Natural painkillers

In this Article (Index)

• A Healthy Lifestyle
• Painkillers
• Natural Painkillers
• Pineapple
• Bromelain
• Joint Pain
• Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Cherries
• Anthocyanins
• Anthocyanin Content
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Apples (and quercetin-containing fruits and veggies)
• Quercetin Content
• Neuropathic pain
• White Willow Bark
• Dragon Fruit (Pitaya)

The Key is to lead a Healthy Lifestyle

Unhealthy processed foods containing trans fats, saturated fats, and added sugars are low on plant-based nutrients, minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals.

These foods tend to provoke inflammation and raise blood pressure, and blood lipids. They cause sugar spikes and insulin resistance which in turn can provoke not only weight gain, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes, they also cause a range of painful health conditions.

Healthy food, on the other hand can reduce inflammation.

A balanced diet that includes whole grains, vegetables, plants, seeds, legumes, fish, and healthy oils can help your health. Combine it with physical activity for optimal results.

Painkillers

The original painkillers known since antiquity were obtained from plants, like aspirin derived from the bark of the willow tree, or morphine, codeine, and thebaine, derived from the poppy plant.

Being natural does not mean that something is harmless. However, the ancients used them as analgesics. Medical science learned how to synthesize these active ingredients in the late 1800s and produce new ones.

Modern medical therapies use analgesics to treat pain, the name analgesic comes from the Greek word analgetos" which means "without pain".

The most common painkillers are paracetamol (acetaminophenol) and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, or diclofenac. Cannabis and cannabinoids are also used to treat pain such as CBD or THC. Other stronger analgesics include opiates like morphine and oxycodone.

All of these painkillers have side effects, and continued use can cause chronic kidney disease, damage the liver, and stomach, and cause serious harm to the body.

Natural Painkillers

In the following sections, we will discuss some fruits and plants with proven analgesic properties.

Pineapple

Bromelain

Pineapple plants (Ananas comosus) contain an enzyme known as bromelain that acts upon certain proteins breaking them down (proteolytic enzyme or protein-digesting enzyme protease).

Discovered in 1876, it is extracted from the pineapple fruit. It isn't toxic and has anti-inflammatory properties.

Joint Pain

It has proven effective for treating osteoarthritis, but further studies are required to evaluate its effects and dosage (15).

There are claims that it relieves rheumatoid arthritis symptoms "Oral therapy ... produces certain analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the results are often inconsistent," It has some potential side effects and if you are using blood thinners or have ulcers, you should avoid it. (14)

Recent studies have combined bromelain with diclofenac sodium, rutin, trypsin, or turmeric resulting in "significantly enhanced efficacy in the treatment of degenerative joint pain diseases." (12)

Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Studies have shown that in mice, it reduces colonic inflammation and the intensity and frequency of colitis. They also found that bromelain inhibits intestinal inflammation. (12)

Risks

Those who are allergic to pineapple may experience allergic reactions when using bromelain. It can cause difficulty breathing, clogged sinuses, wheezing, and coughing (12)

Cherries

Tart cherries (Prunus cerasus) or sour cherries have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and they have been proven effective in treating pain.

A randomized trial compared 54 healthy runners who consumed tart cherry or a placebo cherry-flavored drink twice a day over one week leading up to a race. It found that "while both groups reported increased pain after the race, the cherry juice group reported a significantly smaller increase in pain ... compared to the placebo group... ingesting tart cherry juice ... can minimize post-run muscle pain." (13),(11)

Another study reported that an intake of 400 mg/kg tart cherry anthocyanins "may have a beneficial role in the treatment of inflammatory pain." (10) The average anthocyanin content in tart cherries is 176 mg per 100 g of fruit.

Anthocyanins

The key ingredient in berries is their polyphenols called flavonoids that encompass powerful antioxidant chemicals called "anthocyanins."

The word Anthocyanin comes from the Greek words "anthos" (flower) and "kyanous" (dark blue"). Anthocyanins are the pigments that give berries their red, blue, and purple tint.

Anthocyanins have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Studies in animals have shown that they "reduce inflammation-induced pain behavior ... with similar efficacy as to NSAID." (9)

Anthocyanin content

Other rich sources of anthocyanins are detailed in the following table with information provided by the USDA, the values are in mg per 100 g of food. The same source states that the average daily intake of anthocyanins by Americans is 12.53 mg.

Strawberries

As shown by a 2107 randomized trial, (8) drinking 50 g/day of freeze-dried strawberry beverage over 12 weeks showed that "Dietary strawberries may have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in obese adults with established knee OA [osteoarthritis]," it also "significantly reduced constant, intermittent, and total pain" in comparison to the placebo group. The authors suggest that the polyphenols in strawberries have an anti-inflammatory effect that has analgesic properties.

Blueberries

Like strawberries, blueberries have also been tested for their analgesic effects. We mention two randomized trials below.

Osteoarthritis

This randomized trial investigated if 40 g/day of freeze-dried blueberry powder taken for 4 months reduced knee pain in osteoarthritic patients. (7)

This trial found that "daily incorporation of whole blueberries may reduce pain, stiffness, and difficulty to perform daily activities, while improving gait performance."

Exercise Pain

This trial followed untrained adults doing "weekend warrior" exercise for 18 days; it found that a daily intake of freeze-dried blueberries equivalent to 1 cup of fresh blueberries per day equivalent to 805 mg/day total phenolics and 280 mg/day anthocyanins "could mitigate muscle soreness and damage" compared to the placebo group; it also lowered inflammation. (6)

Apples (and quercetin-containing fruits and veggies)

Apples not only contain anthocyanins but they are often cited as being rich in another phenolic compound, a flavonoid called quercetin, which also exerts antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

But, as the following table shows (data from the USDA), there are many vegetables and fruits with a higher content than apples, and, by the way, apple skin has 48 times more quercetin than apple flesh (19.3 mg vs. 0.4 mg per 100 g).

Quercetin Content

The table shows quercetin content, and the values are in mg per 100 g of fresh fruit.

The most recent data shows that the average daily consumption of quercetin in the USA is 9.75 mg, in Spain it is 18.48 mg, in Japan, 16.2 mg and in China it is 18 mg.
However, eating berries with seeds and a kale, watercress, rocket, and tomato salad with onion could easily add over 60 mg of quercetin to the diet.

Bear these figures in mind when we mention the pain study below. (16)

A randomized study investigated the effects of quercetin supplementation (500 mg/day) for 8 weeks in women with rheumatoid arthritis. It found that the quercetin supplementation "significantly reduced... morning pain, and after-activity pain...compared to placebo." (5)

This is a supplementation equivalent to 51 times the average dietary intake of quercetin in the U.S., it can't be attained by eating more apples or onions.

Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain comes from nerve damage and provokes shooting pain, burning sensations, and tingling. It is associated with diseases like multiple sclerosis, diabetic polyneuropathy, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).

Research (4) has shown that certain plant-based flavonoids like quercetin (mentioned in the previous section), and diosmin (found in citrus fruits) "exhibit antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties... resulting in analgesic effects via dopaminergic and opioidergic pathways."

Other plant-based products with similar effects are resveratrol, curcumin, and gingerol. "Curcumin ... helped reduce pain...in mice with neuropathic pain." (4)

Ginger as an Analgesic: Pain relief

Randomized clinical trials had mixed outcomes, some of them found that its analgesic effect was similar to ibuprofen or mefenamic acid. Another study showed that 250 mg of powdered ginger was as efficient as sumatriptan in relieving migraine pain with fewer side effects. Trials on patients with chest and lower back pain also concluded that "ginger was a useful option for pain relief" (17).

A systematic review of clinical studies showed that "the daily consumption of raw and heat-treated Zingiber resulted in moderate-to-large reductions in muscle pain after exercise-induced muscle injury" in patients suffering from sarcopenia, the loss of muscle protein, mass, and function caused by aging (1)

White willow bark

The bark of white willows (Salix alba) was used in ancient Egypt, Sumeria, China, Greece, and Rome as a painkiller, an anti-inflammatory, and to lower fever. In 1763 Edward Stone wrote a letter to the Royal Society in which he described how powdered willow bark cured "auge" a feverish condition.

In 1897 chemists at Bayer synthesized acetylsalicylic acid named so after the Latin word for willow (salix), and patented it as aspirin.

Unlike aspirin which has gastric side effects, white willow bark is effective in several randomized trials: "Comparing white willow bark with nonsteroidal agents have shown an efficacy comparable to these agents and aspirin." (3)

It should not be used on children, and people with liver, kidney, peptic ulcer, or digestive disorders should not use it. The normal dosage of white willow bark is 240 mg/day.

A meta-analysis conducted in 2023 reported that "there were significant differences in pain reduction... among patients with arthritis between the willow bark and placebo groups." with the willow bark showing improvement. (3)

Red Dragon Fruit

Red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) commonly known as pitaya is a cactus that originated in areas of Mexico and Central America and taken from there to Asia. Now it is consumed worldwide. Pitaya comes in two varieties, with red and white pulp. It is rich in antioxidants, like anthocyanins with 5.37 mg/100 g mg/g in its flesh and quercetin (3.43 mg/100 g)

Its peel contains phytochemicals that have analgesic effects as demonstrated in trials using rats that found that the extract of red dragon fruit peel "possesses analgesic and antipyretic activity... Phytochemical compounds such as alkaloids and flavonoids are most likely responsible for this analgesic and antipyretic activity by inhibiting inflammation ." (2)

Closing Comments

A balanced diet, with healthy fruits and vegetables, will provide natural antioxidants, fiber, and complex carbohydrates. Eating healthy foods as opposed to eating ultra-processed foods will lower the risk of type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain, and prevent debilitating and pain-causing conditions.