Maca
Lepidium meyenii
Cat’s Claw
Uncaria tomentosa
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„There is a plant for every disease” „Ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you” (Bible, Job 12:8).
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Introduction Plants colonised the Earth long before the development of any oxygen-based life forms for a straightforward reason – there was no oxygen in the atmosphere until plants produced it and maintained concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere at levels necessary for our existence. As it seems, the initial purpose of plant life was to prepare the living conditions necessary for all higher species to evolve, including humans, followed by plants offering themselves as our primary food. Plants are the only producers of food on our planet, and all other organisms, including us, are merely plant parasites. (All organisms on the earth are plant parasites because plants are the only species capable of producing their food from sunlight, water, minerals, and carbon dioxide, and that’s why they are running the show.)
Furthermore, plants developed many phytonutrients. 3
Machu Picchu / View from an Andean summit to city ruins
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In the traditions of many cultures, there are sayings such as „There is a plant for every disease” and „Ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you” (Bible, Job 12:8). Plants utilise sunlight, water, minerals, and CO2 to produce all we need for our existence – air and food. The modern lifestyle, with its civilisational and technological development, impairs all of these essential elements by creating ozone holes in the atmosphere, spoiling the water, polluting the air, destroying food nutrients, and consuming chemical compounds to restore declining health.
Further technological development is unstoppable, and the only way to prevent its harmful effect is the technology itself. In Zepter, we are dedicated to the development of technologies that deliver healing light, clean air, unpolluted water, and food devoid of toxins and undisturbed, with the natural balance of nutrients and plant phytonutrients. We are firmly committed and dedicated to work based on nature’s wisdom, which we sincerely respect when we create our products.
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In our limitless efforts to build sophisticated know-how, we employ numerous distinguished scientists from all over the world, but we continue to pay careful attention to the traditional knowledge of ancient civilisations and indigenous peoples who never lost their contact with nature.
Peruvian indigenous woman carrying a bundle of herbs
Despite the meaning of plant life to humankind, in our unlimited ignorance and pride, often led by selfish interests, we still dare to impose regulations and restrictions on the usage of plants. However, plants are hundreds of millions of years older and respectfully wiser than we are, and - as it seems - they can help us acquire new knowledge as well.
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To acquire knowledge from indigenous tribes of the Amazon and their shamans and to use it for the benefit of humanity, we implemented extensive actions in the rain forests of Amazonia.
Our primary objective was to examine the sources of their extensive botanical knowledge, but a shaman’s standard answer to this question was:
“Ayahuasca told us what to do and how to combine plants to create agents that support human health�. This claim appears to be confirmed by the chemical composition of ayahuasca, which continues to astonish scientists. Amazonian shamans have been preparing ayahuasca for millennia. The brew consists of parts of two plant species that must be boiled together for many hours. One of these plants contains a hallucinogenic substance, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which also seems to be secreted by the pineal gland in the human brain; this hallucinogen, however, has no effect when ingested as the stomach blocks it with a stomach enzyme called monoamine oxidase. The other plant contains several substances that inactivate this particu-
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lar stomach enzyme, allowing the hallucinogen to reach the brain. The sophistication of this recipe could not be achieved by trial and error alone, as there are hundreds of thousands of plant species in Amazonia. It is highly improbable that
Shaman Elisa from Shipibo tribe preparing herbs to be brewed in a Zepter pot
people with no knowledge of chemistry or physiology and without electron microscopes could combine the leaves of a bush containing a hallucinogenic brain hormone with a vine containing substances that deactivate a digestive tract en-
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zyme that would otherwise block the hallucinogenic effect. That would indicate that they knew about the molecular properties of plants and the art of combining them. Most probably, it was the action of DMT which altered their consciousness such that they could reach the higher levels of existence and knowledge. Another example of the astonishing knowledge of the people of Amazonia is curare. Several millennia ago, Amazonian hunters developed this muscle-paralysing substance which kills tree-climbing animals, without poisoning the meat, by causing them to relax their grip and fall to the ground. Monkeys, when hit by an untreated arrow, tend to wrap their tails around branches and die out of the archer’s reach. Here again, the execution of such an elaborate task can hardly be attributed to trial-and-error experimentation, given that an accidental combination of many different plant species that need to be brewed for seventy-two hours while avoiding the fragrant but mortal vapours emitted by the broth is also highly improbable.
The final product is a paste that is inactive unless injected under the skin. 9
Cat’s claw seedling
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Sacred Plants According to traditional Inca wisdom, our consciousness is a combination of light and matter. Humans use consciousness to attain a better understanding of themselves and surrounding reality so as to improve their lives. There are, however, numerous obstacles (including fear) that prohibit humans from perceiving reality. The Inca believe that nature has given us some plants (the so-called „Sacred Plants”) so that we can understand reality better and use their healing powers. The „Sacred Plants” have a special relationship with humans as regards how they can help us. They are the plant species which according to Inca beliefs allow the perception of invisible world, imperceptible to human eyes. Plants use light to grow, and a highly organised form of light (biophotons) as a means of communication. Human cells use the same methods of communication, and the Inca believe that humans and plants can and do communicate with one another.
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The wisdom of the Andean Inca and rainforest tribes of the Amazon was merged by the tribe that dwelled for centuries between these two groups and intermediated in the exchange of goods and knowledge.
Laboratory
So, how could they have gained such advanced knowledge from out of thin air, without the involvement of any scientists or any sophisticated equipment? More than hundred years ago, Nikola Tesla—probably the brightest mind in the history of humankind—was the first to claim that he received ideas from a cos-
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mic centre of knowledge. Today, after a century of denial, scientists have started to understand and develop some of Tesla’s fundamental beliefs and contemplations, including the concept that everything in nature and even in outer space consists of energy and that communication exists between its parts. Under the altered state of mind, the human brain can become a receiver of signals conveying advanced knowledge and participate in the cosmic communication. Deep in the Peruvian jungle, a contemporary Amazon shaman explains:
„I know that any living soul, or any deceased one, is like those radio waves flying around in the air. That means that you do not see them, but they are there, like radio waves. Once you turn on the radio, you can pick them up. It’s like that with souls; with ayahuasca and tobacco, you can see them and hear them.”
Just for the sake of curiosity, it is worth mentioning that Tesla invented the radio – the receiver of radio waves.
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Terrace fields in Peru
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Plants & Habitat Every organism thrives in a unique ecosystem called „natural habitat”. Habitats provide living organisms with everything they need to survive, such as food, water, shelter from weather conditions or a place to breed the young. All organisms need to adapt to their habitats to be able to survive. While animals can move from place to place to escape harsh weather or search for more hospitable habitats, plants are devoid of such a capability. If plants grow in hostile habitats, they cannot change surrounding conditions such as climate or soil, nor can they escape numerous attackers. To survive, plants must be equipped with powerful molecules to defend them against unfavourable weather, UV radiation, air pollutants, oxidation, insects, fungi, viruses, bacteria and cell damage. Such molecules are referred to as phytochemical compounds and are capable of neutralising attackers by affecting their biological structures. More than 4000 phytochemicals have been identified so far, of which only 150 have been studied in depth. Some of the well-researched phytochemicals are: lycopene in tomatoes; flavonoids; carotenoids in fruits; allyl sulphides in onions, leeks, and garlic; sapo-
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nins in beans, and capsaicin in peppers, etc. Each of these compounds displays a unique action.
Seedlings of Amazonian herbs growing in a nursery
To protect themselves from highly reactive oxygen, plants developed a particular type of phytochemicals called antioxidant compounds, which prevent the formation of cellular rust after fragile cell mechanisms are exposed to the corrosive action of oxygen. Due to their selective toxicity, phytochemicals do not harm healthy cells. Most experts firmly believe that a combination of these compounds works in synergy in ways that are still not fully understood.
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A town in the Andes
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Plants & Humans The same phytochemicals that protect plants may also help people who consume them - recent research indicated that phytochemicals exert positive influence upon human organism.
Phytochemicals may be degraded by processing techniques, such as cooking, mainly resulting in thermal decomposition. When vegetables are boiled in water, substantial quantities of phytochemicals are quickly lost because they are released into the boiling water. According to published studies, after only two
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minutes of boiling, broccoli loses at least 95 percent of sulforaphane, 62 percent of phenolic acid, 23 percent of glucobrassicin, and 17 percent of glucoraphanin content. This phenomenon considerably reduces the bioavailability of phytochemicals and nutritional properties of vegetables. Even if we are lucky to have access to healthy, unprocessed food, there are still toxic chemicals waiting to be developed if it is cooked improperly – using high temperatures or cooking oil. The EU project HEATOX identified 47 carcinogens and mutagens that can be formed as a consequence of using high temperatures and overheated cooking oil. Once introduced into a body, carcinogens and mutagens will stay there for the rest of its life. Antioxidative and phytochemical properties are the reason why extracts of some plants are believed to enhance the ability of the human body to resist the damaging effects of stressors and to maintain or restore regular physiological functions by promoting homeostasis. In their fantastic relationship with humans, the plants that display the unique capacity to „adapt” their functions to the specific needs of the human organism are called adaptogens. There are only a few plant species that are considered to be adaptogens, and the Peruvian-grown Maca plant is one of them.
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MACA Lepidium meyenii
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Maca (Lepidium meyenii) Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is cultivated as vegetable crop in Peruvian Andes at altitudes of over 4000 metres above sea level, under extreme climatic conditions including intensive cold, strong sunlight and UV radiation, high daily temperature amplitudes, strong winds, low atmospheric pressure and low oxygen content in air. To persevere under such harsh conditions, maca must accumulate specific compounds that help both the plant and the people forced to live in the high mountains. For thousands of years, maca has been the superfood of Andean populations and is the oldest cultivated plant on Earth. Medical examinations of Andean mountaineers who systematically ingest maca indicated they have better adaptive capabilities, lower blood presLepidium meyenii sure, better profile of lipids, better liver and kidney
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functions, more effective hormonal systems; they also maintain their sexual functions for longer and are not overweight. Maca is an important ingredient of their nutrient-poor diet, providing human organism with nutrients. NASA is using maca as a nutritious supplement for astronauts.
Maca is a source of components that are beneficial to human organisms exposed to physical exertion. It contributes to improving mood, enhancing memory, maintaining focus and influences cognitive abilities and physical stamina. Maca is also attributed the ability to energise without excessive stimulation. Maca improves the libido of both genders with a promise of satisfying sex, and bears a positive influence upon male potency, sperm count and sperm vitality. It also displays certain bone-strengthening properties. Maca contains numerous, basic nutrients. The presence of numerous amino acids, vitamins and minerals in their natural state positively affects their bioavailability and utilisation by human organism. Maca plays a positive role in maintaining male potency, and is beneficial to sperm count and vitality.
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Maca is also credited with the ability to help human organism adapt to stressful situations and restore homoeostasis and helps maintain vitality.
Maca growers from Junin, Peru
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CAT’S CLAW Uncaria tomentosa
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Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa) Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa) grows in the rainforests of Amazonia. Its woody vines reach the length of up to 30 metres long. The plant derives its popular name from claw-shaped thorns growing at its leaf stems. For thousands of years, the plant served consecutive civilisations of ancient Peru until modern times, providing the basis for shamanistic and Andean-Amazonian medical traditions. Cat’s claw was believed to be a panacea. Indigenous tribes of the Amazon region worshipped this plant, calling it a “sacred herb” (vilca cora). Efforts undertaken by pioneers of Andean herbalism and results of clinical research carried out in the seventies made this true treasure of Amazon Uncaria tomentosa rain forests available to the Western world.
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In the opinion of Dr. Donna Schwontkowski M.D., Uncaria tomentosa is the most important of rain forest plants. In Peru, uncaria teas have innumerable applications. In Peru, this herb is considered to be a “cellular rejuvenator”. Satya Ambrose, M.D., insists that uncaria positively affects overall immunity, stamina and adequate energy levels in persons suffering from physical and psychological exertion caused by hyperactive and stressing lifestyle. After 4 years of work with 150 patients, Brent Davis M.D. recognized that uncaria tomentosa contributes to the normalization of digestion, especially in the stomach and intestines. He referred to the plant as a “path-opener”, a statement which may be completed with the words: “to good physical health and spiritual equilibrium”. Hippocrates was the first to declare that all ailments start “in the gut”. This approach is currently being revived by contemporary medicine. According to general opinion, intestines are responsible for numerous diseases and are of decisive importance to the health condition and wellness of humans.
Cat’s claw supports proper functioning of the immune system.
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In result to rapid lifestyle changes (long hours spent in sedentary position, in front of flickering monitors, ubiquitous presence of magnetic fields), and living on diets insufficient to counteract such changes, we may all suffer from disturbed biological equilibrium.
A native of Pucallpa on Ucayali River with cat’s claw bark
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THIS CATALOGUE WAS PREPARED EXCLUSIVELY FOR INTERNAL NEEDS OF ZEPTER INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL GROUP. ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED HEREIN IS OF GENERAL NATURE AND WAS DEVELOPED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES - TO PRESENT THE WORLD OF PERUVIAN PLANT SPECIES AND DO NOT REFER TO ANY PRODUCT. THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THE CATALOGUE CANNOT BE USED IN PARTICULAR IN ANY ADVERTISEMENTS, PRESENTATIONS OR LABELING OF ANY PRODUCT.
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