Muira Puama may not be a household name in the field of herbal medicines. But its health benefits are beyond imagine. This small tree is common in Brazil, where it grows abundantly along the Amazon River. Some of this plant can also be found in other parts of the Amazonian rainforest. For many decades, Muira Puama has been used as a medicine owing to its parts which have medicinal and healing properties.
The Muira Puama plant has a woody stem that reaches up to 5 cm high. It produces small, white flowers that release a pungent fragrance reminiscent of the scent of yet another white flower-bearing plant, jasmine. There are only two species of small trees under the genus, Ptychopetalum. One variety, P. olacoides, grows in the tropical parts of America, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname. The P. uncinatum is found only in Brazil.
Many things have been said about the health benefits of the Muira Puama plant. The indigenous people living in the Amazon basin have been using Muira Puama as a healing medicine. The stems and roots of young plants were used as tonics to treat neuromuscular problems. The natives also used a root concoction in baths and massages. It was believed to have therapeutic effects on paralysis and beri-beri.
It got its name as a “potency wood” for its aphrodisiac properties. Its roots and barks are said to treat sexual debility. Its effectiveness is at its best if taken together with another Brazilian tree, Catuaba. Furthermore, tea made from the bark and roots of the plant was used to treat rheumatism, grippe, and cardiac and gastrointestinal weakness.
More discoveries about the healing properties of Muira Puama plant were uncovered due to the advance in modern science. It was found that the root and bark of the plant is rich in fatty acids and fatty acid esters, especially behenic acid. It also has lots of essential oils, including beta-caryophyllene and alpha-humulene, plant sterols, triterpenes with lupeol, and a new alkaloid, which they named muirapuamine. All these components were reported to be the ones responsible for all the therapeutic benefits of the Muira Puama plant.
Many clinical trials were conducted to prove the medicinal benefits of the plant. And while there is little concrete evidence that Muira Puama could treat impotency, one study was able to prove that treatment using the plant could result in a positive effect. In Brazil, the plant was reported to have a permanent effect in locomotor ataxia, neuralgias of long standing, chronic rheumatism, and partial paralysis. Muira puama is also said to be effective in treating disorders affecting the central nervous system. Research showed that an extract from the root of the plant can relieve physical and mental fatigue.
Today, Muira Puama is being used and known worldwide. This popularity of the plant was due to the early European explorers who brought Muira Puama back with them to their respective countries when they knew of its many benefits. Today, the plant is listed in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, a noted herbal medicine source from the British Herbal Medicine Association. In Europe alone, Muira Puama is used to treat impotence, infertility, nerve pain, menstrual disturbance, and rheumatism. Germany also adopted this plant and used it for hookworms, while in the United States, traditional herbalists and health practitioners used it to relieve central nervous system disorders.
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