This month’s Herb is Yucca!

A member of the lily family, the plant is also known by the names “soap root,” “Spanish Bayonet,” and “Spanish Dagger.” The reference to soap comes from long historical use of the plant’s roots as a foaming cleanser. Yucca contains large amounts of the steroid saponin, which accounts for its lathering ability.

The saponins in Yucca are a precursor of natural coritsone normally produced by the adrenal glands. Ths makes it a popular remedy for all kinds of inflammation, such as arthritis, rheumatism, bursitis, colitis, and other inflammatory conditions.

In 1975, Dr. Robert Bingham, director of the National Arthritis Medical Clinic, tested a Yucca saponin extract on 149 patients at the California center. Most of the patients later felt less pain, stiffness, and swelling in their joints. Others also received additional benefits, such as, migraine relief, lower blood pressure, and cholesterol/triglyceride reduction. Dr. Bingham believes that the saponins aid digestion and absorption of fats. They also work as cleansing substances which help prevent absorption of harmful bacteria and protozoa from the bowel that cause the stiffness and inflammation in the joints, he says. These compounds also appear to improve circulation.Yucca is high in vitamins A, B, and C, and contains potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese and copper which make it very soothing to the intestinal tract. The plant provides nutritional support to the structural system (bones, joints, muscles).Research has also shown that yucca helps with stimulating friendly intestional flora, which in turn aids in the absorption of nutritional factors and decreases the amount of toxins that may be aborbed from the digestive system. There would be less poisons which may build up in the joints thus causing degenerative diseases like arthritis and rheumatism.Arthritis is a manifestation of toxic conditions in the body.Here again, my philosophy of cleaning the blood (de-toxing) and removing toxins are a critical component of preventing and reversing arthritis conditions. Yucca has clearly been shown to help.