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Cha de Bugre

Cha de Bugre is the commonly used name for cordia salicifolia or cordia ecalyculata, a small tree that can be found in the tropical forest in Argentina, Paraguay and mostly in Brazil, inside its territory, in regions like Minas Gerais, Bahia, Acre and Goias.

This tree can grow up to 6-8 meters in height and up to 60 centimeters in circumference. In Brazil, it has various names, one equally popular with ‘cha de bugre’ beeing ‘café de mato’ which can be translated by ‘coffee of the woods’, because of its red fruits resembling coffee beans. It has a very rich foliage, it’s corolla can be equally high to its trunk. Cha de gubre has green, longish leaves that resemble to the laurel’s leaves, and small red berries, fruits, very similar to coffee beans.

Although its properties were never really scientifically studied (until about ten years ago), the leaves and fruits of cha de bugre are widely used in Brazil for centuries. The natives have discovered its diuretic properties long before this plant began to be comercialized under the shape we see today.

A few years ago, a small company in Brazil, launched this product on the market and the cha de bugre commerce exploded. Today, the leaves are sold in Brasil in tea bags, as appetite decreaser, natural diuretic and cellulite reducer. Studies have proven that the cha de bugre extract is part of the daily diet of most brasilians.

Despite its huge succes on the brasilian health food market, the plant hasn’t been chemically studied, until eighteen years ago, when a Japanese company analyzed cha de bugre’s chemical composition and verified its presumptive properties. After several animal experiments during the ‘90s, they discovered that the leaves extract can reduce herpes symptoms by 33% and the frequent use of cha de bugre tea can reduce the viruse’s penetration by 99%. That discovery was huge and everybody thought they’ve touched the maximum potential of this ‘wonder-tree’. But a few years later, the same Japanese company made an announcement that there is still more to discover from cha de bugre’s properties: the mixed extract from leaves and crust could fight some forms of cancer, by inhibiting the ill cells by 40%. Also, the experiments proved cha de bugre is a natural cardiotonic, facilitator of the blood pressure, febrifuge and a great auxilliar treatment in renal inssuficiency.

The researchers also studied cha de bugre’s leaves and fruits chemical composition; the leaves contain potassium, allantoin and allantoic acid. This explains a lot of the plant’s properties, because allantoic acid is known to help reducing fat and preserving muscular tissue. The potassium also supports muscles and muscular activity, helping this way to burn more energy and to transform the fat deposits in to muscular fiber. Beside the ‘muscle versus fat’ part, the allantoic acid could explain the use of the leaves extract in digestive acidity, kidney stones, but also in external treatment of the wounds, arthritis and rheumatism. Dr. G. L. Cruz, a known herbalist, who wrote the 3^rd-5^th edition of the ‘Dictionay of the plants used in Brazil’, sustained the qualities of the cha de gubre extract as great diuretic, and natural aid in weight loss.

Cha de bugre is known as a natural health tonic: it increases endurance of the immunity system, improves the functionality of the kidneys, liver and colon. And, because of its impact on the uric acid and the renal disfunctions, it’s a great treatment helper for people suffering from gout.

In 2006 an interesting experiment was conducted, in order to observe if cha de gubre has hipolipidemic effect. For the experiment, there were used two groups of rats, some with normal glycemic values and some diabetics. The control group received a placebo (water) and the diabetic rats received cha de gubre powder disolved in water. After 15 days since the experiment started, the blood was collected from the rats and the tests showed an important decrease of 5% in the glycemia values. However, there were no signs of appetite supression or diuretical effects among the rats.

The fruits of cha de bugre were found to contain an amount of caffeine (5mg/g). The natives use the fruits as a substitute for coffee, after roasting and grinding them. On ocasions-festivals, parties, and hollydays- the teas and coffee made from cha de bugre’s fruits extract is served as beverages, helping the natives sustaining themselves through the night. Although the caffeine level in one pill is relatively low, the effects are simillar to those of two medium cups of coffee.

After Ephedra-the well-known energy medicine- was found to produce heart complications, everybody was asking about cha de bugre’s side effects. In the reports, there were no contraindications or interactions recorded. However, there are some speculations that the caffeine contained by the cha de bugre’s fruits can speed up the heart so, until further investigations, it is not recommended to people suffering from heart diseases or people under 18.

The shape we can find cha de bugre’s extract today is in tea bags (the leaves), in pills (the powder), and in tincture (for external usage).

Of course, after a huge commercial explosion like the one cha de bugre provoked on the market, it was expected that tens of laboratories and companies to introduce cha de bugre as a ‘secret’ ingredient in their products. So, it appeared a great number of weight loss products based on the cha de gubre extract. The problem is that not all of them are certified and are coming from a well known source. Many amateurs are selling powder of tea leaves as cha de gubre at high prices to the tourists among the coast of Brazil. Because cha de gubre is not grown for commercial purposes, the natives have specialized themselves in picking the leaves and the fruits from the rich foliage and selling them to the companies worldwide. That’s why buyers should be very carefull where they take their stuff from, and should buy it only from companies who have contracts with manufacturers in Brazil.

In the United States, the extract is not that well known, but it is thought to be wide spread in the next few decades. Different labs are permanently performing tests to verify the quality of the product and its chemical properties.

Because of the first small company who launched the product in Brazil and call it porangaba (after a brazilian town, the word itself meaning ‘beautiful’), ten years later the name it became a headaches and misunderstandings source. Apparently, there is another plant called porangaba, who has nothing to do with cha de bugre, but who was traded on the market by amathors willing to get rich profiting of naïve tourists and companies.

Regarding the daily dosage, this depends of the form you are using. For example, the most spread way of using the extract is infusion of leaves, a cup and a half with an hour before meals. Tincture is used externely 2-3 times daily, and capsules- 2-3 mg twice daily.

Being an appetite suppressant, isn’t it dangerous? The answer is no, because unlike other food supliments, the cha de bugre’s extract doesn’t inhibit the appetite, but rather gives the full-sensation to the person, after eating only a small meal. Used with an hour before meals, the allantoic acid has time to dilute the gastric fluid and the satiety appears faster. It is not the hunger that dissapears, but the feeling that you haven’t eaten enough. This way, the person eats less, but more often throughout the day, helping its body to produce the energy he needs, without stuffing it with food. More, the usage on long term, can help changing methabolism and achieving a balance between diet and health; in other words, the person is getting used to eating less and satisfying its hunger faster.

Cha de bugre has an impact also on the cellulite, by improving circulation in the areas where cellulite forms ( thigh, hips). Many women don’t have cellulite problems because of their body fat, but because a very bad blood circulation and a static life.

Another problem thousands of men and women have is the liquid retaining, which is believed to be caused by the amount of salt we use daily. This way, the liquid stays in the stomach preventing the aliments to be digested. Not being able to go through all the processes of digesting, the aliments become unwanted fat. That’s why cha de bugre, a great diuretic helps eliminating the unnecessary water inside one’s body and helps digestion do its job.

What is very interesting is that cha de bugre has simultaneous both an inhibitory and a exhibitory effect. That’s why no contraindications have been found yet; most of the energy boost medications or food supliments have one function or the other: to exhibit the energetical level (faster moves, faster brain activity, faster energy consumption)or to inhibit the appetite. But not cha de bugre. He can both increase the energy level and inhibit the appetite at the same time.

The biggest enemy for our supleness and health of the body is, as we all know, the sugar, under any form. The reason why people crave for sugar it’s their need for energy in a world of speeding. The problem is that we never get to consume the energy our body produce from the food, and so we have a bigger amount of glucose in our body, which will become fat tissue. Cha de bugre has a double-side effect: provides the energy we need throughout the day, so we won’t feel the need for sugar, and produces the feeling of satiety after a small amount of food, so there will no longer be a danger to have an excess of food in our body. This is being done to prevent further weight-gaining, but what is happening with the weight surplus we have now? Well, at first the body will still be used to have more energy than it needs to, but because he won’t take it from food, he will be forced to use its body fat deposit to take its energy from. And the fat will be transformed into muscular tissue.

Throughout the world, there are conferences and studies about the effects cha de bugre has on the human body. Its green, longish leaves are sold on all beaches in Brazil, and tea made from its fruits can be found in all teahouses and coffee shops.

From Haiti, where the extract is used as a digestive stimulant, to Japan, where its antiviral and antiherpes properties are prior, and back to its home-country, Brazil, where it is a heart tonic, circulatory stimulant, and diuretic, cha de bugre desirves its title of wonder-tree.