Sarsaparilla is a woody vine that has small flowers and black, blue or red fruits in a berry like form. These fruits are generally eaten by birds. The plant can grow to heights of about 50 m. Tropical and temperate regions of the world like South America, Jamaica, the Caribbean, Mexico, Honduras, and the West Indies are native to this plant. A vine is produced by its long, tuberous rootstock which trails on the ground and climbs with the help of tendrils which grow in pairs from the petioles of the alternate, orbicular to ovate, evergreen leaves. The auxiliary umbels produce small greenish flowers.
Sarsaparilla’s steroids like sarsasapogenin, smilagenin, stigmasterol, and pollinastanol and saponins like sarsasaponin, smilasaponin, and sarsaparilloside and sitosterol glucoside are the main chemicals to which its pharmacological properties can be attributed.
A number of diseases like venereal diseases, herpes, arthritis, gout, epilepsy, insanity, chronic nervous diseases, abdominal distention, intestinal gas, debility, impotence and turbid urine can be treated by this plant’s extracts and the indigenous populations of South America have used its root to cure conditions like sexual impotence, rheumatism, skin ailments and as an effective ward against physical weakness.
Many traditional medical practitioners also use the root as a treatment for leprosy and skin problems such as psoriasis and dermatitis.
Sarsaparilla root is used as a tonic, blood purifier, and diuretic and sweat promoter by European physicians for a long time. Worldwide, treatments for gout, syphilis, gonorrhea, wounds, fever, cough, scrofula, hypertension, digestive disorders, and cancer have been prepared by using the Sarsaparilla plant’s many useful properties.
Mexico, Latin America, and China have cultivation projects which produce the majority of the plant roots which are used to make herbal medicines. The processed herb is also widely available in the form of tablets, capsules and tincture products.
Its tonic, detoxifying, blood purifying and lymph cleansing properties are used by naturopathic and
herbal medicine practitioners by combining it with other herbs to make effective treatments.
A very wide selection of herbal remedies for skin disorders, libido enhancement, hormone balancing, and sports nutrition formulas contain the plants root as one of its ingredients.
While no side effects or toxic effects of Sarsaparilla have ever been documented, ingestion of large doses of saponins may cause gastrointestinal irritation and is not recommended.
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