Scurvy,causes, symptons and treatment.

[dragon]

In a long term situation, dietry changes, scurvy can be a medical problem.

http://www.healthvitaminsguide.com/d...ies/scurvy.htm

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155758.php

[ScottishLass]

Ahhhh the bane of seafarers of days gone by......
Pine needle tea is an excellent source of vitamin C in the wild.. Imagine Pine Fresh Breath, LOL..



Recipe: Needles, flowers, and candles from yellow pine

Crush and snip needles, flowers, and pine candles.
Meantime, boil a pot of water.
Place pine in boiling water, cover, and remove from heat. Let steep from 20 minutes to all night.
What you don't drink hot, refrigerate for a cold, refreshing drink.Experiment with proportions of pine needles to water.
The best tea will be a nice reddish color, and a small amount of oil will rise to the top.

This recipe makes a beautiful red tea, with a mild, pleasant taste. You can sweeten with honey if desired. If you drink this tea every day, it can relieve mild depression. Good for allergies too.

Note: If desired, you can simmer the tea awhile. It will be very strong, but will probably contain less vitamin C. Prepared this way, it is said to be good for coughs. It is also supposed to flush kidneys, although I have not noticed this effect.

Warning:I was looking at the recipes and noticed pine needles, upon looking at the
recipe I strongly felt the need to add a caution to this recipe; pregnant
women must NOT use this as pine needles will cause "abortion" this also
happens in cows, when they eat the pine needles they will drop their calf's
(dead) within a couple of days if not hours. Please add this caution.

http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/re...p?recipeid=197

[Maine]

хвоя (khvoya)

Used in the Gulags but not made like SL mentions above. Apparently it was a foul tasting and sometimes stomach upsetting mixture that oozed down the throat. Solzhenitsyn and a number of other mention this numerous times in their writings of the camps. Collecting pine needles was considered an easy job (if collecting anything at minus 50 degrees is easy) but it was usually a job given to those who were only days away from death anyway.

[dragon]

Warning:I was looking at the recipes and noticed pine needles, upon looking at the
recipe I strongly felt the need to add a caution to this recipe; pregnant
women must NOT use this as pine needles will cause "abortion" this also
happens in cows, when they eat the pine needles they will drop their calf's
(dead) within a couple of days if not hours. Please add this caution.

Good info SL, haven't heard of this serious side effect before.

thankyou.

[Te Hopo]

Good info SL, haven't heard of this serious side effect before.

thankyou.

Some great info there thanks Dragon.
Theres an interesting account of Captain Cook getting to NZ and one of the first things he does is make some tea with the leaves of the Manuka bush and gives to the whole crew.
He even took a large quantity of the dried leaves with him when he left so he could continue giving the crew their scurvy beating tea.

I have heard mention of that side effect from pine needle on pregnant woman but whenever we tried to discuss it on the other forum we were shut down due to their rules.

[dragon]

I have heard mention of that side effect from pine needle on pregnant woman but whenever we tried to discuss it on the other forum we were shut down due to their rules.

Well, this is a potential serious side effect, life threatening to mother and unborn child.

In a survival situation, it is not about some rules on other forums, it is about life.

We are fortunate to have members in the medical profession on this forum, that are willing to share such information, it is information i didn't know about, how many more out there on other forums didn't know that too?

So it is the "A" word, don't sugar coat important medical information, or deny this information to members because of a specific word or, words in medical terms, placing lives at risk.

Nuts and bolts information is most important.

[Joe]

I have heard there could be poisonous types of pine, not sure if this is correct just throwing it out there.

What about uses of other trees in the Pinaceae family such as cedar trees? Do they have the same use?

[dragon]

The cyprus pine tree is toxic, while it burns very well and extremely hot, the fumes from the wood and sap residue are toxic to inhale, the same sap found in the pine needles.

If you ever get a splinter of this stuff in you, it festers within a couple of hours, very nasty, the bodies reaction to the toxin.

[dragon]

I have heard there could be poisonous types of pine, not sure if this is correct just throwing it out there.

What about uses of other trees in the Pinaceae family such as cedar trees? Do they have the same use?

Mate this is what i have found so far ref other toxic pine trees.

http://www.ehow.com/list_5976996_pin...oisonous_.html

Of note, we have radiata pines plantations in our area also known as

Monterey Pine

• The Monterey pine (pinus radiata), also known as the insignis pine and the radiata pine, is another western Northern American pine that is particularly well adapted to growing in coastal environments (such as Monterey, California). According to the New Zealand Tree Crops Association, the tree's needles contain negligible amounts of isocupressic acid, but it may still be enough to cause toxic reactions in livestock if they ingest the needles.

So to me, these are unaccpetable risks.

As ScottishLass posted, it does cause serious problems in livestock and pregnant women. Also in the link, it is deadly to pets.

But, in our relatively moderate climate here in this country, there are other sources of vitamin c, both native and cultivated.

I have heard there could be poisonous types of pine, not sure if this is correct just throwing it out there.

What about uses of other trees in the Pinaceae family such as cedar trees? Do they have the same use?

Mate this is what i have found so far ref other toxic pine trees.

http://www.ehow.com/list_5976996_pin...oisonous_.html

Of note, we have radiata pines plantations in our area also known as

Monterey Pine

• The Monterey pine (pinus radiata), also known as the insignis pine and the radiata pine, is another western Northern American pine that is particularly well adapted to growing in coastal environments (such as Monterey, California). According to the New Zealand Tree Crops Association, the tree's needles contain negligible amounts of isocupressic acid, but it may still be enough to cause toxic reactions in livestock if they ingest the needles.

So to me, these are unaccpetable risks.

As ScottishLass posted, it does cause serious problems in livestock and pregnant women. Also in the link, it is deadly to pets.

But, in our relatively moderate climate here in this country, there are other sources of vitamin c, both native and cultivated.

As for cedar, i have found this info, some types are toxic.

http://www.firepit-and-grilling-guru...k-cooking.html

Cedar plank cooking is always done on Western Red Cedar boards. Eastern cedar is not safe to cook on, it can contain toxic resins!

That is just using the wood for cooking purposes, so a good guess, the eastern cedar leaves are probably toxic too.