Re: oleander

Woody -

While there is no actual foxglove in oleander, the cardiac glycosides in oleander cross-assay with digoxin/digitalis.  Cardiac glycosides such as digoxin/digitalis have long been recognized as being effective against cancer and the same is true with those found in oleander.  Oleandrin is the primary cardiac glycoside among several.  However, the same as is true of much of nature, the many other supporting compounds in oleander combine to make it much more effective than just the cardiac glycosides alone.

Some of the compounds which have been identified in oleander thus far, including cardiac glycosides and valuable long-chain polysacharrides include: Oleandrin, Oleandrinogen, Oleandrigenin, Beta-sistosterol, Quercitin, Linoleic-acid, Oleic-acid, Adynerin, Alpha-amyrin, Betulin, Foliandrin, Folinerin, Gitoxigenin, Isoquercitrin, Lauric-acid, Neriin, Oleanolic-acid, Rutin, Stigmasterol, Ursolic-acid, Uzarigenin.

The cardiac glycoside content in a normal dose of oleander extract (either liquid or capsule) is only about 1/30th of that in a typical dose of digoxin/digitalis.  Since the maximum therapeutic dose of oleander can be as much as 8-10 capsules, the cardiac glycoside content could be fairly significant but still well below a dose of digoxin/digitalis.

Sorry I missed your post initially.  Times have been a bit hectic and I have been out of pocket a bit at year's end and the start of the new year.  Plus, I still have the damnable problem of not being notified of new posts in this forum - despite being a primary moderator of it.  I have tried repeatedly to fix the problem to no avail.

All the best,

DQ