Essiac tea is a highly controversial tea in the sense that it is aggressively argued by its users and supporters to have some fantastic benefits and uses, however, no major medical or clinical trials have been conducted on essiac tea to any extent to scientificially back and warrant these claims. I must admit, during my introduction and following research on essiac herbal tea I began to see a pattern developing here theat really embodies the spirit of herbal and alternative medicine and treatment options; there are so many people using this supplement (one study says 15% of Canadian breast cancer patients were taking essiac tea for it) despite the absence of sound scientific research – to me, it shows that sometimes the renown that some herbal products gain over time becomes infamously well-known throughout a wide region and just spreads like wild fire. I believe in order to understand why so many people favor this supplement, we need to turn to its origins.
Essiac tea was created by a Candian nurse by the name of Rene Caisse (Essiac is Caisse backwards, creative, eh?) for the treatment of cancer. It is suppose to have its roots in Ojibwa medicine, with the Ojibwa being a native American tribe around her region. Essiac tea consists of four main herbal ingredients: burdock root, slippery elm inner bark, sheep borrel and indian rhubarb root. These roots in total combine to make essiac liquid tea. This recipe was kept from the public eye until the 1970s when Rene Caisse decided to distribute it to universities all over the world so that it could be studied in an attempt to scientifically support and credit it.
Rene Caisse opened a free clinic in Canada in 1934 where she treated cancer patients using the benefits of essiac tea until it was closed in 1942 in a heat of controversy. As far as the success rate of the clinic and its ability to help cure its cancer patients, it goes the same as any other story in, all honesty, with people falling into two distinct camps: either they loved it and it worked, or it did not do anything for them. Rene Caisse’s clinic did excel for years, enough to the point where she appealed to the Canadian government to allow her to extend her right to practice throughout the entire country, but she was denied the permission she needed to do so by a small margin. Still, Rene was the original proprietor using essiac tea for cancer in a pioneering fashion outside of the Native American tribe that gave her the original essiac tea formula and essiac tea recipe she used in her clinic.
Before you buy essiac tea you should also understand some other essiac tea benefits that have also arised and associated themselves with this popular herbal remedy.
Essiac tea has also found a large following by those suffering from symptoms related to AIDS, HIV, diabetes and even esthma. It was also found that this tea has anti-inflammatory potential and those with arthritis, joint pain and even lupus have began to use it. Almost all essiac tea testimonials claim one major thing, and this is a reduction in tumor size in cancer patients. It should be understood that not enough scientific research has been conducted to back these claims, and they are only sustained by the integrity of those who give such claims, and that is always questionable depending on their source.
At the end of it all, there does not seem to be any known side effects of taking essiac tea and it has become so popular among its users it is tough to make the decision whether it is right for you or not, especially considering the lack of scientific research behind it. The only real thing you could make a decision off of its by the tea’s own legend in Canada, where I understand it is actually quite popular and and considered common knowledge.