Neem is a tree with delicate saw-toothed green leaves. It grows wild in India, but I was given a neem tree this winter by friends in Florida. Neem grows anywhere warm and sunny, even in your apartment under a grow light or near a window. It doesn’t require much water only a little every other week. If it starts to droop, my friends in Homestead advised, place a thin layer of mulch from damp green tea leaves around the trunk. Your neem will protect you from poisons, pollution, and chronic inflammatory illness. Healthfood stores now sell capsules and pills of neem leaf, neem oil, and other neem beauty products.
Traditionally neem products have been used against a wide variety of diseases which include heat-rash, boils, wounds, jaundice, leprosy, skin disorders, stomach ulcers, chicken pox, etc. Modern research also confirms neem’s curative powers in case of many diseases and provides indications that neem might in future be used much more widely.
Professionally administered neem solutions are currently being studied for their effects on cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and AIDS. According to The Neem Foundation in Mumbai, in a preliminary study from 1993, the National Institutes of Health reported positive results from in vitro tests where neem bark extracts killed the AIDS virus. Using extracts made by soaking neem bark in water, Dr. Van Der Nat of the Netherlands found that the extract produced a strong immune stimulating reaction.
Whole plants often show better results than using an isolated active ingredient taken from a plant. That is because plants most often have hundreds of components that work together to mediate side-effects and bring about a beneficial reaction.
Studies reported in 1992 and 1994 showed neem’s ability to enhance the cell-mediated immune response may be used to provide protection from vaginal contraction of the disease if neem is used as a vaginal lubricant preceding intercourse. (The inflammatory symptoms of) AIDS may be treated by ingesting neem leaf extracts or the whole leaf or by drinking a neem tea.
Neem contains immune modulating polysaccharide compounds. The polysaccharide may be responsible for increasing antibody production. Other elements of neem may stimulate immune function by enhancing cellular mediated response. This dual action can help the body ward off the frequent infections that generally accompany AIDS.
If you have frequent infections, complexion problems, herpes, parasites, or chronic fevers from allergies or infections, neem may be a good addition to your diet. It is very bitter. Do not try to drink the tea as they do in India. Capsules or pills are best taken between meals or at least two hours after taking a medical drug. Apply a few drops of neem oil to skin and scalp for rashes or thinning hair. It smells very earthly and bitter like the jungle after a heavy rain.
Very entertaining issue. It will be necessary to visit you on a thicket!