Neem Really Is Snake Oil!

Anytime people who love neem talk to other people about it, our biggest challenge is explaining how one tree does so much. Most herbs have a couple of active compounds and work well when used with very specific symptoms.  Neem, of course, is known as the “village pharmacy” so I may talk to someone with diabetes in the morning, arthritis at lunch and gum disease or psoriasis  in the evening.

Sometimes I joke about selling snake oil – but it turns out that neem may actually be an effective antidote for snake bites, particularly in rural areas of India where venomous snakes abound and refrigeration for anti-venom is rare.

Scientists at Tezpur University tested a series of traditional botanical treatments against cobra and viper venoms in test tubes and found that a dried methanolic leaf extract significantly inhibited damage from the poisons – stopping anticoagulant activity caused by one cobra venom by 90%.

From the perspective of people in India and Africa, the test once again confirms traditional herbal treatment using neem. It goes a step further, however, by identifying the most active compounds and separating them into a product that’s stable for six months at room temperature.

It’s still years away, but it may save many lives in the tropics where people often arrive in urban emergency rooms where anti-venom is available hours after they the bite.