The history of using maral antlers is about two thousand years old. Today, on their basis, many drugs are produced, both in the form of tablets and in powder form, as well as numerous dietary supplements. All these products are in great demand.
Maral antlers and their value
Antlers are called antlers of deer during the period of their annual growth, which coincides with the rutting season. During this period, they acquire a tubular structure, are filled with blood and are covered with thin velvety skin with short soft hair.
From time immemorial, young deer antlers have been used in folk medicine by the inhabitants of Asian countries. Back in the 12th century, China began to breed antler deer as domestic animals.
In Altai, since the end of the 19th century, there has been a separate branch of the economy called antler maral breeding.
The value of maral antlers is due to the huge amount of nutrients they contain. From a scientific point of view, this is difficult to explain. But it is worth considering that red deer live in the unique ecological conditions of Altai, and during the rutting period, the deer organism produces up to 25 kg of bone tissue. This requires the stress of all body systems, which leads to a high concentration of biologically active substances. In addition, the fodder base of this species of deer includes the most valuable medicinal plants, for example, golden root.
It should also not be forgotten that both antler deer and humans are warm-blooded organisms, and this contributes to better assimilation of animal-based preparations by humans.
Today antlers are widely used to maintain strength, youth and health. In terms of the content of medicinal properties in them, they are comparable only to ginseng and are at the very top of the drugs used.
How antlers are obtained
Previously, the barbaric technique of cutting antlers was practiced from a still living maral. It was used mainly by poachers. This was explained by the fact that the horns of the wild maral contain more nutrients than the maral grown in captivity. This was due to the inability to recreate conditions for the herd that are as close to natural as possible.
However, over time, this became possible. Large land areas were allocated for maral breeding by fencing off highly productive pastures with a variety of pastures.
Antlers are harvested in numerous ways. Among them, three prevail, which are especially good at preserving all the nutrients of the raw material.
The first way is traditional. It consists of air drying with intermediate scalding to prevent microbial and parasitic contamination. It is the most common. It is they who get the raw materials for the manufacture of the drug "Pantoprost".
Low temperature freeze drying and vacuum drying are also widely used.
