Is coca tea the fountain of youth? Stick around because you are about to find out some fascinating facts about the world famous coca leaf tea.
Throughout history, the coca leaf and the entire coca plant in general has played a huge part in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.
Attacks on Medicinal Plant?
Dr Jorge Hurtado explains that coca leaf can be an effective pain-relieving medicine but it is often blamed for all the wrong reasons. While the coca tea plant has been labelled as an evil and dangerous narcotic, there are no medical research papers and doctors that can back these false facts up medically. To demonstrate this in real life, it was discovered that forty years ago, when the Bolivian government tried to reduce and regulate coca tea chewing, it directly proved that workers could not work in the mines.
It clearly proved that during hard and intensive labor, miners heavily rely on chewing coca tea leaves to work in the mines. Coca tea chewing simply boosts energy and keeps the workers awake and alert. By not allowing these workers to chew coca, they could no longer be effective at their job. As a result, their overall production and work ethic took a big hit. By allowing once again for coca tea leaves to be chewed by the Bolivian miners as a daily regimen, these workers managed to stay more productive without becoming addicted to coca leaves.
“If you check the nutritional profile of the coca leaf, you will learn that it contains much more vitamins and minerals than quinoa grains. Coca also has roughly 25% more calcium than dairy milk”, said Hurtado. In Peru and Bolivia, coca tea powder is regarded as a food supplement, just like vitamin powders and tablets in United States and Europe.
There is absolutely no evidence or proof that chewing coca leaf tea powder is addictive. In fact, Bolivia has a large number of alcoholics compared to cocaine addicts. Coca leaves to cocaine is akin to comparing grapes to wine. Coca leaf may contain a small amount of cocaine alkaloids (less than 1%) but it never poses any problems unless hundreds of kilograms of dried coca leaves are chemically processed into cocaine.
Promotes Health & Longevity?
Procaine was discovered in 1949, this is a very similar chemical to the drug cocaine. Procaine was found to contain youth promoting properties, some even dubbed it as the “Fountain of Youth”.
When procaine was given to elderly patients, researchers discovered that it improved the response and condition of their muscles as well as whole body motion. Ana Aslan was the key researcher during discovery of the anti-aging effects of procaine. Soon after, the researchers used coca leaves to improve and boost people’s physical condition, health and their capabilities. Unlike other drugs such as heroin, morphine and cocaine, coca leaf does not cause any dependence or physical addiction.
So is coca tea the fountain of youth? Let’s research further.
What is also interesting is that coca leaf also relieves stomach pain, headaches and migraines.
Many people like to drink coffee after eating a meal, however, this is detrimental to our digestion and stomach health. Coffee has a direct effect on the lower opening passage in the stomach, it has a regulating effect on the passages between the top and bottom of the digestive tract. This causes many problems with digesting food.
Coca leaf tea, however, aids the stomach and promotes healthy digestion.
“I can give you more, a lot more uses for coca leaf as far as health benefits go, but this is still very controversial even if studies proved us right”, concluded Dr Hurtado.
Other Products?
As far as using coca leaf in other household items such as cosmetics, many companies have indeed added coca leaf extracts to soaps, shampoos and skim creams. International tourists can still get into trouble with local and international Customs and Border Control officers. “A friend of mine did not realize she had a coca leaf extract shampoo in her carry on backpack. While going through Bolivia Customs airport security, the police dogs began to look excited as she walked by.
Lucky for my friend, she was not in any big trouble, but they seized the coca leaf shampoo and quiet frankly, it was not the best experience to have while flying.” On another note, coca tea powder has been shown to prevent gum disease and tooth decay, hence why it is also added to certain Peruvian and Bolivian toothpaste.
Conclusion
Calling “Coca Tea The Fountain of Youth” is an extraordinary claim, however, so far all the evidence seems to back up this claim.
As I conclude my research about the history of coca tea uses and it’s impact on Bolivia and Peru, I clearly have realized that coca leaf represents something much bigger and broader here in the Andean region of Bolivia. With so many coca tea leaf products out there on the market, it certainly stimulates the local Bolivian economy.
Even though they have tried to cut down and even stop coca leaf production over the last few decades. it’s great to see the coca tea leaf industry in Bolivia is still very active and only growing larger, ready to expand further.