In the Nigerian Tribune today I came across an article written by Sade Oguntola which has a slightly bizarre but interesting couple of opening paragraphs.
‘Following studies that validate the traditional use of Bitter leaf in the treatment of malaria in Nigeria, a new study has found that the best mode of preparing local recipe using the leaves was to soak it in hot gin or any alcoholic drinks rather than water.
Researchers, in a study of the potentials of bitter leaf extracts on 14 fresh isolates of Plasparium falciparum, found that the ethanolic extract of Bitter leaf showed a higher ability to kill malaria-causing germs than its water extract.’
Nice idea, soaking a bitter leaf in your Gin and Tonic to give malarial protection, although I believe that one needs to drink 14 GnTs (not recommended) to get the requisite level of quinine to afford any level of protection Hic! There are many herbs which are being used to produce drugs which prevent or relieve a variety of diseases and symptoms, so why not test Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) and lets see what the results are?