Kambo Science

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Outside of the forest, Kambo has been the subject of nearly three decades of medical research. As with venom from snakes and scorpions, researchers believe that Kambo will open up a new world of treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic Pain, Cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, Depression, Vascular problems, Hepatitis, Diabetes, Rheumatism, Arthritis, Addictions and much, much more. 

The researcher’s work consists of attempting to identify, isolate and reproduce the incredible and unique chemical cocktail that is Kambo. It contains dozens of Peptides (short chains of amino acids), some of them bioactive which means they have an affinity and selectivity for binding with receptor sites in humans (A receptor is like a lock that, when opened with the right key—the bioactive peptide—triggers specific chemical reactions in the body). The peptide families represented in Kambo include bradykinins (phyllokinin), tachykinins (phyllomedusin), caerulein, sauvagine, tryptophyllins, dermorphins, deltorphins and bombesins.

Recent studies have shown that Kambo contains multiple antimicrobial peptides effective against drug resistant strains of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, parasites and virus, providing opportunities for the development of new and more efficient nanotechnological-based therapies for treating infectious diseases. Several years of ongoing research by the University of Paris have shown Kambo to be super effective at killing cancer cells and Queens University in Belfast recently won a prestigious award for their ground breaking work with cancer and frog secretions.

An Italian scientist, Vittorio Erspamer of the University of Rome was the first person to analyse Kambo in a laboratory. In 1986, he wrote that it contains a ‘fantastic chemical cocktail with potential medical applications, unequalled by any other amphibian’. 

The chemicals he referred to are peptides. The peptides studied by Erspamer have become essential to characterize the functional role of opioid receptors. He was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize and was also the person who first discovered Serotonin. Several peptides have since been isolated from the secretion and several have been synthesised. Currently there are over 70 Kambo patents lodged, mainly in the USA.  The popularity and use of Kambo as a natural support to healing is spreading worldwide.

As the scientific research into the secretion of the Phyllomedusa Bicolor grows, skilled practitioners are also developing new ways to work with this powerful substance from the Amazonian Rain Forest, which allows it to be accessible to almost everyone in a safe and manageable way.