It may come as a surprise to some, especially those with conventional medical training, but the default state of the body is one of ceaseless regeneration. Without the flame-like process of continual cell turnover within the body – life and death ceaselessly intertwined – the miracle of the human body would not exist.
In times of illness, however, regenerative processes are overcome by degenerative ones. This is where medicine may perform its most noble feat, nudging the body back into balance with foods, herbs, nutrients, healing energies, i.e. healing intention. Today, however, drug-based medicine invariably uses chemicals that have not one iota of regenerative potential; to the contrary, they almost always interfere with bodily self-renewal in order to suppress the symptoms against which they are applied.
Following are excerpts from studies that favour the heretical nature of things to stimulate healing and regeneration, rather than symptom suppression and disease management which is offered within the conventional medical system.
Nerve Regeneration
There are actually a broad range of natural compounds with proven nerve-regenerative effects. A 2010 study published in the journal Rejuvenation Research, for instance, found a combination of blueberry, green tea and carnosine have neuritogenic (i.e. promoting neuronal regeneration) and stem-cell regenerative effects in an animal model of neurodegenerative disease. Other researched neuritogenic substances include:
1. Curcumin
2. Lion’s Mane Mushroom
3. Apigenin (compound in vegetables like celery)
4. Blueberry
5. Ginseng
6. Huperzine
7. Natto
8. Red Sage
9. Resveratrol
10. Royal Jelly
11. Theanine
12. Ashwaganda
13. Coffee (trigonelline)
There is another class of nerve-healing substances, known as remyelinating compounds, which stimulate the repair of the protective sheath around the axon of the neurons known as myelin which is often damaged in neurological injury and/or dysfunction, especially autoimmune and vaccine-induced demyelination disorders. (It should also be noted that even music and falling in love have been studied for possibly stimulating neurogenesis, regeneration and/or the repair of neurons, indicating that regenerative medicine does not necessarily require the ingestion of anything; rather, a wide range of therapeutic actionsmay be employed to improve health and well-being.)
Liver Regeneration
Glycyrrhizin, a compound found within licorice, has also been found to stimulate the regeneration of liver mass and function in the animal model of hepatectomy. Other liver regenerative substances include:
1. Carvacrol (a volatile compound in oregano)
2. Curcumin
3. Korean Ginseng
4. Rooibos
5. Vitamin E
Beta-Cell Regeneration
Unfortunately, the medical community has yet to harness the diabetes-reversing potential of natural compounds. Whereas expensive stem cell therapies, islet cell transplants, and an array of synthetic drugs in the developmental pipeline are the focus of billions of dollars of research annually, our kitchen cupboards and backyards may already contain the long sought-after cure for type 1 diabetes. The following compounds have been demonstrated experimentally to regenerate the insulin-producing beta cells, which are destroyed in insulin dependent diabetes, and which once restored, may (at least in theory) restore the health of the patient to the point where they no longer require insulin replacement.
1. Gymenna Sylvestre (“the sugar destroyer”)
2. Nigella Sativa (“black cumin”)
3. Vitamin D
4. Curcumin (from the spice Turmeric)
5. Arginine
6. Avocado
7. Berberine (found in bitter herbs such as Goldenseal and Barberry)
8. Bitter Melon
9. Chard (yes, the green leafy vegetables)
10. Corn Silk
11. Stevia
12. Sulforaphane (especially concentrated in broccoli sprouts)
Hormone Regeneration
There are secretagogues, which increase the endocrine glands’ ability to secrete more hormone, and there are substances that truly regenerate hormones which have degraded (by emitting electrons) into potentially carcinogenic “transient hormone” metabolites. One of these substances is vitamin C. A powerful electron donor, this vitamin has the ability to contribute electrons to resurrect the form and function of oestradiol (oestrogen; E2), progesterone, testosterone, for instance. In tandem with foods that are able to support the function of glands, such as the ovaries, vitamin C may represent an excellent complement or alternative to hormone replacement therapy.
Cardiac Cell Regeneration
Not too long ago, it was believed that cardiac tissue was uniquely incapable of being regenerated. A new, but rapidly growing body of experimental research now indicates that this is simply not true, and there is a class of heart-tissue regenerating compounds known as neocardiogenic substances. Neocardiogenic substances are able to stimulate the formation of cardiac progenitor cells which can differentiate into healthy heart tissue, and they include the following:
1. Resveratrol
2. Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero)
3. Red Wine Extract
4. Geum Japonicum
5. N-acetyl-cysteine
Another remarkable example of cardiac cell regeneration is through what is known as fetomaternal trafficking of stem cells through the placenta. In a recent article we discussed the amazing process known as “foetal microchimerism” by which the foetus contributes stem cells to the mother which are capable of regenerating her damaged heart cells, and possibly a wide range of other cell types.
Cartilage/Joint/Spine Regeneration
Curcumin and resveratrol have been shown to improve recovery from spinal cord injury. As far as degenerative joint disease, i.e. osteoarthritis, there are a broad range of potentially regenerative substances, with 50 listed on our osteoarthritis research page.
Ultimately, regenerative medicine threatens to undermine the very economic infrastructure that props up the modern, drug-based and quite candidly degenerative medical system. Symptom suppression is profitable because it guarantees both the perpetuation of the original underlying disease, and the generation of an ever-expanding array of additional, treatment-induced symptoms.
This is the non-sustainable, infinite growth model which shares features characteristic of the process of cancer itself – a model, which by its very nature, is doomed to fail and eventually collapse. Cultivating diets, lifestyles and attitudes conducive to bodily regeneration can interrupt this pathological circuit, and help us to attain the bodily freedom that is a precondition for the liberation of the human soul and spirit.
