About Coca Leaf

It's History:

It has been recorded that as early as 2,500 B.C., the Coca leaf plant was first cultivated by the indigenous people of the Andes in what is now Huanca Prieto in northern Peru. They passed down this knowledge throughout generations, as they consumed the plants leaves in its natural state for its medicinal and nutritional values, from alleviating hunger, thirst, felling of fatigue, to help fight the effects of high altitude sickness.

It's Characteristics:

The Coca leaf plant normally lives up to 30 to 40 years, yet even longer in ideal conditions. It is cultivated at relatively high altitudes, between 1,500 to 4,500 feet; from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

The leaves keep a deep green color on the upper surface and a grey-green color on the lower surface. They have a strong tea-like odor and when chewed, it produces a numbness in the mouth accompanied by a pleasant and pungent taste. Traditionally it is chewed with lime to activate and support the release of the coca leaf’s active properties. The Coca flowers are creamy white, with five sepals and five petals. Its fruit is drupe red, oval with a single seed.

The Coca leaf plant grows under conditions that are not suitable for most types of planting. Farmers plant the seeds in small pots from the month of December to January, protecting it from direct sun light. Once fully grown, it is replanted in furrows with carefully weeded soil and final planting holes located in mountain slopes or plateau terraces that have a tropical or semitropical climate.

It's Properties:

The Coca leaf contains more than ten different alkaloid substances. According to various studies, the most notable one being a study published by the Harvard University in 1975 (Duke, James A., David Aulik, and Plowman.: Nutritional Value of Coca) which confirms chewing 100 grams of coca is enough to satisfy the nutritional needs of an adult for 24 hours. Apart from its alkaloids, its nutritional properties including calcium, proteins, vitamins A and E, and others, can bring many possibilities to the field of human nutrition than it does to that of medicine, where it is commonly used today. When consumed in natural form, it serves as mild stimulant, comparable to coffee or guaraná.

References:

• Duke JA, Aulik D, Plowman T. Nutritional value of coca. Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University 1975
• Weil AT., "The therapeutic value of coca in contemporary medicine," J Ethnopharmacol. 1981 Mar-May
• Rivera MA, Aufderheide AC, Cartmell LW, Torres CM, Langsjoen O., "Antiquity of coca-leaf chewing in the south central Andes: a 3,000 year archaeological record of coca-leaf chewing from northern Chile," J. Psychoactive Drugs. 2005 Dec
• Coca Yes, Cocaine No? Legal Options for the Coca Leaf, Transnational Institute, Drugs & Conflict Debate Paper 13, May 2006
• Eleanor Carroll, M.A. "Coca: the plant and its use"
Jenkins AJ, Llosa T, Montoya I, Cone EJ., "Identification and quantitation of alkaloids in coca tea," Forensic Sci Int. 1996 Feb 9