Two companies sent us some Jiaogulan to review. One company, Herbal Products, Inc. at www.immortalityherb.com send us a book on Jiaogulan and some tea bags, while another company, the Immortalitea Company, at www.immortalitea.com sent us some loose Jiaogulan tea to try.

Both teas tasted fantastic. Keep in mind that to get the most out of Jiaogulan, you must drink it fresh. Do NOT let it get old and stale.

Since they both sent us information on the teas, we will pass this onto you too. To read more, you can go to www.immortalitea.com/faqs%20jiaogulan.htm and click on the link to Health Benefits.

There has been a lot of research on Jiaogulan and we will encapsulate it here for you.

Jiaogulan is first and foremost an adaptogen, as we point out in the Jiaogulan section of our Alternative Cancer Therapies article. And adaptogen tends to balance and harmonize the body after attacks from various stressors.

Beyond this, here is a list of more of Jiaogulan’s properties:

1. Antioxidant: known to increase the presence of Super-Oxide Dismutase, a powerful internal antioxidant. In one study it was discovered that SOD increased a whopping 282%.
2. Helps with insomnia: this herb was fount to improve sleep quality in 89 – 95% of those tested.
3. Fights hypertension: studies have shown that Jiaogulan is 82% effective in lowering blood pressure. Scientists feel that it was Jiaogulan’s ability to help release Nitric Oxide that is responsible for its effect on hypertension.
4. Antitumor: though the literature likes to point out that more research is needed, Jiaogulan seems to inhibit tumor growth, actually kills cancer cells (increases NK activity), and is a pretty powerful preventive. In one study, it helped inhibit cervical cancer.
5. Fights radiation damage: in a study of cancer patients undergoing it was discovered that administering Jiaogulan to patients undergoing radiation therapy helped to regularize the white blood counts.
6. Hypoglycemic: shown to improve glucose tolerance and maintain healthy insulin levels.
7. Increases cellular immunity: patients whose immune systems had been compromised by cancer (and its treatment) were shown to have a much better prognosis when using Jiaogulan as opposed to the control group.

Possible Side Effects

Jiaogulan has been known to cause Nausea and diarrhea. Though I felt nothing of the sort when drinking Jiaogulan tea, some sensitive individuals might.

Jiaogulan is also a blood thinner and people should know this and take precautions, especially if they are already on blood thinning drugs.

People who have had organ transplants should not take Jiaogulan because of its immune enhancement property.

Summary

All in all, we found Jiaogulan to be a refreshing tea and the number of enhancement properties makes it something that could be used by most people in their daily regimen. Had I cancer or heart disease, this would be a must in any program that allowed for the extra antioxidant boost.

All references to the studies mentioned above can be found at the Immortalitea web site.

You can also find these references in the following book:

Jiaogulan--China's "Immortality Herb":Unlocking the Secrets of Nature's Powerful Adaptogen and Antioxidant