Pau Pereira

Pau Pereira Tree

Pau Pereira is a medium-sized tree native to the Amazon rainforest. It is extremely bitter and grows in the non-flooded areas of the forest.

It has a furrowed trunk ranging in color from light brown to yellow; its branches produce latex.

Its leaves have golden down on the underside, and it has showy white flowers. The fruit is horn-shaped, yellow when ripe, and also produces latex. Its seeds are numerous, white, and flat.

Medicinal Properties

The Pau Pereira tree (Geissospermum vellosii), also called “Pao Pereira,” is native to the Amazon rainforest. In South America, it has been used in traditional medicine for centuries and is part of the region’s folk heritage.

Pau Pereira is consumed preventively to maintain good health. Its properties are obtained from the bitter-tasting bark of the tree, which is used in numerous home remedies:

For cases of malaria, loss of appetite, indigestion, dizziness, constipation, fever, and for its tonic, hepatoprotective, and digestive properties. It also has a potent antiviral effect.

The Pao Pereira extract is bitter and is extracted from the inner part of the tree’s bark.

The alkaloid pereirine, discovered by the Brazilian pharmacist Ezequiel Corrêa dos Santos, is the main active ingredient of Pau-pereira (Geissospermum vellosii), especially present in its bark.

In addition, the presence of other alkaloids has been found: 11-methoxygeissospermidine, flavopereirine, geissosreticulatine, and geissospermiculatine.

Recent History

In 1848, Ezequiel Correa Dos Santos presented his thesis at the Faculty of Medicine in Rio de Janeiro, considered the first monograph on Pau Pereira.

In 1879, the “Medical Times” published an article by Dr. Torres Homem, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Rio de Janeiro Academy, describing the extraction method for the alkaloid pereirine, noting that “there is no doctor in Brazil who has not obtained good results using this extract in the treatment of intermittent fevers.”

The study “Remedies against malaria in French Guiana: knowledge of behavior and practices,” published by the journal Ethnopharmacology, concluded that in French Guiana, an alcoholic extract of Pau Pereira is drunk preventively as soon as the first symptoms of fever appear.

“It was surprising to see that the most important and well-known antimalarial from the Amazon, Geissospermum spp., was rarely used for curative purposes, and instead was used more frequently for preventative purposes.”

Anticancer Action

Mirko Beljanski (1923-1998), a Doctor of Science and researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, was the first to study the anticancer action of Geissospermum Vellosii, using an extract selectively effective against cancer cells that does not penetrate healthy cells.

In 1884, the London “Medical Times” published a comment in its “Notes, Queries and Answers” ​​section, signed by Richard G. Daunt (p. 443): “The efficacy of pereirine is extraordinary, and I have often observed its success after the failure of quinine.”

In France, in 1884, Dr. Tibiriça of the Medical Union wrote in “The Journal of the Newspapers”: “Pereirine is more effective than quinine, whose therapeutic action it doubles, and at the same time prevents adverse effects when a high dose is applied.”

Extracts of Pao Pereira have no side effects; in the absence of cancerous cells to which they bind, the molecules are rapidly eliminated, as they only settle in disordered cells.

Therefore, these extracts can be used as a preventative measure in precancerous conditions or by people at high risk (family, environmental, etc.), as well as a maintenance tool for people who have recently recovered.

Similarly, the RNA fragment can be used to prevent and repair breaks. Chromosomal abnormalities that accompany ionizing radiation examinations (mammography, gamma scan, X-rays, etc.).

In addition, Pau Pereira has a potent antiviral effect. Pau Pereira extract inhibits viral replication; it inhibits both reverse transcriptase and polymerase, which allow viruses to multiply, making it an excellent broad-spectrum antiviral agent.