Kineliba tea supports blood pressure
Kinkeliba has the botanical name Combretum micranthum. As a shrub, kinkeliba is more prevalent in the Gambia, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali.
It is used for making tea and has uses in traditional medicine, and is used by many West African Muslims during Ramadan to break their fast. The name kinkeliba is believed to come from the Fulani language. It is referred to as sekhew in the Wolof language and ŋɔlɔbɛin the Bambara language.
Hearsay evidence attests to the fact that kinkeliba is normally used to treat liver ailments, improve stress, headache, weight, insomnia, and much more especially in Senegal and Mali. Wikipedia(2022) also confirmed that the name Kinkeliba means “health tree” and the French import kinkeliba and call it “tisane de longue vie” or infusion of long life.
Wikipedia(2022) further narrates that Kinkeliba is used daily to brew a strong tea that is mixed with sugar and milk and is drunk with bread at sundown as a means of breaking the daily fast. Kinkeliba is used specifically for this purpose because of its sweet flavor and because it is believed to be an appetite stimulant, as those who have been fasting want to be able to enjoy as much rich food as possible in the evening after eating nothing from sunrise to sunset. In Burkina Faso, a decoction of the leaves is used as a medication for malaria.
![IT must be one of the most difficult – and exasperating – tasks in the world to be the President of a nation like Ghana. For you may travel all over4 the world, talking to the leaders of “the developed nations”, to try persuade them that the pandemic that is afflicting the world, Covid-19 (with its variants) is a truly global destroyer and thatnowhere is safe from it, until everywhere is safe. You may deploy your most eloquent language to point out that although, the scientists of the “developed countries” have managed to manufacture a vaccine that has been seen to work against the pandemic, the politicians of the “developed countries” are, contrary to undertakings they have made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) hoarding the vaccine in their countries. Reports suggest that whereas the governments of the “developed countries” are targeting 100 percent of their populace for vaccination, and getting closer to their objective every day, less than 10% of the populace of the developing countries have so far been vaccinated, as a result of a lack of vaccines. Is this fair? you ask. Air travel (you continue) has made international contacts extremely easy. And since the Covid-19 virus and its latest variant (Omicron) in particOman Ghana versus Covid-19 08 www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh GHANAIAN Times Features TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021ular, are very transmissible. So it is in everyone's educated self-interest to see that all people on the planet are fully vaccinated. As a result of your Government's efforts, you hear that plenty of vaccines have arrived in your country and you are emboldened to announce that your Government will soon be able to vaccinate its entire adult population. Then, you get the shock of your life: an intelligence report tells you that some mischievous people are spreading the fake news that if a person allows himself or herself to be vaccinated, the “vaccine will make that person vote for your governing NPP whether he/she wants to do so or not!” WHAAAAT! How does one counter such fake news? If the Government say it is not true, the conspiracy theorists shoot back, “And are you so naïve as to expect them to admit that the vaccine will make you vote for the NPP?” Wow! Are people so wicked that despite the gains that the world has already made through vaccination (such as the elimination of small pox from the world and the near-extinction of polio and yellow fever) they try to dissuade others from taking advantage of anti-Covid vaccination? Especially since people who are clever enough to invent such fake news must know of the horrible pain that Covid-19 subjects people to, before it finally kills them? What makes the anti-Covid vaccination story doubly awful is that its seeds are sown on pre-fertilised ground. In the past, some wicked scientists in the developed countries have allowed themselves to be used by their [usually racist] governments to administer harmful vaccines and other medications to people, using the lie that such interventions can save them from certain disease. One of the most devastating such deceptions occurred in the United States in 1932. Below is the horrible story as told on the OFFICIAL website of the US CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL [CDC]: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm QUOTE: THE U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE SYPHILIS STUDY AT TUSKEGEE In 1932, the USPHS, [US Public Health Service] working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphillis. It was originally called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male” (sic) [now referred to as the “USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee”]. The study initially involved 600 Black men — 399 with syphillis, 201 who did not have the disease. Participants’ informed consent was not collected. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphillis, anaemia, and fatigue. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance (sic)! By 1943, penicillin was the treatment of choice for syphilis and becoming widely available, but the participants in the study were not offered treatment. In 1972, an Associated Press story about the study was published. As a result, the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs appointed an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study. The advisory panel concluded that the study was “ethically unjustified”; that is, the “results [were] disproportionately meagre, compared with known risks to [the] human subjects involved.” In March 1973, the panel advised the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to instruct the USPHS to provide all necessary medical care for the survivors of the study. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Programme was established to provide these services and in 1975, participants’ wives, widows and children were added to the program. In 1995, the program was expanded to include health, as well as medical, benefits. The last study participant died in January 2004. The last widow receiving THBP benefits died in January 2009. ... I973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families, resulting in a $10 million, out-of-court settlement in 1974. On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton issued a formal Presidential Apology [over the study.] UNQUOTE In Ghana, the fake news that the anti-Covid vaccine would make people “vote for the NPP” has already begun to cause disagreements in some households. A family known to me has had to dismiss its house-help because she obstinately refused to take the jab. To illustrate the way the way the political message contained in the fake news has been camouflaged, I offer a version of the last conversation between the head of the household and the house-help: BOSS: Hey, “A”, you are very lucky! Instead of you going around to look for the vaccinators, they are coming to our estate! HOUSE-HELP: They are coming here? B: Yes! H: But Boss, I told you that my brother took the jab and had to be admitted into hospital. B: It doesn't mean that you too will become ill if you get the jab. It affects different people in different ways. Look, as you know, I have had all my own jabs and I have never been ill – as you know! H: But Boss, if you have taken all your jabs, then you are PROTECTED, are you not? B: Yes, I am. H: In that case, even if I become infected because I have not taken the jab, I cannot transmit the disease to you and YOU will be all right? B: I can't say that! Because, as I have explained to you, the pandemic can affect different people in different ways. H: Then the jab is useless? B: Listen, I can't take any risks with such a dangerous disease. Either you take it or you leave, I am sorry. I cannot allow you to expose me and my family to the risk of catching Covid. As I reported earlier, the House-help chose to leave. Both her Boss and I are convinced that it wasn't mere logicthat made her decide not to take the jab. She was probably under the influence of a church/cult. Or political propaganda! • Omicron cases at Kotoka International Airport are amongst the unvaccinated](https://ghanaiantimes.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GT-8.pdf-Adobe-Acrobat-Pro-DC-4-220x150.jpg)
Plant Ingredients
Two studies (Schmelzer, G.H., 2012; Bougma et al. 2021) found several ingredients insolated or found in Kinkeliba including orientin (luteolin-8-C-glucoside), homoorientin (luteolin-6-C-glucoside), myricetin-3-O-glucoside and myricetin-3-O-rutinoside, as well as the C-glycosylflavones vitexine and isovitexin and several flavane derivatives. The leaves contain a high amount of total phenols (13–14%), including gallic acid, rutin trihydrate, catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, and benzoic acid. From the leaves, a mixture of stereoisomers of the alkaloid betonicine has been isolated, called combetine (0.1%). Others such as stachydrine and hydrostachydrine were confirmed. Another series of alkaloids were isolated from the leaves, called kinkeloids A–D, having a rare flavan-piperidine skeleton.
Fatty acids such as Palmitic acid (37.8%) and oleic and linolenic acids (together about 18%), potassium nitrate, tannins, the triterpenoids lupeol and α-amyrin, sugars, sorbitol and inositol, the amine choline and the sterol β-sitosterol were isolated.
King Kiliba, Science
HIGH BLOOD
PRESSURE
One recent randomised clinical trial by Bourqui et al.(2021) compared kinkeliba and wonjo to examine their clinical effectiveness in the galenic forms of tablet and brew (decoction) in noncomplicated hypertensive patients. The study involves 219 hypertensive patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP) between 140 and 180 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between 90 and 110 mmHg, without cardiovascular or renal complications, who were involved in a multicentric randomized clinical trial in Senegal comparing five treatment regimens: bissap tablets (2 × 375 mg/day), bissap brew (10 g of calyx/day), kinkeliba tablets (2 × 200 mg/day), kinkeliba brew (10 g of leaves/day), and captopril (2 × 50 mg/day) as control. During the 6 months follow-up, a significant and equivalent decrease in systolic blood pressure was observed with the herbal drug approach and control group.
For kinkeliba and wonjo, regarding the galenic forms, the study further found that the brews appeared to be somewhat more effective than tablets. The study also notes that the rates of clinically significant effectiveness or decrease were 75%, 67%, and 65% with bissap, kinkeliba, and captopril, respectively. After 6 months, a target blood pressure of <140/90 mmHg was attained by 49% of patients with bissap, 51% with kinkeliba, and 40% with captopril. Bissap and kinkeliba appeared, at doses utilized, to be as effective as captopril over the 6-month follow-up. This study also supports studies, especially with wonjo which beats the pharmaceutical drug captopril in terms of blood pressure management (Nurfaradilla et al. 2020).
Others did not show any significant differences to the hypotensive effect(Herrera-Arellano et al. 2004). This means that you can use the herbal kinkeliba or wonjo alone in managing your blood pressure. The interesting thing about this study is that combining kinkeliba and wonjo could also serve as an effective herbal remedy for managing blood pressure.
A previous randomized controlled trial(Seck et al. 2017) with kinkeliba and Hibiscus sabdariffa in the galenic form of capsules of plant powder, were compared against pharmaceutical drug for blood pressure management. In this study, One hundred and twenty-five patients were randomly allocated into group 1 (kinkeliba leaves 190 mg × 2/day), group 2 (bissap calyx 320 mg × 2/day), or group 3 (ramipril 5 mg /day) during four consecutive weeks.
A significant natriuretic effect was observed in the kinkeliba and bissap groups but not in patients under ramipril treatment. At the end of the four weeks, 39% of patients in the ramipril group, 37% of patients in the kinkeliba group, and 21% of those taking bissap had normalized their BP.
A more recent animal study( Kpemissi et al. 2022) administered for six weeks also demonstrated that kinkeliba has a positive effect on high blood pressure.
Another study by Traore et al.(2022) also found that kinkeliba is used in the management of arterial hypertension in Guinea. Mashi et al.(2022) in vitro study also found that kinkeliba could act as a standard drug for lowering blood pressure. A previous study in Mali also justifies the traditional use of kinkeliba in the management of hypertension(Coulibaly, Hawa, 2019).
ANTIMICROBIAL
POTENTIAL
The leaves of Combretum micranthum and C. racemosum are used as an herbal remedy to treat diarrhea and various skin diseases. One study by Kola and Benjamin(2002) found kinkeliba to possess a greater antimicrobial ability.
WARNINGS, KINKELIBA
Kinkeliba tea is generally safe. However, studies have demonstrated its ability to help lower blood pressure alone. Hence, those taking standard pharmaceutical drugs and also taking this tea should check their blood pressure as it could lead to hypotension. Consult your Physicians in case you notice any side effects using this tea.
TAKE HOME
One of the most important health conditions studies have been conducted on is hypertension. Though, more human studies are needed: Two important randomized controlled clinical trials(Seck et al. 2017; Bourqui et al. 2020) were conducted in health centers around Saint-Louis du Senegal. The research team was made up of medical doctors and pharmacists, professors and doctoral students from the University of Saint-Louis, trainees, and Swiss volunteers from the Antenna Foundation.
Kinkeliba and Hibiscus were compared with pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of mild to moderate hypertension, with a 6-month follow-up. The plants were prepared in the form of compressed powder (tablets) or tea (decoction). Five groups were compared: 2 groups of each plant, and reference treatment as a control group. It was found that the use of either plant, in either form, was associated with a reduction in blood pressure similar to that achieved with the reference treatment. The good news is that these studies were published in the renowned Journal of Human Hypertension. Avoid adding sugar.
NB:
Prof. Nyarkotey has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations to justify his write-ups. My articles are for educational purposes and do not serve as Medical advice for Treatment. I aim to educate the public about evidence-based scientific Naturopathic Therapies.
The writer is a Professor of Naturopathic Healthcare, a Medical Journalist, and a science writer. President, Nyarkotey University College of Holistic Medicine & Technology (NUCHMT)/African Naturopathic Foundation, Ashaiman, Ghana. Currently BL Candidate at the Gambia Law School, Banjul, Gambia. E. mail: professor40naturopathy@gmail.com.
BY PROF. RAPHAEL NYARKOTEY OBU
