FSS Yerba Santa Glycoprotein PF

Background:

In the late 18th century, Native Americans living in the southwestern US and northern Mexico introduced Yerba Santa to Spanish settlers who colonized the area. Spanish priests, impressed by its medicinal properties, gave the plant its current name, meaning ‘holy weed’. Commonly known as Mountain Balm, Sacred Herb, Bear’s Weed, Gum Plant, or Consumptive Weed, this Native American medicinal plant has been used as an herbal remedy for centuries.

Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum) is an evergreen native to California and Oregon but is found in Northern Mexico as well. It is a perennial, woody shrub with a height range from 1 to 3 meters tall with dark green, leathery, lance-shaped leaves covered with shiny resin. Clusters of six to ten trumpet-shaped white, blue, or purple flowers can be found growing from the top of the plant.

As for medicinal use, Yerba Santa leaves are harvested after flowering, typically during late summer into autumn, when leaves begin to be tacky but are still green. The taste of the leaves is balsamic and the flowers and leaves smell pleasantly aromatic on a warm day. Yerba Santa’s unique taste is often used to disguise bitter-tasting medicines such as quinine. Traditionally, a tea, tincture, or syrup is made from dried leaves and used as a remedy for a variety of respiratory ailments, for example, colds, asthma, pleurisy, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. It is known to function as an expectorant to treat coughs and congestion as well as causing dilated bronchial tubes which can effectively ease asthma and allergy attacks.

Science:

Yerba Santa is comprised of mucopolysaccharides and glycoproteins that function to coat the mucous membrane, holding the aqueous component in contact with the cells, thus allowing it to increase hydration and lubricity. Due to its richness in compounds such as mucopolysaccharides and glycoproteins, Yerba Santa functions well to counteract excessive drying of the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract. Yerba Santa is an exceptional member of the family Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf) that also contains Phacelia and Baby Blue Eyes. Most members of this group grow in cool, moist environments. However, Yerba Santa has adapted to the Mediterranean climate of the western USA which can be characterized by wet, mild winters and hot, dry summers. With its tough, resinous leaves, it is able to hold and conserve water more effectively than other plants, it does this in order to assimilate with an environment in which little flourishes; dry, mountainous slopes, sparse of vegetation at altitudes of up to 1200 meters. It is believed the flavonoid, eriodictyol, contributes to the expectorant properties of Yerba Santa. Many Native American tribes dried and smoked the leaves as a treatment for asthma and lung congestion.

Historically, sticky Yerba Santa leaves were used to seal skin wounds before sterile bandages were widely available. Often, a poultice of leaves was applied to painful joints and bruises for relief.

Benefits:

By fermenting the leaves of the Yerba Santa with the bacteria Lactobacillus lactis, we are able to break down many of the complex bio-molecules found naturally within the plant, which lead to the isolation of beneficial components such as glycoproteins. FSS Yerba Santa Glycoprotein PF also imparts protective anti-pollution and antioxidant properties, making it suitable for both skin and hair care formulation targeted towards recovery from extrinsic stress.