Eucommia is also known as 'The Warrior Herb' as named by the Samurai who used this herb daily for strength, lumbar and recovery.
Eucommia bark is a major tonic herb that comes from a small tree native to China, often called the "Chinese rubber tree" because of its latex-bearing qualities. The bark of the tree has been used for many centuries as a decocted tea preparation for its profound effects on increasing the overall strength of the skeletal structure.
A popular herb among athletes, Eucommia is known to help improve flexibility and physical energy. It is used to help fortify the bones, ligaments and tendons and is especially reinforcing to the knees, ankles and back, particularly the lumbar lower spine region. Although the bark is an energizing substance, it is not a stimulant, but works as an adaptogen to both activate circulation as well as calm the nerves if needed.
Benefits:
- Liver Health - Promoting the health of the liver, the liver has hundreds of different physiological functions, it produces natural germ killers, digestive enzymes, hormones and neurotransmitters, it also produces glucose, and it is said to influence even our emotional strength. In Chinese medicine, the liver is known as the seed of passion because it produces a lot of hormones that give us our drive for life. It produces a lot of testosterone which gives us motivation and determination. The liver is one of the most important organs in our body and drinking Eucommia can help keep it healthy, thus influencing overall health.
- Overcome Stress - The kidneys are connected to adrenal glands, which produce stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol which give us our drive to overcome stressful situations. Drinking Eucommia not only helps us to keep our kidneys healthy, it can also influence how we deal with stressful situations.
- Improves Athletic Performance - Eucommia can significantly improve our athletic performance by promoting the production of adrenaline which gives us an energy boost. Eucommia can help improve not only our drive and physical performance, but it also has the ability to help us recover. There is scientific evidence to show that Eucommia can speed up the recovery of muscle tissue after we’ve finished our workout.
- Back Pain - Another health benefit of Eucommia tea is that it can treat back pain. Many people today experience different types of back aches regularly, even young people. Because of our sedentary way of life, many people don’t get enough exercise and spend hours sitting in front computers which can have consequences for our health. Eucommia is a great herb for strengthening our back muscles and also for relieving some of the stress. It actually has the ability to produce collagen in the body which is a very important protein for connective tissue in the back and can restore the strength of the muscular and skeletal system.
- Blood Pressure - Scientific studies show that Eucommia can help lower blood pressure for patients with hypertension. The way that it does this is through a mild diuretic action. Typically, any sort of diuretic herb is good for people with elevated blood pressure.
- Sexual Health - Eucommia is famous in China for improving one’s sexual energy by promoting the health of two of the most important organs associated with our sexual energy, our liver and kidneys. The liver is not just an organ, it’s a gland that produces hormones which help to stimulate the prostate and testicles to produce more testosterone for males. A healthier liver means a healthier sex drive, improvements in libido and fertility levels for both men and women, and the ability to sustain and maintain an erection for men. Having a healthy liver will translate to more sexual energy and fertility by balancing hormones in women. Eucommia is known to have the ability to produce nitric oxide in the body to help stimulate the blood flow to the genitalia which can help with erectile dysfunction.
- Strengthens the Immune System - Eucommia tea helps our liver produce more interferon, natural germ killers and antioxidants so it protects our body from oxidative stress. It also protects our body from pathogens and even cancer cells by producing interferon and immune cells.
Botanical name: Du Zhong