Sleeping berry
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Sleepberry ( Withania somnifera ) |
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| Withania somnifera | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) Dunal |
The sleeping berry ( Withania somnifera ), in Sanskrit Ashwagandha (German for 'smell of the horse'), also known as winter cherry or rarely as Indian ginseng , is a plant species from the genus Withania .
description
The sleeping berries are perennial , 30 to 150 cm high, herbaceous plants that are covered with branched trichomes . The upright or stooped growing shoot axes are branched and tomentose. The leaves have petioles 1 to 2 cm long , the leaf blades are ovate, reversed ovate or elongated. Their length reaches 2.5 to 12 cm, the width 2 to 7 cm. The underside is hairy, the upper side of the leaf only along the midrib. The base of the leaf blade is wedge-shaped, the tip pointed.
The inflorescences are almost sessile and consist of groups of four to six flowers , an inflorescence axis is missing. The flower stalks are about 5 mm long. The bell-shaped calyx is 3 to 5 mm long and tomentose. It is covered with triangular, 1 to 2 mm long tips. The crown is yellowish-green, narrowly bell-shaped and 5 to 8 mm long. The throat is hairy tomentose, the corolla lobes are ovate, protruding or bent back and 2 to 2.5 mm long. The stamens consist of about 1.8 mm long stamens and yellow, egg-shaped, finely pointed and about 1 mm long anthers . The stylus stands out over the crown.
As the fruit ripens, the calyx enlarges and is slightly urn-shaped, brown and translucent, spherical or egg-shaped, cut off at the base. It has a diameter of 1 to 2.2 cm and has short corolla lobes. The fruit is a berry , it is shiny, scarlet and spherical with a diameter of 5 to 8 mm. The seeds dry to a pale brown, are kidney-shaped-disc-shaped and measure 2 to 2.5 × 2 mm.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 48.
distribution
Withania somnifera occurs all over Africa , on the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, in Spain, Greece, Sicily and Sardinia, on the Arabian Peninsula, in the Middle East and South Asia as well as China and Mauritius .
ingredients
The roots contain various alkaloids such as anaferine, anahygrine, cuscohygrine, nicotine , tropine and withasomnine. In addition, withanolides (“ steroid lactones ”) such as somniferanolide, somniwithanolide, withaferin A and withasomniferanolide.
Uses
The sleeping berries and their roots are among the most frequently used drugs in Ayurvedic medicine because of their versatile effects and very good tolerability, and their importance can be compared with that of ginseng for Chinese medicine. They are used, among other things, for old age, impotence , inflammation, as a tonic and for insomnia .
Traditionally, the sleeping berry is also used as an aphrodisiac , amulet or magic substance. A love potion, which is prepared from the root, should have a sexually stimulating effect and make you pliable. It is also used in tantric rituals to extend the duration of the erection.
In western countries, extracts of the sleeping berries are marketed as fortifying food supplements , often under the manufacturer names "KSM-66" or "KSM-66 Ashwagandha"; with promises of action similar to those of ginseng products.
The scientific data on the effect is weak. The ingredients could improve sperm quality in infertile men. In a randomized study , ashwagandha root extract was better than placebo at reducing stress in the subjects. Numerous other positive health effects are alleged or suspected, but not proven.
In one study, 57 men were examined over a period of 8 weeks. They were divided into two groups. The intervention group received 600 mg of ashwagandha extract daily, while the placebo group received only one ineffective pill. After the study, the strength and testosterone values as well as the muscle gain were measured again. The group that took ashwagandha daily had comparatively higher testosterone levels, developed more muscle mass, and had increased strength levels. In addition, an increased loss of body fat was recorded.
Legal position
In the EU, according to the Novel Food Catalog, the plant was not classified as a novel food and therefore classified as a food. Sleepberry root and its extracts are marketed as food supplements in the EU under the name Ashwagandha. In this respect, despite the narcotic-sounding name, it does not differ from the other adaptogens such as ginseng , bristly taiga root or rhodiola . The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment recommends including the root of Withania somnifera in VO1925 / 2006 / EG, Appendix III, List C. Their safety is therefore not clearly proven. Undesirable effects cannot be proven either.
literature
- Zhang Zhi-yun, Lu An-ming, William G. D'Arcy: Flora of China : Volume 17: Verbenaceae through Solanaceae . Science Press et al. a., Beijing et al. a. 1994, ISBN 0-915279-24-X , p. 313.
- Birgit Frohn: Handbook of psychoactive plants. Herbal remedies for mental illness . Weltbild, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-89604-741-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Withania somnifera at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ^ Withania in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- ↑ P. Sengupta, A. Agarwal et al. a .: Role of Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) in the management of male infertility. In: Reproductive biomedicine online. Volume 36, number 3, March 2018, pp. 311-326, doi : 10.1016 / j.rbmo.2017.11.007 , PMID 29277366 (review).
- ↑ K. Chandrasekhar, Jyoti Kapoor, Sridhar Anishetty: A Prospective, Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Safety and Efficacy of a High-Concentration Full-Spectrum Extract of Ashwagandha Root in Reducing Stress and Anxiety in Adults . In: Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine . tape 34 , no. 3 , January 1, 2012, ISSN 0253-7176 , p. 255–262 , doi : 10.4103 / 0253-7176.106022 , PMID 23439798 , PMC 3573577 (free full text).
- ↑ MedlinePlus: Ashwagandha. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Consumer Version, October 31, 2017 (accessed May 12, 2018)
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26609282
- ↑ Risk assessment of plants and herbal preparations (PDF; 1.8 MB), published by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment .
- ↑ Klenow, S .; et al .: Risk assessment of plants and herbal preparations. In: http://bfr.bund.de . Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, January 2012, accessed on September 27, 2019 .