.: Bolivian TIMES -HEALTH :.

The Healthy Coca Leaf

By Chloe Smee

The simmering conflict between the US’s solution to the eradication of cocaine on its streets and the customary Bolivian farming of coca frequently fails to distinguish between the two substances. The obfuscation of the difference between the natural leaf, coca, and its chemical derivative, cocaine, is key to the lack of understanding accorded the hardy, indigenous plant, and the vital, health-giving properties of its leaves.

The production of cocaine has only been active since the late 19th century. The process of isolating and extracting cocaine, an alkaloid solution representing just 0.5 percent of the leaf’s make-up, was developed by a German pharmacologist, Albert Neimann, in 1859. Cocaine was initially extolled for its local anesthetic and adrenergic stimulative qualities. The enthusiasm for cocaine’s physiological effects was, though, short-lived: fatalities caused by the hasty endorsement of the drug, and a lack of research into the administration of this ‘anaesthetic’, meant that, by 1914, US Government policy dismissed and penalized coca’s chemical derivative.
Conversely, coca has deep roots in Bolivian society, where it has not only religious and social significance, but recognized medicinal and nutritious qualities too. The use of coca in Andean regions stems back to pre-Inca times, with the earliest traces found in mummified corpses dating back to around 2500 BC. There is evidence of its use amongst all pre-Colombian cultures: the religious significance of the plant among Inca, Aymara and Quechua traditions is well-documented.
Coca is seen as a sacred gift from Pachamama (Mother Earth: a figure of great religious significance) to the people: a natural gift from the Earth which enhances vitality, fecundity and fertility.

The symbolism attributed to the plant stems from this relationship, through which the plant becomes a direct link between the sacred and the profane, the people and the planet.

The health-giving properties of coca have been long-recognized by indigenous groups. The longevity of its use is alone testament to this fact -its use by indigenous doctors is documented as early as the 1500s- but more recent empirical support gives the plant’s benefits scientific credence.
A study undertaken by Duke, Alike and Plowman in 1975 (Harvard University) certified coca’s nutritional value. One hundred grams of coca was found to exceed Recommended Daily Allowances of calcium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin A and riboflavin (a factor of the vitamin-B complex essential for growth, found in milk, fresh meat, eggs, leafy vegetables, etc).
Its high levels of vitamin B complex are vital for cerebral activity, according to the study.

The Nutritional Qualities
of the Coca-Leaf:

Property:

Calories (k/cal)
Protein (g)
Fats (g)
Carbohydrates (g)
Calcium (mg)
Phosphorous (mg)
Iron (mg)
Vitamin A (iu)
Vitamin B1 (mg)
Vitamin B2 (mg)
Vitamin C (mg)

(source: Duke, Alike and Plowman (Harvard: 1975))

Content:

305
19.9
3.3
44.3
1749
637
268
10,000
0.58
1.73
1.4

If the implicit recognition of coca’s health-giving qualities within Andean cultures fails to satisfy a Western obsession with scientific data, recent research provides detailed documentation of its physiological effects. Coca’s connection with increased work-tolerance (endorsed by colonial administrators!) is based on the carbohydrate content of the leaf. As the coca enters the digestive tract, these carbohydrates are turned into the body’s natural fuel, glucose, precipitating a physiological revitalization. The traditional means by which coca is ingested- chewing- ensures that its nutrients enter the body gradually, and that physical revitalization is moderated and steadied. While caffeine-based stimulants provide an instantaneous and powerful kick, its effects are countered by the physical ‘come-down’, with exaggerated feelings of fatigue following a short-lived high.

Coca’s characteristic gradual, almost unnoticeable lift also prevents tolerance build-up, and the withdrawal symptoms common to many stimulants.

These facts were illicited in research carried out in the late seventies amongst indigenous groups in the Peruvian Andes, where the negative side-effects of most stimulants, particularly problems of physical dependency, were found to be negligible (Weil: 1977). Vitally, not one instance of toxicity was identified as a result of frequent chewing, nor was any sign of physical deterioration apparent in its many habitual users. The chewing-process is thus integral to the plant’s beneficial effects, with the physical effort involved in chewing the leaf also providing a natural safe-guard against abuse.

Coca-chewing is far more prevalent amongst those living at altitude: it has been estimated that around 75 percent of highlanders enjoy coca, whether infrequently of habitually, compared to around 5 percent at sea-level. This pattern of high-use at altitude, which seems to have remained consistent throughout the plant’s history, is also justified physically. The notable lack of oxygen at high-altitude has dire effects on respiratory processes, presenting an unexpected obstacle to even the most basic levels of physical exertion. At altitudes of above 3,000 meters, the thin air is responsible for endemic levels of both soroche (altitude sickness, signaled by feelings of nausea and dizziness) and the more serious erythrocytosis (in which the body reacts to low-levels of oxygen by producing an increased number of red-blood cells, with negative consequences for circulation, and an increased risk of thrombosis).

Coca provides a natural remedy to these chronic physical afflictions. Here, compounds within the plant stimulate respiratory systems by increasing the oxygenation of the blood so that red-platelet aggregation is reduced. This ensures blood-circulation is normalized, increasing physical performance, and neutralizes the risk of thrombosis. Coca can thus be seen as a natural physical-enabler to high-altitude living.

It must be reiterated that these health-giving properties of coca -integral to its natural composition, and released through the chewing process- become negligible once chemical processing isolates its cocaine content. The contact of coca with saliva in the digestive system destroys its cocaine content, whilst activating many of coca’s other naturally-beneficial compounds. Conversely, the chemical process through which the alkaloid cocaine is obtained disables 98 percent of the plant’s beneficial medicinal and nutritious qualities to produce an analgesic and adrenargic stimulant. The isolation of the cocaine compound in the plant leads to the creation of a substance almost unrecognisable from its mother-plant, in appearance, physiology, and effect.

The use of coca is deservedly championed domestically, by coca growers who benefit from the legal market and value its social role, to those travelers to high-altitude, who, literally feeling the pressure of the lack of oxygen, take refuge in a remedial cup of mate de coca.