating diarrhea. As a whole, coca tea medicine is a complete remedy for promoting a healthy digestive system, stomach and bowel function. You can also chew coca tea leaves and powder. It helps to promote gum health and strengthens tooth enamel. Coca chewing is also beneficial to heal various painful cuts inside the mouth such as oral sores and lesions.

Finally, if one suffers from a toothache, chewing coca leaf tea powder will stop and numb the pain. Different alkaloids, minerals and vitamins found naturally in coca leaves will also help to disinfect teeth and gums.

Stress & Environment

Another popular remedy that coca tea medicine is famous for is high altitude sickness relief. Because this plant provides a great boost of energy and improves breathing when air is thin, coca tea is regarded is a powerful medicine that’s worth as much as gold at high altitude. The locals in Peru and Bolivia have known this for over 3000 years. Coca tea consumption helps to combat hypoxia, cold conditions, colds and flu and stave off hunger and thirst. What is interesting to note is that some experiments were conducted in the early 1970s aimed to work out if coca leaf tea chewing was linked with feeling warmer.

The researchers discovered that the overall temperatures in hands and feet decreased in coca chewers in the Andes. The study concluded that this minor variation in temperature could help in lowering the overall amount of heat lost in extreme environments such as the Andes and other high mountains.

Stopping Hunger Pains

If you have ever chewed coca tea with sodium bicarbonate, then you will realize that the urge to eat and appetite itself, disappears for at least 2-3 hours. You simply do not want to eat while chewing coca. Scientists found out that coca has effects on glucose levels and it’s homeostasis. When a person chews coca leaf tea powder, their blood glucose levels are elevated above the usual fasting level found in non-chewers. This proves that coca leaf consumption acts directly on the metabolic function and is highly beneficial for people who have problems maintaining blood glucose homeostasis and diabetics. This further shows that coca tea plant is excellent for stopping hunger pains and promotes weight-loss.

High Altitude Sickness

As more and more scientists and doctors were intrigued by the coca plant in Peru and Bolivia, a demand grew to understand how exactly coca tea consumption helps the body. At high altitudes those who consume coca tea (drinking and chewing) report virtually no headaches and pain. Researchers were able to apply ethnographic and physiologic analysis to find out exactly how coca was able to help those who used it in the Andes to relieve aches and pains. After conducting a large number of interviews, it was demonstrated that the use of coca chewing goes up significantly with coca chewers who live and work high up in the mountains. The higher they go, the more coca tea powder and leaves they chew.

This verdict extends to women and other groups, who normally do not consume as much coca as Quechua and other natives who live high up in the Andes.

Other research showed that it was not just the cold climate and high mountains that persuaded people to eat and drink more coca tea. In Peru and Bolivia, men who work in the mines often chew up to 50 grams of coca tea per day. Mines are not located high in the Andes and do not normally have freezing temperatures.

Another discovery was made when it was realized that coca tea use can eliminate the dreaded and harmful effects of hypoxia (a condition where body tissue is starved of oxygen at the cell level). Red blood cell levels are highly increased during hypoxia. The blood becomes viscous and researchers link this with the high altitude sickness and it’s side effects. It was proposed that the natural alkaloids found in coca leaf tea stop the excessive red blood cell production (major side effect) which is caused by hypoxia.

Coca therefore, drastically slows down the symptoms of high altitude sickness and helps the body to slowly adjust to the high altitude environment of the mountains.

Conclusion

This is why coca tea medicine is so useful in the Andes and other stressful environments that demand strenuous physical labor.

Please take into account that most of the above research is based on observations and not the actual trial data done in a lab. What makes it even more convincing is that the people of Peru and Bolivia have been using this plant with great success for thousands of years.

More research is always welcomes, but with current laws and legalities on plant research, this could prove as a difficult task.

To your health and success,

Alex