Usnea, aka “Old Man’s Beard” or “Lungs of the Forest”, a Lichen with Strong Antimicrobial and Other Properties, now available in Limited Batch Private Reserve Spagyric Tinctures
Tastes like Hand Sanitizer…so You Know It’s Potent
Lichens, such as Usnea, are a symbiotic lifeforms containing two separate organisms, algae and fungus. The algae is a type of cyanobacteria also referred to as blue-green algae (related to Spirulina).
The more dominant organism is the fungus, putting Usnea in the class of medicinal mushrooms.
Usnea is the most widely known and medicinally used of all lichen species. There are many species available, the one used here being Usnea barbata.
A Long History of Use
Usnea has been used for a long, long time for a wide variety of things:
“One of the first reports of using Usnea…was in the first Chinese herbal classic: Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic. Other reports on using Usnea extract in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) appeared around 100 years B.C…as antimicrobial tea for treating snakebite, wounds, malaria, and cleaning the liver.”*
Used in Persia and Arabia, the “literature describes different Unani formulations applied as analgesic, astringent, stomachic, and antidote compounds.”*
And the “ancient Greeks used Usnea sp. in the form of a decoction for treatment of insomnia, jaundice, growing hair, internal and external bleeding, nausea, diarrhea, smallpox, cold, whooping cough, dried skins, dandruff, and uterine problems.”*
Usnic Acid and Antimicrobial Effect
The principal component from Usnea studied for its antimicrobial properties is usnic acid.* Estimates are that different species contain about 1-6% of this molecule.
With the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, more researchers have been looking at natural solutions such as Usnea. Specifically, Usnea extracts have been tested against a variety of resistant strains and found to inhibit the growth of them all.*
“The antibacterial activity of U. barbata was comparable or stronger than those of pure usnic acid.”* This shows the natural synergism is more useful than a single isolated component.
Usnic acid is poorly soluble in water. That means that a tincture form is going to work better than a tea or other water extraction, at least for this effect.
Antifungal, Antiprotozoal, Antiviral
It’s not just bacteria either. There are anti-fungal effects too.* Usnea had some effect against candida, though not as strong as bacteria.* Some studies showed effectiveness against Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well.*
There are antiprotozoal effects too.* (Malaria being mosquito-borne but actually caused by protozoa, for instance.) And anti-parasite action as well, like Trichomonas and ringworm.*
Studies have found that usnic acid has some effects against:
- Epstein-Barr Virus*
- Herpes simplex*
- Poliovirus*
- Arenaviruses*
- Influenza*
- HPV*
All these studies are quite preliminary but show promising results against at least some viral issues in slowing viral replication and transcription.
Other Beneficial Effects of Usnea
Other research has shown that Usnea and its extracts can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) and autophagy (“self-eating,” that is the cleaning up of old, worn-out, and dead cells).*
This has been shown effective in cell lines, where you’d want those cells to be killed.*
Many of the components in Usnea have antioxidant properties, increasing SOD and glutathione activities as well.*
Like other fungi, usnea contains polysaccharides, terpenes, and sterols, which produce some of these effects.
Usnea is considered to be specific to the respiratory system.* In particular for hot and wet coughs as it is cooling and drying in nature.*
Quality and Processing
The Usnea used in this tincture is wildcrafted in the USA.
This was tinctured for over six weeks in a menstruum made with:
- Organic Cane Alcohol 50% ABV
- Filtered Fresh Spring Water
After pressing the ingredients lichen, it is calcined and ground down into a fine, then further extracted with distilled water and a gentle evaporation process until crystals are formed. These purified “salts” are added back into the tincture to finish the process.
Dosage and How Best to Use
Starting recommended dosage is one dropper once per day.
I consider Usnea a bit more “medicinal” than many of our other herbs. In this way it is not something you necessarily want to take more regularly.
But instead, it may be something you want to use when you’re fighting something off. In these cases, you may want to take much more than one dropper.
Good to have in your medicine cabinet for when you need it.
Some Risks and Contraindications
There is some research showing the possible toxicity of usnic acid, including to the liver.
There have been reports to the FDA regarding usnic acid supplements resulting in severe complications. However, these are conflated with other ingredients such as in Lipokinetix which also contained phenylpropanolamine, caffeine, yohimbine, and diidothyronine.
Unlike some other herbs, this does have a LD50 (that’s the lethal dose that kills off 50% of the population of mice or rats). Hydroalcoholic extracts from U. barbata were 22.53 grams per kg of bodyweight. For a 70kg human (154lbs.) that would be the equivalent of a kilogram and a half of tincture!
“Usnic acid was determined as a weak inhibitor of [certain] forms of cytochrome P450 [which] are responsible for the metabolism of many drugs including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antidiabetics, or proton pump inhibitors. This indicates that usnic acid and its products, including extracts, may affect the metabolism of drugs by increasing their toxicity or reducing their effectiveness.”
This means please talk to your doctor before taking Usnea if you’re on any medications.
But overall, it seems quite safe.
“Given the obtained data, it seems that the use of pure usnic acid…is associated with the hepatotoxic effect. Based on the information collected, extracts of Usnea sp. can be considered as safer materials. It appears that using the Usnea sp. extract not only did not have any hazardous effects but also had anti-mutagenic and antigenotoxic effects.”
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.