The inner bark of the lapacho tree plays a central role in the
herbal medicine of several South American indigenous peoples.
They use it to treat cancer as well as a great variety of
infectious diseases. There has been very little scientific
investigation of lapacho as a whole herb. However, an enormous
amount of scientific interest has focused on three constituents
of lapacho: lapachol, lapachone, and isolapachone. The relevance
of these findings to the use of lapacho itself remains unclear.
What Is Lapacho Used for Today? Similarly, these studies have
been twisted to support claims that lapacho is useful for many
infections, including colds and flus and bladder infections .
However, there are at least two problems with this reasoning.
First, lapacho has been tested primarily against fungi and
parasites; there is little evidence that it can kill viruses
(the cause of colds) or bacteria (the cause of most bladder
infections). Furthermore, even if lapacho can kill these
microorganisms on direct contact, this d