Natural Nutraceutical for Prostate Health

Flor de Mashua



Young Mashua Flower
Tincture (Organic)

(Tropaeolum tuberosum)
8 Fl. Oz. (240 ml.)

Code S-139
Price: $19.95
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Summarized Description: Tincture of "Flor de Mashua" is used in various communities throughout the Andes to treat prostate cancer and BPH. In small Andean "farmer's markets," you can find small jars of the pulverized, dried mashua root, which is used when prostate issues are thought to flare up, but I have heard repeatedly from several fellow, native Andean herbalists that this extract from the young flower is far more potent.
One very prominent and revered herbalist that I met in Baņos de Aqua Santa, Ecuador in 2009 claimed that he has cured prostate cancer cases, some of them quite advanced, with Tincture of Mashua Flower alone. Since I was not able to verify that with any of his patients that I met while in Tungurahua Province, I mentally filed this practitioner's claim away as "unconfirmed."
Please note that this product is sold both as a traditional and a special order item, although we carry it in stock at all times . . . [G. Caton]



Instructions / Ingredients

Take 1 tsp. (5 ml.), twice a day. If you find the alcohol in this alcohol-based tincture objectionable, then simply put the teaspoon of tincture in a cup of hot (near boiling) green tea and wait five minutes. The alcohol will readily flash off (i.e. evaporate).
Ingredients: Mashua extract, alcohol, purified water (30% by weight).

Contraindications
All edible parts of mashua are known to drop testosterone levels, so this product is contraindicated with all natural and pharmaceutical-grade ED (erectile dysfunction) products. Duke (see below) makes the historical note that "Peruvian rulers (used mashua) like salt pepper, as an antiaphrodisiac for the troops." (1) He goes on to note that mashua "contains p-methoxybenzylglucosinolate. Male rats fed tubers in their diet were as capable as the control animals in impregnating females but showed a 45% drop in their blood levels of testosterone / dihydrotestosterone, apparently related to the isothiocyanates." (2)

Shelf-Life
Five years or more.

James Duke's Handbook of Medical Plants of Latin America
Medicinal Activities
Further information for practitioners: World-famous botanist Dr. James Duke attributes the following activities to this plant (p. 718-719; see hardcopy cover at right), drawn from the extant literature. (See his graduation for "level of efficacy" on our amazon traditionals page; followed by Duke's bibliographic abbreviations (in capital letters), which we identify on a separate page.)

  • Aldose Reductase Inhibitor (f; EGG);
  • Analgesic (f; EGG);
  • Anaphrodisiac (f; DLZ, EGG);
  • Antioxidant (1; X16968067);
  • Antiseptic (1; EGG);
  • Bactericide (1; EGG);
  • Goitrogenic (f1; EGG);
  • Litholytic (f; RAR).

Indications
Further information for practitioners: Duke provides the following indications for this plant:
  • Anemia (f; DLZ; EGG);
  • Bacteria (1; EGG);
  • Bladder Stones (f; SOU);
  • Calculus (f; RAR);
  • Candida (1; EGG);
  • Childbirth (f; ROE);
  • Circulosis (f; DLZ);
  • Cystosis (f; SOU);
  • Escherichia (1; EGG);
  • Fungus (1; EGG);
  • Infection (1; EGG);
  • Kidney Stones (f; SOU);
  • Mastitis (f; SOU);
  • Megamastia (f; SOU);
  • Mycosis (1; EGG);
  • Nephrosis (f; DLZ; RAR);
  • Oliguria (f; DLZ);
  • Pain (f; DLZ);
  • Snake Bite (f; ROE);
  • Staphylococcus (1; EGG);
  • Stones (f; RAR, SOU);
  • Thrush (1; EGG);
  • Urogenitosis (f1; EGG);
  • Yeast (1; EGG).

Footnotes
  1. Soukup, J. 1970. Vocabulary of the Common Names of the Peruvian Flora and Catalog of the Genera. Editorial Salesiano, Lima. 436 pp., as quoted by Duke, p. 764.
  2. See "x" for PubMed studies in Duke references.



To U.S. Users: This product have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.


Preparation to make the tincture of Flor de Mashua begins with the collection of young mashua flowers. Our flowers come from our own cultivated field of mashua (see below).

At any given time, we can be found growing mashua, native to the high Andes, from Colombia and Ecuador, through Peru, in our own botanical gardens.

Although the tubers of mashua are prized as a food source in Peru, they are more commonly grown as ornamentals or medicinals in Ecuador. This is probably because there are so many edible, native tumors in Ecuador from which to choose.



Traditional
Ethnobotanical
Dosage / Usage
Duke provides a "food farmacy potential" score for this plant of, "FNFF=!!" ("Important food in some parts of the world; not in major supermarkets") Indications for its ethnobotanical use worldwide are broad and fall into the following categories (p. 719):
  1. Bolivians consider root decoction analgesic and diuretic, taking it for oliguria and kidney pain (DLZ).
  2. Bolivians drink leaf tea for anemia and poor circulation (DLZ).
  3. Peruvians believe that overindulgence can lower testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (which might be good for prostatis, bad for impotence). (EGG).
  4. Peruvians suggest taking the root decoction with lime juice and parsley to dissolve bladder and kidney stones (SOU).
  5. Peruvians take the root decoction for childbirth (ROE).