Intro to Peptides
The benefits of Kambo stem from the bioactive peptides and neuropeptides found in the Kambo secretion. The bioactive peptides found in Kambo positively affect humans due to their health-promoting properties. They can exert several beneficial effects like preventing diseases or modulating the physiological systems once they are absorbed in the human body. These peptides perform a broad range of functions that can be involved in the gastrointestinal system, such as the anti-obesity and satiety peptides, the cardiovascular system such as antihypertensive, antithrombotic, and hypocholesterolemic peptides, the immune system such as antimicrobial, and immune-modulatory peptides, and the nervous system such as opioid peptides.
Why supplement with Kambo peptides?
As we age our bodies begin to feel the effects of our lifestyle choices. From an evolutionary standpoint, this is the point in life where our vitality decreases. Aging means that the human cells are just losing their efficiency to take on life as we did when we were younger. This is where peptides come in. We have over 7000 naturally occurring peptides. These play a crucial role in overall cellular functioning in the human body. As our bodies age and go through life, peptides begin to wane which confuses the cells, causing them to be in an “arrested” state. Kambo supplementation works in bringing all systems to operate efficiently again. Kambo interferes with aging by giving cells what they need to continue to function in an efficient way. Part of bringing vitality back into the body is strengthening the immune system. This allows the body to combating viruses, illnesses and disease in a more efficient way. During these Covid times it is crucial to ensure our immune system are operating at a high level. Kambo puts the fight back into your immune system.
Has there been any research on Kambo?
There are studies that have been done on Kambo since the first samples were brought into the U.S. by the award-winning investigative journalist, Peter Gorman and anthropologist, Katharine Milton. Here are a few of those studies:
Antitumor and Angiostatic Activities of the Antimicrobial Peptide Dermaseptin B2
Deltorphins: a family of naturally occurring peptides with high affinity and selectivity for delta opioid binding sites
Medusins: A new class of antimicrobial peptides from the skin secretions of phyllomedusine frogs
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0300908413000461
Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have discovered proteins in frog skins which could be used to treat cancer, diabetes, stroke and transplant patients by regulating the growth of blood vessels.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110606181137.htm
Antimicrobial peptides from Phyllomedusa frogs:
from biomolecular diversity to potential nanotechnologic medical applications
http://www.kamboclear.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Antimicrobial-Peptides-From-Kambo.pdf
Frog Peptides Block HIV In Lab Study
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050930080923.htm
BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES IN KAMBO:
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Produces contraction at the smooth muscle level and increases secretions of the entire gastrointestinal tract such as the salivary glands, stomach, small and large intestine, pancreas and gallbladder. These peptides work to induce the deep purge that takes place in a Kambo session.
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Both are potent vasodilators, increasing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier for their own access, as well as for that of other active peptides. They also have antimicrobial and antifungal properties.
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These peptides have chains of 40 amino acids with myotropic properties on the smooth muscles, producing a contraction of the colon and urinary bladder. They produce a drop in blood pressure accompanied by tachycardia. They stimulate the adrenal cortex and pituitary gland, contributing to greater sensory perception and increased resistance. Both peptides possess a great analgesic power, contributing to the increase of physical strength, the capacity to confront physical pain, stress, disease, and diminish the symptoms of fatigue. In the medical field, this family of peptides contributes to improved digestion and has analgesic properties against pain in the renal colic, pain due to peripheral vascular insufficiency and tumor pain.
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Small peptides composed of 7 amino acids. They are selective agonists of the opiate receptors, 4000 times more potent than morphine and 40 times more potent than the endogenous endorphins.
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These work on the human body through the adenosine receptors, a fundamental component throughout all human cellular fuel. These receptors may offer a target for the treatment of depression, stroke, and cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s.
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These peptides are part of a broad spectrum of antimicrobial peptides involved in the frog’s defence against microbial invasion. These are the first vertebrate peptides that show lethal effects against filamentous fungi responsible for severe opportunistic infections which accompany immunodeficiency syndrome and the use of immunosuppressive agents. They also show lethal effects against a broad spectrum of bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and protozoa.
Several years of research carried out at the University of Paris have shown that peptides Dermaseptin B2 and B3 are effective in killing certain types of cancer cells. A researcher at Queens University in Belfast won a prestigious award for his ground-breaking work with cancer and Kambo. It’s action mechanism is produced by inhibiting the angiogenesis of tumor cells with selective cytotoxicity for these cells.
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These peptides have similar properties and structure to human bradykinin. They are hypotensive, and due to producing vasodilation, they support contraction of the non-vascular smooth muscle, increase vascular permeability, and are related to the mechanism of inflammatory pain.
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These peptides stimulate the secretion of hydrochloric acid by acting on the G cells of the stomach. They also increase pancreatic secretion, intestinal myoelectric activity, and smooth muscle contractility.
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They stimulate gastric, bile, and pancreatic secretions, and certain smooth muscles. They could be used in the paralytic ileus and as a diagnostic medium in pancreatic dysfunction.
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These are neuropeptides consisting of 4-14 amino acids, which are opening up new perspectives on how the human brain works.
Antimicrobial and Antiviral effects
Many of the peptides found in Kambo have antimicrobial and antiviral effects. One of the primary roles of the frog’s secretion is to act as a defensive mechanism for the frog’s skin against various parasitic fungi and other microbes present in the jungle that would otherwise have an easier time getting through and infecting the frog.
Many of the peptides explained above have been examined for use in treating problematic and drug-resistant bacteria and viruses. This is especially hard on patients that have compromised immune systems. This can be a result of their general health, or, particularly those with immunodeficiency disorders.
The Western World’s intro to Kambo
Kambo was brought to the attention of the Western scientific community in the 1980s when anthropologist Katherine Milton, and a journalist Peter Gormon, spent time living and studying with tribes in Peru and Brazil that practised the Kambo rituals. They provided samples of Kambo to a pair of biochemists who undertook the first analysis of the biochemical composition of the frog poison.One of those biochemists was Vittorio Erspamer from the University of Rome - famed for his prior discovery of serotonin, an important neurotransmitter. He devoted much of his research to the study of peptides. Erspamer was interested in the composition of Kambo as it likely contained undiscovered peptides that might have uses in medicine and beyond. Other significant historical work on Kambo was carried out in the 1990s by a team headed by the biochemist John Daly at the National Institute of Health in the US. Amongst other discoveries, they isolated and described the effects of Adenoregulin - an antimicrobial peptide found in Kambo.
The future of Kambo
As you can see, a lot of work has gone into studying the science of Kambo and the biochemical makeup of the secretion itself. Indeed, at least 70 medical patents have been submitted based on compounds isolated from Kambo. There is still much to discover and active research is ongoing to study further and isolate other compounds that may be beneficial to the broader medical field. Vittorio Erspamer himself declared Kambo: ‘a fantastic chemical cocktail with potential medical applications unequalled by any other amphibian’. Of course, there is wisdom beyond the science. Wisdom formulated over thousands of years by the tribes that first embraced and ceremonial Kambo. Current medical science has only revealed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true effects and impacts of Kambo for healing and health, and it may never reveal the full wonder of this fantastic natural medicine.