What is beaver spray and is it worth drinking

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Spoiler alert: Beavers seem to be suffering in vain.

In folk medicine, there are many curious ingredients that promise a magical cure for all diseases. Beaver Stream is one of those.

The name sounds strange. The beaver stream is also obtained by very intricate and sometimes even dubious methods.

What is a beaver stream and where is it taken

Attention: it can be frustrating now. A beaver stream is a thick oily liquid that is produced in the anal (yes, from the word "anus") glands of river beavers. It has a dark brown color and a characteristic musky scent, thanks to which beavers mark their territory. In scientific terminology, this fluid is called castoreum.

Previously, it was actively used in the manufacture of perfumery, added to food as a flavoring agent. Well, they just used it. For health. Actually, in this form - as a bioactive supplement that promises to improve well-being, the beaver stream is still popular today.

The belief in the healing properties of castoreum is so great that people actively destroyed beavers for its sake.

For example, in Sweden, the population of these animals, who had the imprudence to produce a "healing flavor" under their tail, was almost completely exterminated in the 19th century.

Although there are already methods to get the beaver stream without killing the beaver itself (they are practiced on specialized farms), many hunters continue to operate in the old fashioned way. For example, The Business Insider quotes Vanilla-Scented Beaver Butt Secretions Are Used In Food And Perfume the words of a Northern Ontario catcher: if you ever go hunting wild beavers, remember that castoreum bags “are easy to pull out with knife and fingers. Then they can be sold for $ 60-80 each.

This high cost makes castoreum unprofitable for use as a food or cosmetic flavoring agent. But for the sake of health, people are not stingy.

Why is a beaver stream useful?

The extract of odorous mucus from the anal glands of the beaver is credited with many healing properties. It is suggested to add it to a glass of water: up to 20 drops, if you want to fix something in your health quickly and actively, and up to 5 drops as a preventive drink, "so that nothing hurts."

Among the promised effects are the following:

• strengthening the immune system, especially during the cold season;
• calming properties - for example, drinking a beaver stream is recommended for stress and neuroses;
• relief from painful periods in women;
• improving sexual function in men;
• normalization of the state in case of sleep disorders.

You can continue for a long time. But so far - it is completely pointless. The truth is that evidence-based medicine today recognizes Castoreum (and even then with reservations) only one ability of the beaver jet. Castoreum can indeed have a calming effect - that is, improve self-control and general well-being during stress.

But how many drops of beaver stream should be added to a glass of water for this drink to become a sedative, doctors do not specify. And those who are still impatient to undergo traditional medicine are advised to discuss the need for this and a possible dose of castoreum with a therapist.

For other properties, such as the ability to relieve menstrual pain or cope with sleep disturbances, there is little evidence that castoreum is effective. Science, of course, is working on this issue, and it may well be that one day we will update this article and report: yes, indeed, the beaver stream heals! But not now.

Can beaver spray be harmful?

There is more certainty on this issue. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Fragrance and Extract Industry Association of America (FEMA) consider Castoreum beaver spray to be completely safe. At the very least, animal studies show that castoreum is not toxic, either by ingestion or applied to the skin.

This means that the use of the beaver jet is unlikely to harm you. As well as the benefits.

The only caveat applies to pregnant and lactating women. Since science is not yet aware of how castoreum may affect infants, beaver jelly is not recommended during pregnancy and breastfeeding.