Some natural health products contain glandular ingredients and many doctors have used glandulars for years with great success. Glandular organs, such as heart, aorta, and liver, have been a food source in the human diet for centuries. The consumption of glandulars is believed to provide nutritional support to the corresponding gland in the human body. Glandular organs contain food vitamins and minerals and were often used in the past to supply various nutrients.
Glandulars also contain nutritional peptides, enzymes, and substances believed to be hormone precursors. However, it is unclear precisely how these substances may affect energy levels, health, and/or mental function. Glandular therapy has alternative names such as: organotherapy, cell therapy where extracts are injected; and live cell therapy which normally uses extracts orally or intravenously.
Unlike plants, fauna have most of the same biological materials (like enzymes and other peptides) that humans do [1]. While it was once believed that there were 7,000-9,000 enzymes in the human body, it is now believed that there are as many as 75,000 [2].
Consuming glandulars helps directly supply enzymes. Enzymes are biological catalysts that encourage metabolic, catabolic, and digestive processes in the body. They help rebuild and detoxify. Enzymes tend to be specific, such as eye enzymes tend to help the eyes, but are ignored in the ear. Enzymes help the respective organs they are involved with function better.
Vastly more of the enzymes that humans use are in glandulars than in plants.
Adrenal glandular support is often used by people who are under stress, fatigued, having difficulty getting up in the morning, who have adrenal stress headaches, or have an abnormal craving for salts [3]. Adrenal tissue is normally taken with meals.
Brain glandulars contain “specific brain cell activators”[4] and have been advised for slowness of thought, loss of memory, uncontrolled mental activity, nightmares, mental retardation, and epilepsy [5,6]. A double-blind study involving bovine-brain derived phosphatidylserine found it was able to improve both behavior and cognition in elderly people with cognitive decline [7]. “…phosphatidylserine enhances the ability of enzymes in membranes of nerve cells to relay messages in and out of the cells. Research suggests that the glandular source phosphatidylserine is more effective than soy isolate sources [8].
Cardiovascular glandulars are normally made from bovine heart. This tissue is sometimes used by people with low blood pressure, overwhelming fatigue, people who need strength, people who feel cold, and athletes interested in improved performance. It is normally best not to take heart tissue late in the day (at breakfast and lunchtime is best for most people), as any heart glandular support product can affect sleep if taken late in the day [9]. Heart tissue, if appropriate, tends to show its benefits rather quickly (within a week or two for most people), though this varies. Heart tissue has historically also been used as an aid in glucose uptake and the manufacture of ATPs [6].
Ear glandular tissue, if available, is often taken for people with hearing concerns. If also taken with a form of moss, some report assistance with tinnitus.
Eye glandular tissue, if available, is often taken for eye and vision issues, including macular degeneration. It has been written that eye glandular extracts have been shown to improve “the general intregity of the eye tissue” and may be useful for eye strain as well as… “for failing vision associated with the aging process” [6].
The hypothalamus is the body’s master endochrine gland [10]. As such, it can effect basically all body systems and hormones. The hypothalamus also can increase feelings of tranquility [10].
Liver is probably the most widely used glandular supplements. The liver is the chemical factory of the body and feeding the liver can help when other approaches have not been effective. Historically, bovine liver has also been used for some enlarged livers, forms of anemia, and for support when chronic degenerative diseases are encountered [6]. Clinically, it seems helpful for many who have raised liver enzymes, especially if given with detoxifying herbs like silymarin, red beet, and garlic.
Bovine lung tissue has historically been used by those with respiratory disorders (such as bronchitis, asthma, chronic coughs, chest colds), convalescent stages (of pneumonia, colds, flu), and pulmonary involvements (including accidents, industrial fumes, dust inhalation, and even adrenal insufficiency) [11].
Some women take bovine mammary tissue. The breasts are involved in lactation, sexual attraction, and sexual response. Bovine mammary tissue has been sometimes advised for disorders related to female breasts such as nipple pain, lymph node enlargement, breast underdevelopment, mastitis, menstrual pain, nipple inflammation, congestion, and lactation difficulties [12]. It may be of interest to note that the National Cancer Institute has studied bovine mammary tissue to find out what may be in it that helps prevent cows from getting breast cancer.
Orchic is a word for testicle. Royal Lee claimed bovine orchic gland extracts could be indicated for those with nervous tension, lowered tolerance to stress, depression, loss of psychic tone, bruising on slight trauma, loss of appetite, skin lesions, adrenal insufficiency, nervousness, insecurity, mental aberrations, lack of feeling of well-being.
The ovaries are involved in female reproduction. Bovine ovarian tissue is sometimes advised to help some woman sleep at night, reduce the production of acne, improve mood, sometimes aid in menopausal issues, and for some women, increase fertility [13]. As it has effects that differ from thyroid support, it is often advised to take ovarian tissue before bed.
The pancreas is instrumental in the regulation of blood sugar and is one of the most important organs related to a healthy digestive system. The pancreas produces trypsin and is operational in intermediate protein metabolism [6]. Bovine pancreas is often used to assist in the digestion of grains and other foods.
Cytotrophic bovine spleen extracts have historically been taken by people with allergic reactions (hives, canker sores, cold blisters), lymph node swelling, blood concerns (anemia, lymphocytosis), demineralization accompanied by hyperirritability, as well as those with lowered resistance to infections and boils [14]. Some have suggested that bovine spleen “may aid in the elimination of allergic breakouts” [6].
Bovine thymus tissue is often used for immune system support. It is sometimes taken by people with staph, strep, and other bacterial concerns. Because it has few ingredients, it is useful to consider for those with other allergies, young children, and even pregnant women when they need immune system support. Bovine thymus has also been historically recommended when hyperglandular conditions, like hyperthyroid, hyperadrenal, etc., are encountered [15]. Oral supplementation with bovine thymus has been shown to be capable of enhancing T-lymphocyte activity, probably due to a thymosin-like activity [16].
Bovine thyroid tissue (note: bovine thyroid glands are thyroxine-free, thus do not result in a shutting down of the thyroid gland when taken). Thyroid tissue is used by people with symptoms associated with low thyroid such as afternoon tiredness, poor circulation, poor temperature tolerance, headaches, low metabolism, diminished female libido, weight concerns, and sometimes dry skin [17]. It is normally best not to take thyroid tissue late in the day (at breakfast and lunchtime is best for most people), as any thyroid support product can affect sleep if taken late in the day. Some people will find that their appetite will temporarily increase when taking it, but not only does this tend to normalize, it normalizes to the point that most people will find that they crave junk food, caffeine, and similar items less, but water, fruits, and even vegetables more.
Bovine uterus extracts have long been used for women with leucorrhea, uterine cysts, fibroids, uterine displacement, excessive or scanty mense, some types of sterility, menstruation cramps, prolapse uterus [6, 18]. Some practitioners have found uterine glandulars to be helpful for female moods. Some practitioners recommend uterine glandulars during the last month of pregnancy to provide nutritional support for the uterus in order to strengthen it to make it easier to push out a baby. Some also believe, that if continued after parturition, that supporting the uterus in this manner improves recovery by aiding the uterus, reducing its swollen condition. Furthermore, women have tended to report little or no postpartum depression if they began consuming uterine glandulars a few weeks before delivery through several weeks after delivery.
General Information on Glandulars
Glandulars contain nutritional peptides, enzymes, and substances believed to be hormone precursors. Although some believe that oral consumption of dried glandulars is no different than consuming any other protein-containing food, this belief appears to be based on the fact that the stomach breaks down proteins into their constituent amino acids and that there is no benefit from consuming foods containing specific peptides. However, this belief ignores the fact that some ingested protein is not broken down into its constituent amino acids.
Evidence suggests that with oral consumption of glandular extracts, a small percentage (5-10%) of their peptides are not broken down into their constituent amino acids but are available for intact absorption in the small intestine [19-22]. A small amount of these absorbed peptides then circulate and some of them appear to assist the human body (especially for ill persons) in performing various anabolic and catabolic processes [18-22]. Howell and others have reported that the amount of enzymes that pass through the stomach is even higher (nearly 50% [23]). Howell has also reported that individuals with significant health problems have been found to have lower levels of enzymes than healthy individuals and that oral enzyme supplementation has been helpful for many such people [22]. Although this position is not universally accepted [24], a study in the Journal of Surgery showed that oral pancreatic supplementation resulted in improved enzyme and growth levels for children who had a pancreaticoduodenectomy [25]. Research has suggested that bovine glandulars may be helpful for thyroid support [26], myoclonic seizures [27], and even CHARGE syndrome [28].
Some glandular extracts also contain small, safe amounts of hormones that may contribute to their possible effectiveness. The thymus gland contains thymic hormones which Schulof found may enhance immune response for people with HIV [14]. It should be noted that many substances contained within animal tissues are similar or identical to their human counterparts [1,29-31], including certain enzymes [29] and even T cell gene regions [30]. One advantage of glandulars over herbs is that raw ovine (sheep) and bovine (cow) glandulars often contain enzymes that are identical to those in the human body, while herbs rarely do.
Some research indicates that protein contained within cow’s milk appears to slow the growth of certain human toxic cells [28]; also cows do not appear to be that susceptible to getting breast cancer [32]. Thus it may be reasonable to conclude that other substances contained within or derived from bovine/ovine sources may be helpful for other human diseases.
Harrower, a pioneering researcher of oral glandulars, believed glandulars were effective because endocrine glands experienced something he referred to as “hormone hunger” [33]. Harrower wrote:
“The practical application of this idea concerns the administration of combinations of glands in presumed pluriglandular disturbances. If, for instance, in the conditions mentioned above there is a noticeable deficiency in several of the glands of internal secretion, the thyroid, ovaries and pituitary gland for instance, there may be varying degrees of hormone hunger on the part of the organs involved, and this will influence very definitely the amount of hormones that may be missing or needed by the glands to be stimulated.”
It should be noted that when Harrower used the term “hormone” this probably should be interpreted to also include nutrients, both known and unknown, including enzymes, peptides, and hormone precursors. Harrower referred to vitamins (then newly discovered) as “plant hormones” and he called hormones the “active principles obtained from certain glands” [33].
“There is a lot of controversy about the activity of glandulars given orally… It appears the effectiveness of glandulars comes in a multi-facteted way. These facets may be grouped into three basic categories: A. Hormonal; B. Enzymatic; C. Nutritive… Any gland given for therapeutic use should contain the whole nondenatured gland… The hormones are at the same strength as those found in the natural organ, except that the water has been removed leaving only the dried concentrated tissue. These hormones fall into various categories and forms:
- Steroids;
- Peptides;
- Catecholamines;
- Amino Acids;
- Prostaglandins;
- Nucleotides.
Their hormonal factors can be broken down into two categories: A. Lipid soluble hormones; B. Water soluble amino bases and acids… The problem with steroid or prostaglandin therapy is that the medical sciences have removed them from the naturally occurring matrix which has a fine balance of steroids and prostaglandins. There is a natural law which applies in the universe and even more so in biochemistry. For every biochemical reaction or mechanism, there is an opposing ‘feedback’ mechanism. For this reason the balance must be maintained and taking glandulars are both therapeutic and very safe since this balance is maintained. It is only when the hormones are isolated and given in large doses that side effects take place, such as ulcers in steroid therapy or liver destruction in synthetic testosterone therapy. The second class of hormones is more diverse, but just as effective and important. These are the polypeptides and phyiogenic amines such as neurotransmitters and catecholamines… And the incredible thing about these peptides is that they become more active upon digestion. They are normally secreted in long chain proteins which are then broken down into endorphins which are then digested by specific proteases into the active hormones… Therefore, most of the protein is assimilated in peptide form not amino acid form. What this means is that glandulars can actually be activated by digestion” [34]. It should be noted that bovine thyroid does not itself contain substantial amounts of thyroxin which is why it is appropriate to feed the human thyroid gland. Many raw glandular preparations contain substances that can facilitate the conversion of various susbtrates into hormones.
Cooking destroys enzymes [23]. The primary difference between raw and desiccated glandulars is the enzyme content [34]. “1. Processing is very important in maintaining enzyme activity; 2. Digestion is required to activate enzymes and peptides… how are they absorbed? …they are absorbed through standard biological processes. Up to a third of your food is absorbed through the lymph system. This is basically an open portal system which permeates through the entire digestive tract allowing large molecules such as fat micelles, enzymes, and other molecules to pass into the blood stream. Other routes of absorption are active transport mechanisms such as chemotaxis… another route is immune-absorption where the protein or molecule combines with another protein and is carried in piggy back… The third category for glandular therapy is as a food… They are rich in protein and minerals and B-complex” [34]. It should be noted that when, for example, an adrenal enzyme reaches the toes basically nothing happens as the adrenal enzymes (as well as others) are specific to, in this case, the adrenal glands. Once reaching the adrenal glands, they help the adrenal glands through various anabolic and catabolic reactions.
Animal glands have been consumed since the beginning of history [35], and even now scientific studies involving them are being published [e.g. 36]. “Glandular products have been produced and used in the U.S. for over 60 years with absolutely no reports of microbial contamination or resultant illness” [36]. They are consumed in many countries, including the U.S. as food [35,38]; they may even contain substances to reverse diseases associated with Western diets [35]. Regarding glandulars, it has been reported that, “overdosing is not a concern. Even when excess amounts have been ingested, the body can easily deaminize them” [35]. A search of the literature found one report (in a letter to the editor) of a single, temporary complaint; the glandular raised thyroid hormones levels which normalized when consumption was discontinued, from using a thyroid glandular product combined with lithium, but the daily consumption (45 tablets) was in excess of any reasonable consumption (daily quantity of thyroid hormones present: 0.5mg T4 and .09mg of T3) [38].
No long-term, negative side effects from taking glandular supplements are known [37].
New Zealand and Argentine Glandulars
New Zealand and Argentinean farmers tend to raise their cows and sheep naturally more than those raised in places like the USA. The animals almost exclusively consume unfertilized natural grasses as are found in the pastures of those lands. Neither New Zealand nor Argentina has ever had a case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) nor scrapie, a similar disease found in sheep [38-42].
Ovine, Bovine, and Goat
Many of the pioneering glandular researchers [42] prefer ruminant source (bovine {cow}, goat, or ovine {sheep}) glandulars to glandulars from other animals for many reasons:
- Doctors using them have a history of receiving positive results from people with a wide variety of disorders.
- Bovine/ovine tissues are the most commercially available.
- Ruminant glandulars have a long history of being safe to consume.
- Ruminant tissues are considered to be dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) and as such are not considered to be food additives.
- Earlier research has demonstrated that heterologous tissues (such as bovine/ovine for humans) do not produce the adverse and possibly toxic side effects that more homologous tissues can (such as simian for humans) [42].
- Some earlier research suggested that immune response in humans was improved at a much greater rate with the use of substances from ruminant sources as opposed to non-ruminant sources (simian and feline) [43]. At least one researcher reported long ago that rat tissue extracts also appear to cause a variety of problems when forced into some animals [42].
Clinically, ovine, goat, and bovine glandulars are also preferable to porcine (pork) glandulars as followers of many religious faiths (Islam, Judaism, Seventh-day Adventists, and various Churches of God) will not consume pork, but will consume meat extracts from sheep, goats, or cows.
Bovine glands contain essentially nutrients such as protein, essentially fatty acids, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc [44,45]. Depending on the gland, they also can contain essential vitamins such as vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B-3, vitamin B-6, folate, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K [44,45].
- Freeze Drying vs. Desiccation
“Another term for freeze-drying is sublimation. It is the shifting of a solid directly into a gas. Freeze drying is a slow process that preserves nutrients, enzymes, and protein structures while making the food shelf stable, so it does not require refrigeration. Orijen explains their take on freeze-drying and the process that they use: ‘Freeze drying does not involve cooking, it requires only two stages: solid and vapor. This means that only the water is removed, so all of the flavour and nutrients remain locked inside. We start by flash-freezing our fresh ingredients to lock in their goodness. Then using extremely low temperatures (-50C) and special pressurized chambers, our 18 hour freeze-drying process converts the frozen water in our ingredients directly into vapor, without creating any liquid. That means H20, and ONLY H20 is removed, leaving all of the goodness in the food.’ Freeze-dried food is nutritionally equal to raw food, except for the lack of moisture [46].” It also results in a product that can be more finely ground to increase absorption.
Glandulars supplements can be made in several ways. The cheapest way is through desiccation, which essentially dries the glandular at high temperatures. The biggest problem with desiccation is that it destroys all the enzymes that are in the tissue. Desiccation may also destroy other active substances contained within the gland. Some companies use a salt-drying process, but this tends to result in glands with a high sodium content which can cause digestive complaints for adrenal-containing products. One of the most expensive ways to produce glandula