Why did I choose a single herb-Portulaca oleracea- to treat flu?

Portulaca …. might prevent life-threatening alveolar [lung] oedema in humans with flu.

On the 9 Th of November 2009, I sent to all my patients an article from a journal published by Life Extension. [ a very well established company with “breaking news”articles”]

Life extension was the first who quoted from the journal FASEB to the public the following,:

[for which I am very thankful to them until this day]]

“In a journal of experimental biology, it was shown that glutathione ester [a kind of a very important antioxidant]

might prevent life-threatening alveolar [lung] oedema in humans with flu, one of the deadly dangers of flu.”

It is well known that glutathione is an extremely important kind of anti-oxidant and that is widely available in nature but in rather “small amounts”.

It is known that [farmaceutical] supplements of glutathione are in general badly absorbed.

For that reason I decided to look up food sources rich in glutathione, knowing that in general food/herbs are far better absorbed them synthetic compounds.

From the famous website of James Duke-who passed away in 2017 and had the biggest website on every possible herb in the world [Chief U.S. Department of Agriculture] I found two sources to be very rich in glutathione.

One is the vegetable Purslane, in Israel known as r’glat ha-gina .[Portulaca oleracea]

By the way: r’glat ha-gina is also one of the very few herbs which is rich in Omega-3 and many other important /vitamins/minerals.

The second vegetable quite rich in glutathione is spinach.

This all leads me to use Portulaca also in the swine-flu of 2009 again with incredibly good results until now, very rapid healing of all flu patients I treated as far as I know.

In September of 2019 [10 years later] BEFORE the corona outbreak an article was published by Elsevier-the giant publisher of most medical material-about Portulaca Taiwanese researchers [I send you my letter and answer to them]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874119307433 Conclusions

[……………..We demonstrate the anti-IAV activity of WEPO [Portulaca] and strongly recommend the use of WEPO, as a herbal regimen, to prevent and treat H1N1 infection at an early stage] The WHO was totally blind for this article as well as all big journals and organizations

Advice to my patients: [from the beginning of the pandemic]

If you wish you can use portulaca [as mother tincture in the wintertime as it grows only as a vegetable during the summer months]

Take 30-40 drops if you have/ had the flu, on top of everything else you are doing.

[now nearly 2 years later many have been taking Portulaca and described the results on WordPress

[children: 1 year, a bit less than1/4 dose, 3 years a bit less than1/3 dose, 7 years a bit less than 1/2 dose, 13 years 3/4 dose, between these ages interpolate, anyhow Portulaca is not toxic]

Don’t take in pregnancy without asking.

Now with the corona going around, I advise everyone [except non-sick children] to take once or twice a day 30 drops of Portulaca together with once or twice 30 drops of day echinacea.[dependent on general health]

I have no proof [this I wrote nearly 2 years ago] that it prevents or can heal corona but I am nearly sure about this as I have very likely treated also some patinets with “flu” who probably had corona [but where not tested]

Now, nearly 2 years later we have plenty of proof for its effectiveness!

So I think it is good advice to use it now as well all the time as a preventive until the “storm” passes.[this is what I wrote at that time]]

Don’t forget also simple teas like tilia, sambucus, achillea, viola odorata, drops of echinacea [and for additional quick results, when sick: esberitox tablets] and all other things you already know about.

Stay healthy, with G-ds will!

Published online before print July 13, 2009 as doi: 10.1096/fj.09-135590.

Influenza virus M2 protein inhibits epithelial sodium channels by increasing reactive oxygen species

Ahmed Lazrak, Karen E. Iles, Gang Liu, Diana L. Noah, James W. Noah, and Sadis Matalon

E-mail contact: sadis@uab.edu

The mechanisms by which replicating influenza viruses decrease the expression and function of amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channels (ENaCs) have not been elucidated. We show that expression of M2, a transmembrane influenza protein, decreases ENaC membrane levels and amiloride-sensitive currents in both Xenopus oocytes, injected with human -, -, and -ENaCs, and human airway cells (H441 and A549), which express native ENaCs. Deletion of a 10-aa region within the M2 C terminus prevented 70% of this effect. The M2 ENaC down-regulation occurred at normal pH and was prevented by MG-132, a proteasome and lysosome inhibitor. M2 had no effect on Liddle ENaCs, which have decreased affinityfor Nedd4-2. H441 and A549 cells transfected with M2 showed higher levels of reactive oxygen species, as shown by the activation of redox-sensitive dyes. Pretreatment with glutathione ester, which increases intracellular reduced thiol concentrations, or protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors prevented the deleterious effects of M2 on ENaCs. The data suggest that M2 protein increases steady-state concentrations of reactive oxygen intermediates that simulate PKC and decrease ENaCs by enhancing endocytosis and its subsequent destruction by the proteasome. These novel findings suggest a mechanism for the influenza-induced rhinorrhea and life-threatening alveolar edema in humans.—Lazrak, A., Iles, K. E., Liu, G. Noah, D. L., Noah, J. W., Matalon, S. Influenza virus M2 protein inhibits epithelial sodium channels by increasing reactive oxygen species.