Posted: Feb 13, 2017

According to George Lamoureux, world-renowned master herbalist and Los Angeles-based Chinese medical practitioner: “For over 2000 years, the Chinese have used Deer Antler to strengthen their children. It is used medicinally for children with ‘failure-to-thrive syndrome’ but also to help enhance the growth of a normally developing child.”

Fortunately, we had the opportunity to catch up with George and discover that Deer Antler helps your body on multiple levels, including:

Q: GEORGE, WILL YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THE IGF IN DEER ANTLER DOES FOR THE BODY? 

A: Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 and Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 (IGF 1 and IGF 2) have an anabolic affect, which means that they can cause tissue to grow. These are small proteins called peptides that stimulate the nuclear DNA to create new proteins.

Insulin, the hormone released by the pancreas to help metabolize sugar is also anabolic. So, insulin is also involved in the creation of new tissue in your body. IGF 1 is so chemically similar in structure that it can actually occupy the receptor sites in the body that insulin would attach to. This helps the body burn fat as a source of nutrients instead of sugar.

Body-builders love growth factors because they help maintain lean muscle mass.

The IGF in Deer Antler is only one component of the herb that can be very useful in the treatment of autism and many other issues.

DEER ANTLER: A SUPER TONIC HERB

Q: TELL US MORE ABOUT THE OTHER COMPONENTS THAT MAKE DEER ANTLER SO SPECIAL

A: Thousands of years ago, Deer Antler was reserved for the imperial family.  Only the ruling classes could consume it…like everything else that was good in life at that time.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Deer Antler belongs to a class of herbs called Super Tonics. Super Tonics are like superfoods. They are whole-food nutritional supplements.

NATURALLY REGENERATIVE

Q: How are the deer antlers harvested?

We had always heard that the animals were treated humanely and they were not harmed, but I wanted to be absolutely sure that this was the case. My business partner, John Bonds traveled to New Zealand last year to observe the process first hand. The reason we use ONLY New Zealand antler is because he verified the absolutely humane harvesting practices there.

The animals roam free all of the year long except for the time of the harvesting. They are then brought to the enclosures and each animal is put into a pen. At the base of the antler they are given a numbing injection and the antlers are painlessly removed using the same kind of surgical saw a surgeon would use in an operating room to cut bone, but at this stage the antlers are softer than bone so the process is much quicker. This whole process takes about ten minutes or less.

The animals are released back into the huge parkland immediately after the procedure. They exhibit no trauma at all.

As for not having the antlers, you must understand that if the antlers were allowed to remain and calcify into bone, they would be used for their traditional use, which is fighting. Many of these animals would injure one another during the mating season if they had mature bony antlers. So, they are actually protected by the harvesting process.

Unfortunately, there is no substitute in the plant kingdom for what Deer Antler does; it is a truly unique and miraculous substance.

I have had hundreds of vegans take the antler with great results and they understood that they were using an ethically harvested and sustainable resource.

Deer Antler is the only mammalian organ that regenerates every year. The antlers begin their growth in the springtime and at the end of the mating season in the fall; they actually drop off.

We use the antler that is called “in velvet.” It hasn’t turned to bone yet. If the antler continues its growth process it becomes completely calcified, and it’s more of a horn.

Bucks use it for fighting.

If you harvest the antler during the growing process, you get all of the nutrients that the body is producing to drive antler growth.

This antler is very humanely processed. The animals are never harmed and their antlers grow back.

ADAPTOGENIC

Deer Antler also belongs to a group of herbs known asadaptogens. This means that it can normalize any bodily functions that are out of balance.

NOURISHES YOUR ESSENCE

It enters your kidney and the liver meridians. Your kidneys store your “jing” or your essence. This is like nuclear energy-- energy that is so concentrated and stored that you release it a little bit at a time every day to drive all of the forces of your body.

When I speak about the kidneys, I am not talking about your kidney organs themselves. I am talking about your kidney energy. This may also include your spinal cord and even your brain.

PROVIDES YOUR BUILDING BLOCKS

You always want your body to produce what it needs for itself. The body is such an incredibly sophisticated and smart system. If you do something for your body that your body usually does for itself, your body will stop doing it.

Instead, you want to provide your body with “building blocks.” You want to make sure that you have all of the nutrients, raw materials, and necessary components that your body needs to create with. That includes the growth hormones.

The interesting thing about growth hormones in the human body is that they begin to decline rapidly after the age of 20.

Q: WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE BUILDING BLOCKS THAT DEER ANTLER PROVIDES?

A: Deer Antler contains these minerals :

Deer Antler also contains large portions of Collagen Type 2 – The Good Collagen

This is a protein substance in the fibers of your skin, bone, tendons, cartilage and all of your connective tissues that gives elasticity and fluidity to your joints and tissues (note: another form of Collagen, Collagen Type 1, can actually decrease Collagen Type 2).

MORE BUILDING BLOCKS TO VITALITY

  • Chondroitin Sulfates and Glucosamine Sulfates:  Popular anti-aging substances. These help form the proteoglycans to produce collagen.
  • Proteoglycans: complex of proteins and polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are long chain sugars that the immune system uses to activate itself.  (In medicinal mushrooms the polysaccharides are called beta glucans).
  • Glycose Aminoglycans (GAG): Another component of proteoglycans. They are important because the character of the cartilage as well as the process of converting cartilage to bone requires proteoglycans.
  • Ectosaponins: The substance found in nature that allows lizard tails and starfish arms to completely regenerate if they fall off.
  • Nerve Growth Factor (NGF): Helps regenerate spinal nerves and repair brain injury.

Q: WHO BENEFITS FROM DEER ANTLER?

A: Anyone can benefit from it.  But, you always have to maintain that Yin/Yang balance in your body. Deer Antler is an herb that we classify as very “Yang”. In prescribing it for someone, I would take a look at where they are constitutionally.

On the continuum of Yin and Yang, someone who is very “Yin” would be someone who is cold, blood-deficient, pale-skinned, weak-voiced and fatigued all the time.  A person with a very “Yang” constitution is someone who is very robust, with a loud voice and a ruddy reddish complexion.

Deer Antler wouldn’t be prescribed for someone who is very Yang. But, it would be great for someone in the middle or more on the Yin end of the continuum. This includes anyone over the age of 25, or if you are ill, weak or fatigued.

CANCER PATIENTS BENEFIT FROM DEER ANTLER

When cancerous tumors form, they secrete an enzyme that degrades connective tissues so that they can access a blood supply, and grow faster. But if you keep the connective tissue really strong, the tumors don’t have the ability to break through.  So they continue to be contained. They then can be eliminated or removed without spreading throughout the body.

ANEMIA PATIENTS BENEFIT FROM DEER ANTLER

I had a client who was so severely anemic that they were going to transfuse her. And, I made her a concoction of Deer Antler and other herbs.  All she needed was a one-month’s supply. Her blood levels went right back up and never dropped again. So Deer Antler is also really good at stimulating the bone marrow to produce red blood cells.

For those of you using Body Ecology to heal your children from autism, I believe that adding Deer Antler can enhance their healing.

Q: WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TAKE DEER ANTLER?

A: A liquid extract is the best! This is the only way to ensure that you can obtain the active ingredients.  And, you will want to do a whole, food-based extract.

Some companies will increase the IGF 1.

But in its whole-food form, your body knows how to use the ingredients in it.

It’s not like using a synthetic substance. Synthetics may be a thousand times stronger than what occurs in nature, but your body has no idea what to do with them.

Q: WHAT ABOUT DOSAGES?

A: Recommended dose:

  • A dropper-full per day is a good dosage for a child with delayed development.
  • 2-3 droppers-full per day for adults.

Q: ARE THERE ANY SIDE EFFECTS?

A: The only time you should not take this herb is when you have a fever. Also, do take care and be cautious if you are prone to nose bleeds, because Deer Antler has an “ascending” energy.  There are no real cautions, however. It is a very safe substance to take daily, and even combine with other herbs.

Deer Antler is not traditionally used in healthy, growing children because we want their bodies to continue to grow and thrive on their own. Of course, once you turn 25, and you are no longer growing rapidly – it is fine to take Deer Antler every day. I’ve never come across negative side effects in all of the years we’ve been using Deer Antler.

Original Article:

http://bodyecology.com/articles/herb-fights-aging-arthritis-autism-cancer.php#.UYjFUStgZpZ