A hydrangea extract may help with autoimmune diseases

An extract from the hydrangea shrub root, which has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years, may ‘revolutionise’ treatment for psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and some forms of diabetes and arthritis.

All these common conditions attack the immune system, but the hydrangea root extract halofuginone, seems to prevent the formation of a type of white blood cell that has been linked to the disease, crucially without damaging any other aspect of the immune system.

By contrast the existing treatments for most of these conditions are expensive, have to be injected and do not address the biological cause of the problem, only the symptoms.  As a last resort powerful immune-suppressing drugs can be taken but they can leave the patient at risk of infections or other serious side-effects.

Dr Anjana Rao, of the Children’s Hospital in Boston said, “Halofuginone may herald a revolution in the treatment of certain types of auto-immune and inflammatory diseases.”

The extract has been used by the Chinese and North American Cherokee Indians for many years to reduce inflammation and ‘cleanse’ the joints, and an extract of the hydrangea leaf is said to contain antimalarial properties.