Common names
The bark of an African tree, belonging to the botanical family Rosaceae is marketed as the herbal remedy called pygeum. The remedy called pygeum is derived from the Prunus africana plant, the common
name pygeum is actually an older name of the plant, the tree used to be called by the botanical name Pygeum africanum, this name is now obsolete and no longer used. The mountain type forest in the highlands of Africa and the Island of Madagascar are places where this tree is found in the wild. This tree is found in the Afromontane forest "islands" from 4,500 to 6,000 feet elevations, the tree prefers higher altitude slopes for optimal growth. Currently, wild populations of the tree are in decline as the forests surrounding such elevated areas have been clear cut for the extraction of forest products such a timber and converted into arable agricultural land, such factors and the environmental degradation have severely limiting the tree prime habitat and led to a steep decline in wild populations. In addition to such factors, wild populations of the tree have also been affected by the commercial demand for the
harvested bark, the tree species is in decline in the wild in countries such as Cameroon, the Kenya, the highlands of Tanzania, the island of Madagascar, as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo - formerly the Zaire - wild populations of the tree are threatened due to unregulated harvesting of the bark in these countries. Conservation issues have arisen in response to the over exploitation of this single natural resource, the situation eventually led to an attempt to monitor the trade in this tree species by including it in the Appendix II of CITES - expanded as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The chances of this tree species surviving in the wild without strong conservation measures are bleak indeed. Some parts of the tree are characterized by having an
almond like flavor, this flavor is particularly evident in the fresh bark on the trunk, in the leaves, and in the fruits - all of these contain the compound called amygalin, which yields
hydrocyanic acid when crushed - essentially the same acid found in
almonds. This almond like flavor possessed by the tree has often been used commercially in Africa, where a substitute for
almond milk is produced from the fresh crushed leaves mixed with milk. Traditional healers and tribal folk medicine practitioners in most African countries have also made wide use of the tree bark in the treatment of disorders such as
inflammation, in the treatment of
kidney disease, in fighting back
malaria, in curing a
stomachache, and in treating a
fever and in different herbal medicines. Difficulties with urination are treated in the province of Natal, South Africa using a drink made by infusing the tree bark in some
milk. An aphrodisiac effect is also attributed locally to the bark of the tree in the Cameroon, where it is also used to treat the symptoms of fever, as well as in the treatment of madness. Many cultures in southern, eastern, and central areas of Africa have made traditional use of the root and bark of the tree in the treatment of inflammation affecting the
prostate gland; these cultures have also treated any kidney
disease using the bark and roots of the tree. European plant researchers were initially attracted to the tree due to the intense utilization of the tree in many folk medicine systems in Africa. As investigations on the property of the tree progressed, the pygeum bark extract came into its own when it was patented in 1966 for use in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia - BPH, which was the first time the scientific community recognized the power of the bark. Chemical analysis of the tree bark reveals that the tree contains a lot of pentacyclic terpenes, including such compounds as ursolic, oleanolic, and crataegolic acids, it also contains the compounds called n-docosanol and n-teracosanol - these compounds are the main active constituents of the pygeum plant. Biologically significant extracts from the chemical analysis include the
phytosterols, such as the compound
beta-sitosterol, the compound called beta-sitosterone, and the compound campesterol. The majority of pygeum products which are available as remedies in the market are all standardized to possess fourteen percent of the
triterpenes and about 0.5 percent of n-docosanol for optimal activity in the body. European phytotherapy values the pygeum bark as it has very similar properties to the
saw palmetto berry and the
stinging nettle root; it is used in the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy like the other herbal remedies. Pygeum bark extracts are used extensively in France and Italy, and most of the research and utilization experience of the pygeum in a clinical setting are from these two countries, clinics in other European countries like Germany prefer using the palmetto extracts for BPH phytotherapy and such herbal extracts dominate the market in Germany. An anti-inflammatory activity has also been detected in the extract of the pygeum bark as seen in the results from pharmacological studies, the bark extract possesses this beneficial action by inhibiting the production and action of the enzymes which work in the
depolymerization of proteoglycans present in the connective tissues of the
prostate gland, the pygeum bark also aids in brining about a reduction in the levels of
cholesterol found in the
prostate gland - it achieves this by limiting the synthesis of androgens. The pygeum bark is also useful in inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins in the human body. Under testing conditions, in both rats as well as humans, the pygeum bark has also been shown to be capable of increasing the prostatic secretions; it also fine tunes the chemical composition of seminal fluid by affecting the
prostate gland. Pygeum extracts have been subjected to careful analysis in at least twenty six well documented clinical trials during the past two decades; at least half of these trials were double blind studies with a dose of 100 to 200 mg given to test subjects every day, while the rest were administered placebos. The symptoms associated with BPH were positively affected by the administration of the extracts during the tests, and results show that symptoms such as difficulty in passing
urine, the frequent urge to urinate in the night, and the reduction of residual urine volume were all affected positively. Some of the test patients were affected by temporary side effects from taking the extracts, one such effect was gastrointestinal irritation -typically manifesting as
nausea and
pain in the abdominal region. These were the only slight side effects reported from the use of pygeum extracts in the clinical trials and they can be considered to be very minor side effects. It is highly advisable to use pygeum only under medical supervision, because of the nature of BPH, which is not a self-limiting or self-diagnosable disorder in any event. Consumers are also advised to be environmentally minded when choosing to use pygeum based products due to the huge environmental impact the bark harvest generates in Africa.
