Does bear bile really save you from cancer and hepatitis?

What is bear bile and how it was used

This remedy is from a long list of miraculous ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. A substance extracted from the gallbladder of bears (however, not only bears, but also bulls, dogs and even people suffered), the ancient Aesculapians treated dozens of diseases with Bear bile: dilemma of traditional medicinal use and animal protection.

Bile was used to treat wounds and inflammations. It was rubbed into the skin for pain in muscles and joints. It was dropped into the eyes with barley and cataracts. It was taken internally for colds, indigestion, abdominal pain …

In general, bile was actually a magic pill that the Chinese did not give up even after science moved forward.

What modern science says about the benefits of bear bile

European and American doctors, looking away, broadcast Folk Remedy Extracted From Captive Bears Stirs Furor in China the following opinion: there is nothing super useful in bile. It also tastes terrible - extremely bitter, with a fishy aftertaste.

But their Chinese colleagues insist: they say, take a closer look at one of the key elements of bear bile - ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). It is the main bile acid produced in the liver of animals. And UDCA produces several effects on the human body at once:

antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory;
antihepatotoxic (this means that UDCA can fight various liver damage, including hepatitis);
choleretic;
antipyretic and soothing;
anesthetic;
antitussive and anti-asthma;
improving vision;
anti-stress.

In some ways, Western science is forced to agree with the Eastern. So, experts of the authoritative research organization Mayo Clinic, back in 2001, recognized Ursodeoxycholic acid ‘mechanisms of action and clinical use in hepatobiliary disorders’ that ursodeoxycholic acid really improves the condition in liver diseases, including genetic ones. It also helps dissolve gallstones.

As for other effects, Western doctors are adamant.

There is no serious evidence that bear bile can get rid of colds, improve potency with vision, and even more so cure cancer.

Once again: no! If you take (or are about to take) bear bile to improve your health on one of the above points, then bears are suffering in vain.

And they are suffering.

What is absolutely wrong with bear bile

When ancient Chinese doctors first began their experiments with bile, they behaved relatively humanely. The "magic pill" was obtained from the body of bears that were killed while hunting. That is, the settlement is provided with meat, and fat, and skins, well, and bile … She will not be wasted in vain.

However, in the past few decades, bear hunting has become rampant. The reason was the fact that the miraculous Chinese remedy got to the markets of highly developed countries - the USA and Europe. A little marketing, and now thousands of queues lined up for dried gall bladders of bears.

The price of the product skyrocketed: if in 1970 a kilogram of bear gall bladders cost about $ 200, then by 1990 the cost had grown to 3-5 thousand. And by the mid-2000s - and even up to 10-30 thousand dollars. This is only a couple of times cheaper than gold.

In pursuit of money, bears in China staged a real genocide: while the animal rights activists did not catch their eye, tens of thousands of animals were destroyed.

In parallel with this, another, no less bloody business flourished: the industrial extraction of bile. This is when bears are raised on purpose, on special farms, for the sole purpose of extracting an almost golden substance from them.

Animals spend their entire life in tiny cages, with a tube inserted into the wound on the abdomen through which bile flows into the receiving box. This is an extremely painful procedure. Which also destroys bear health. Due to constant interference in the body, animals often develop infectious lesions of the liver and other organs, hepatitis, and cancer. Go crazy. They try to kill themselves - in an attempt to get rid of suffering.

Here's a powerful 30-second video that Jackie Chan filmed a few years ago on the subject. Don't look if you have weak nerves.

Animal rights activists are actively fighting against such farms. And they warn Bear bile, explained buyers: you run the risk of acquiring bile from an exhausted, sick bear, which will contain not only useful substances, but also blood, feces, pus, urine, and disease-causing bacteria.

Whether the ephemeral improvement in health is worth the suffering that thousands of animals endure every day for many years is still a question.

What you need to know if you want to try the power of bear bile

Ursodeoxycholic acid has been produced synthetically since the 1950s and has long been available in pharmacies. Check with your therapist if life is not sweet without the magic bilious pill. Don't torture bears.

As for a synthetic or plant-based substitute for bear bile, Antiinflammatory and Hepatoprotective Medicinal Herbs as Potential Substitutes for Bear Bile have been working on the creation of such a drug for several years. We keep our fists so that it will be crowned with success.