Red Ant / Weaver Ant (Hongmayi; Oecophyllya smaragdina) in clinical medicine?

[Guest guest]

ÿýñ Ο¢‚ Changbaishan [mountain]Yesheng Hongmayi (Wild

Red Ant; Oecophyllya smaragdina)

 

Hi All, & Twyla,

 

Chinese scholars on the List may wish to double check my summary

(below) against WWW data in Chinese at: http://tinyurl.com/blys8

 

Also, would colleagues please post THEIR comments / experiences of

using red ants in clinical practice?

 

Twyla wrote:

> Has anyone heard of soup using red ants and a healing compound >

called " tcw " that these ants supposedly carry?

 

Twyla, Mayi; ‚ (žû) is Chinese for “ant” and Hong ¢ (…) = “red”.

 

I could find nothing on TCW and Red Ants on Google or Medline.

However, Google had interesting hits on Hongmayi / Oecophyllya

smaragdina. I could find little on Red Ant / Weaver Ant (Hongmayi; ¢‚

(…žû); Oecophyllya smaragdina) on the English herbal medicine

pages on WWW. The best data that I found were in Chinese, at:

http://17114.symn.cn/product/show.asp?id=2120

 

Having attempted a translation from that and other Chinese sources in

Wenlin Software, I combined the Chinese data with those from the

English hits (below) as a summary.

 

COMMENT: Most therapeutic claims (below) are commercial or

anecdotal, with NO MEDLINE EVIDENCE FOR CLINICAL EFFICACY.

However, over-harvesting dt rising demand as food/medicine places

them near the point of becoming extinct

 

SUMMARY:

 

MEDICINAL NAME: ÿýñ Ο¢‚ Changbaishan [mountain]

Yesheng Hongmayi Wild Red Ant; Oecophyllya smaragdina

 

Adults, larvae/pupae & eggs are pickled in salt water, tamarind juice,

ginger, onion, a little sugar & leaf of Bai Makfut (Citrus hystrix), or

otherwise prepared as food and in condiments mixed w salt, tumeric &

chillies, ground between stones, then eaten raw w boiled rice &

curry/boiled fish, boiled chicken or shellfish; Ants may be pounded to

paste & eaten as condiment w rice, meats, etc; sometimes cooked w

rice flour, salt, chillies, etc. into a thick Tonic paste; Ants are also

available as dried Ant Powder for medicinal use

 

NATURE: sour/acid; safe (non-toxic) when ingested daily at usual doses

(up to 15g/d);

 

INGREDIENTS: Has 27 amino acids, including lysine + 7 other essential

amino acids; protein, Ca, Vits B1, B2, B12, E; many trace elements,

including, Fe and very high Zn (at 10-20 times the levels in other foods),

lemon aldehydes; ATP, many enzyme & organic acids (including formic

acid), alkaloids, amines, etc in biologically active form, & a special " ant

antibiotic " secreted from the thoracic glands

 

ACTIONS (anecdotal/commercial claims): (1) Antiinflammation; Ease

Pain; Prevent & cure rheumatism & arthritis, esp dt Wind-Damp Bi; (2)

Quicken Xue & Boost Metabolism; HT Protector; Brain Protector;

Antiangina; (3) Aid LU/Respiration; Antiasthma; (4) Aid Urinary System;

Antinephritic; Boost KI Yang; Aphrodisiac; boost male & female sexual

performance; Rectify Menses; eat 6-10g of ants/d as tonic &

lactagogue; (5) Digestive; Boost Appetite; LV Protector; GB Protector;

(6) Anticonvulsion; Protect Nervous system, esp ANS; Calm Shen; Aid

Sleep; (7) Immunostimulant / Immunomodulator; boost WBC; promote

thymus & SP Fxs; (8) Other Actions: Antidiabetes; Anticancer; support

cancer therapy; Antiageing/Aid longevity; Antifatigue; said to give great

powers of resistance to fatigue & sun's heat

 

CLINICAL USES: (1) Joint disease / arthrosis, rheumatism w pain &

inflammation/rheumatic arthritis (RA dt Wind Damp); shoulder arthritis,

legs & waist pain; spinal rigidity; (2) HT & CVA vascular disease:

HT~CHD; HT~myocardial infarct; sequels of cerebral thrombosis

/embolism; HT spasm; angina pectoris, myocarditis, dirty heart pain

(Angxintong ®ÃÛ); (3) Respiratory disease: Tracheitis, asthma, LU

TB; (4) Urogenital disease: KI~nephritis; KI Yang Xu; male/female poor

sexual performance; impotence, ejaculation~premature, sex is cold (§

· Xingleng; ? frigidity), prostatitis; Menses irregular; hypogalactia; (5)

Digestive disease: LV stressed by toxins/hepatitis (in Mayi Yigan

Ning/Ling – see below); LV~hepatitis, LV~cirrhosis, ascites /

hydroperitoneum dt LV disease; ST disease, indigestion /dyspepsia,

constipation, GB~cholecystitis; (6) Nervous system disease: headache;

Shen Disturbed; insomnia; autonomic nerve DysFx; Spasms;

convulsions; (7) Immune diseases: immunosuppression w thymus & SP

DysFxs; Lupus erythematosus, Yingzhibing (ì¨Å; ? flinty sickness),

dermatitis & myositis, Tubercular arteritis; (8) Other diseases: diabetes;

cancer/tumours~middle & late stage; support for cancer therapy;

appetite poor, w neutropenia, pain & indigestion in cancer; premature

ageing/geriatric conditions; tooth-loss; Fatigue; convalescence; low

resistance to sun's heat

 

Administration & Dose: Soak Ant powder for 1 week in Baijiu (medicinal

wine) at 50DegC before drinking; Drink the equivalent of 5g Ant Powder

tid in lukewarm water, or take up to 15g/d as honey pill /capsule;

 

COMBINATIONS: ORAL USE: Ants w other medicinal herbs are used to

Quicken Xue & Boost Metabolism; used in Mayi Yigan Ning/Ling (Ant

Chronic Hepatitis Ning/Ling, from the Jingling Ant Research Centre,

Nanjing) which is 60% effective (twice as effective as interferon) in

hepatitis B); also in many tonic wines, syrups, pastes & powders,

formulated to personal preference; TOPICAL USE (external use only):

100 Ants dipped in oils & kept under open sky for 40d are used as

topicals: Hongmayi w mustard oil as base oil is used to treat

rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis & gout; Hongmayi w sesame oil as

base oil is used in ringworm & other skin diseases; Hongmayi w jasmine

oil as base oil is used as aphrodisiac;

 

PRICE (In China): Red Ant Powder: 60 Yuan /500g + postage (20

Yuan); Contact person: Xing Yi, East Jilin Province Chingyu county

Chingyu town shade street 7; Telephone: 0086-439-7224596

13089381977; E-mail: shanqingxy WWW:

http://www.777xy.com/new_page_4.htm

 

MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS follow:

 

See: http://17114.symn.cn/product/show.asp?id=2120

 

http://tinyurl.com/bwcdy says: One village of extremely long lived people

who live >90 years like to fry copious amounts of ants, which they credit

to their longevity. The main herbal medicine for hepatitis B (Mayi Yigan

Ning/Ling - Ant Chronic Hepatitis Ning/Ling, from the Jingling Ant

Research Center; Nanjing) contains ants and works in 60% of cases,

which is twice as effective as interferon. You can also find many wines

and tonics made with ants.

 

[ Excerpt from

http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/15_red_ant.html ]: Red Ant

Oecophyllya smaragdina is ... carnivorous feeder on flies, moths,

beetles & caterpillars. It bites w its mandibles & squirts formic acid from

abdomen. ... Tribal healers of Chhattisgarh use this Ant as food due to

its acidic taste. It is a common dish in village markets. Chutney is also

prepared from these ants. Usually, live Ants are sold & used as food. It

a most popular dish for children. Regular ingestion of this Ant is said to

prevent rheumatism attack in old stage & to cure rheumatism.

 

Healers prepare special oils from these Ants to treat many common

health problems. They use mustard, sesame & jasmine oils as base oil

to prepare these medicated oils. 100 Ants are collected & dipped in

these oils separately. The oils (with ants) are kept under open sky for

40d. After 40d, oils are used topically (externally only):

* Medicated oil w mustard oil as base oil is used to treat

rheumatism & gout.

* Medicated oil w sesame oil as base oil is used in ringworm &

other skin diseases.

* Medicated oil w jasmine oil as base oil is used as aphrodisiac.

These unique medicinal properties of Oecophylla smaragdina have not

been reported in available literature. The survey suggested that there is

a strong need to evaluate medicinal efficiency of these oils & to

conserve traditional medicinal knowledge about these valuable

[medicines].

 

http://tinyurl.com/acbv5 says: Long (1901, p. 536) reports use of O.

smaragdina (Red Ant) as a regular item of food. Ant nests are collected

especially in dry season, torn open & contents shaken into a cloth. Ants,

both mature & immature, are beaten into a pulpy mass & packed in sal-

leaves to size of a goose egg. To prepare crushed Ants for eating, they

are mixed w salt, tumeric & chillies, ground between stones, then eaten

raw w boiled rice. They are also sometimes cooked w rice flour, salt,

chillies, etc. into a thick paste that is said to give great powers of

resistance to fatigue & sun's heat. Bingham (1903, p. 311) says:

Oecophylla smaragdina Fabr. " is notorious & vicious 'Red Ant' of India. "

It inhabits trees & its larvae spin silk from which its nest of leaves is

constructed. In Kanara & some other parts of India, as well as

throughout Myanmar (Burma) & Thailand, Ants are pounded into a

paste, eaten as a condiment w curry.

 

http://tinyurl.com/cseye says: Formicidae (ants): Formicidae (ants):

Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabr.), larva, adult: Crematogaster sp., larva.

Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabr.), all stages: Cowan (1865, pp. 159-160)

cited earlier references to consumption of a species of Red Ant, both

adults & their pupae, pupae being a costly luxury that is eaten curried, or

rolled in green leaves, mingled w shreds or very fine slices of fat pork.

Bingham (1903, p. 311) mentions that in India, Burma & Thailand, a

paste is made of O. smaragdina & eaten as a condiment w curry. Eggs

of Oecophylla smaragdina (Lao name: Mottdaang) are eaten by the

Thais, while the Laos eat adult Ants also (Bristowe 1932). They are said

to have sour taste. The nest is built in shrubs by binding together a

number of leaves, & it may be as large as a football. The Ants can bite,

so nest is collected by bringing a jar of water underneath it & pushing it

upward until nest is submerged. The Ants from about 20 nests make a

meal for a family. According to Bristowe, an undetermined species of

ant, brown & medium-sized, is much more popular among Thais &

Laos. The nests are subterranean & as large as a big basket. The ants,

their larvae & pupae are pickled in salt water, tamarind juice, ginger,

onion, a little sugar & leaf of Bai Makfut (Citrus hystrix). The grubs of a

species of Crematogaster (called Mott dam) are eaten in curry in Hua

Hin district. Brygoo (1946), cited by Bodenheimer (1951, p. 233)

mentions that Ant larvae mixed w pork ragout are much appreciated in

Thailand. According to Vara-asavapati et al (1975), people like all

stages of Oecophylla smaragdina (Formicidae), known as mod-dang &

khai-mod-dang (p. 21). Eggs, " young ants, " & adults are eaten cooked &

uncooked. They can be made into salad, fried w eggs, or put into

bamboo shoot soup, etc. The worker Ants are also consumed by people

who like sour taste of formic acid. The workers build nest in large-leafed

trees such as mango by pulling leaves together & gluing them. Eggs are

produced from February to April & villagers sell Red Ants & their eggs

daily during this period. When collected, nest is placed in bucket of

water. Worker Ants float while eggs ( " young ants " ) & adults sink. To

remove workers, a piece of cloth to which they adhere is stirred through

water. Nests in high trees are dislodged first, using a long bamboo pole.

Sungpuag & Puwastien (1983) state that Oecophylla smaragdina &

young females (both known as tua-peng) & Red Ant's egg known as kai-

mod-dang; are in spicy salads boiled, pan-roasted. See Table 1 for

seasonal availability & Tables 2 & 3 for nutrient analyses. The 1984

edition of the " Nutrient Composition Table of Thai Foods " (Ministry of

Public Health 1984) includes one insect, Red Ant, presumably

Oecophylla smaragdina. The analytical results recorded are as follows,

per 100 g of insect: kcal 493, moisture 22%, protein 24.1 g, fat 42.2 g,

carbohydrate 4.3 g, fiber 4.6 g, ash 2.8 g, calcium 40 mg, phosphorus

230 mg, iron 10.4 mg, vitamin A 710 I.U., B1 0.22 mg, B2 1.13 mg, &

niacin 5.7 mg. Oecophylla smaragdina (Weaver Ant) larva, pupa: Khai

Mot Daeng or Mae Peng; 2-5 baht/2 scoops or 10 baht/one handful

(prices depend on quality, being cheaper w a higher proportion of

adults); dry season; steamed (Watanabe & Satrawaha 1984). Red ants,

O. smaragdina, are popularly used to give foods a sour flavor, for

example, boiled fish, boiled chicken or shellfish (Jonjuapsong 1996).

Eggs & larvae are often eaten raw, but sometimes are cooked & put in

Thai salad ( " yam " ), fried w eggs, put in bamboo shoot stew ( " gaeng

noremai " ) or curried fish wrapped in banana leaves ( " hore mohk " ).

 

http://tinyurl.com/ak3nd says: Eating Ants was said to rejuvenate old

people. Li Shihzhen, the author of Con Wendium Materia Medica, cited

a medicinal function of the armored lizard in reducing swelling, easing

pain, & preventing inflammation. He attributed these functions to its ant-

eating habits. Chao Xue-ming's Supplement Compendium Materia

Medica recorded that eating 6-10g of ants/d could make one healthy &

increase milk production in women. ... Ant medicines currently sold

without prescription in China include an Ant wine, syrup, paste &

powder, formulated to personal preference. To make mixture more

palatable, Ants are sometimes mixed w wine, tea, or selected medicinal

herbs. Medical function: Ants, combined w other medicinal herbs, are

used to increase blood circulation & metabolism. Eating Ants also is

immunostimulant. Ants are ideal medicine for patients w rheumatoid

arthritis (Wu 1986; Guo 1987; Liu 1991). They promote thymus & SP

Fxs (Wang et al, 1987; Zhang et al, 1991). Ant medicine also is

antiinflammation, reduces pain, controls convulsions, antiasthma &

Calm Shen, Aid Sleep. It is also used to treat tumors, insomnia &

backbone rigidity. Ant medicine inhibited inflammation in the ears of

white mice caused by xylene treatments. The mice were given 12g/kg

Ant paste/d for 5d. It also inhibited formalin-induced arthritis in the feet

of white rats; rats were fed 4g/kg Ant paste/d for 5d. It also eased

asthma in guinea pigs fed 1.6 g/kg Ant paste (Zhao et al, 1983). Ant

powder relieved acetic acid-induced pain in white mice & reduced

number of body twists when fed at 11.25g/kg Ant powder/d for 2d. It

also relieved pain caused by electrical shock after the mice were fed

11.25g/kg Ant powder/d for 4d (Zhang et al, 1991). Ant medicine plays

an important role in liver protection, & it is used to treat patients

suffering from chronic hepatitis. Guanosine triphosphate (high levels of

GIP indicate a hepatitis infection) content decreased in white rats after

feeding w 2.4g/kg Ant paste/d for 5d (Zhao et al, 1983). Ant medicine

increased sexual performance in both male & female humans. It is also

used to make the menstrual period normal & to increase the secretion

of milk. Ant medicine increased appetite of patients suffering from

cancer, relieved their pain, improved their digestion & increased the

number of the white blood cells to fight the cancer (Wang et al, 1987).

The Ant medicine slows aging, at least in other insects, but possibly also

in humans. It increased the longevity of adults of the vinegarfly,

Drosophila melanogaster, by 8d when they were fed on an artificial diet

containing 0.3% of Ant powder, or by I- 12d when they were fed a diet

containing 0.6% of Ant powder. Antpowder also increased the wing beat

frequency per minute of adult Drosophila (De et al. 1991). Evidence of

slowing aging by ingesting Ant medicine is presumably demonstrated by

a 98-year-old man called Zhongshan Yan. He lives in red star farm in

Heilongiiang province. He has excellent sight, good hearing, & is full of

energy. Furthermore, he can still ride a bicycle. He said he eats Ants

every day, when asked by journalists about the secret of his longevity &

robust health. Ant eating also is practiced in other Asian countries. The

Weaver Ant, Oecophylla snwragdina, is made into a paste & eaten as a

condiment in India, Burma, Malaysia, & Thailand. The venom of the

tropical American Ant genus Pseudomyrmex appears to have potential

in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, especially for its ability to curb

synovial inflammation (Gotwald 1986). Are Ants toxic to humans?

Definitely not as shown by tests of varying time spans conducted on

animals (Zhao et al, 1983, Zhang et al, 1991). Perspectives & potential

problems: The enthusiasm of people for Ant medicine is increasing

each year. The amount of Ants consumed is huge. It is estimated by Dr.

Zhicheng Wu in Jingling Ant Therapy Center in Nanjing that at least

5000 pounds of clean Ants are consumed each year. However, this

consumption is viewed w some concern by scientists as the Weaver Ant

plays an important role in the forest ecosystem. They are being

overharvested for medicine, & near the point of becoming extinct.

 

For a fascinating essay on Insects as Food, see: http://tinyurl.com/cbas8

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Tel: (H): +353-(0) or (M): +353-(0)

 

 

 

 

Ireland.

Tel: (W): +353-(0) or (M): +353-(0)

 

 

 

" Man who says it can't be done should not interrupt man doing it " -

Chinese Proverb