Ran into this interesting bit of info I thought you all might like to know.

"Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) promotes the inflammatory response, which in turn causes many of the clinical problems associated with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and refractory asthma. These disorders are sometimes treated by using a TNF inhibitor."

"Several 5-HT2A agonist hallucinogens including (R)-DOI, TCB-2, LSD and LA-SS-Az have unexpectedly also been found to act as potent inhibitors of TNF, with DOI being the most active, showing TNF inhibition in the picomolar range, an order of magnitude more potent than its action as a hallucinogen."

"TNF or the effects of TNF are also inhibited by a number of natural compounds, including curcumin[23][24][25][26] (a compound present in turmeric), and catechins (in green tea). Also activation of cannabinoid CB1 or CB2 receptors by cannabis or Echinacea purpurea seem to have anti-inflammatory properties through TNF inhibition."

Pretty cool! Although there are some contradicting statements made concerning the side effects of TNF inhibitors it seems that the complications were only noted in regards to the pharmaceutical TNF inhibitors, but more research is needed to confirm this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNF_inhibitor

Thanks for sharing this!

You know, I suspect we'll see more and more stuff like this, actual medical evidence of psychedelics having measurable health benefits.

I suspect the same as well, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if substances that healed the mind and spirit so profoundly could heal the body as well.

The Huasca study done by the Brazilian government followed a group of people drinking ayahausca for 1 year monitoring their blood samples before and after. The study showed that the participants nuerologoy showed positive health benefits up to 1 year after the testing ended. Increase levels of seratonin and dopamine levels were just one example of the health benefits of drinking ayahausca.
I believe banisteropisis caapi has much to offer people on ssri's for depression and the pharmacudical companies should continues their research with plant medicines as an alternative to head med's.
Great post, thank you for sharing this.