Damiana Constituents

The image above comes from my class lessons.

I made some changes yesterday to the site and I like it much better but it will take more time to update each time I need to add to it.  It looks better and gets rid of the word documents I put in to make the pages shorter to make scrolling easier.  I will continue making these changes to the rest of the site. 

I baked one of the breads this morning and will play with the other loaf some before I bake it.  I realized last night, after the loaves were all mixed that I got so used to the digital scale that I forgot how to read a normal one...  I was looking at pounds and thinking it was the ounces.  Yeah...  No wonder it was going to be such a huge batch! 

On to the constituents of damiana!

Flavonoids: All polyphenolic plant pigments of a specific structure. There are over 4,000 of them. These are broken down into categories: Catechins, dihydrochalones, chalones, flavanones (dihydroflavones), flavones, isoflavones, anthocyanides, aurones, flavanols, and flavonols. This general property is immunomodulatory due to antioxidant/free-radical scavenging ability (Hoffman, 2006, p. 100-102, 152, 167, 170, 174).

Cyanogenic glycosides: These are composed of a sugar moiety, 2 variable R groups, and a nitrile group. They are also derived of various amino acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These are bitter compounds that can be toxic but humans do not complete absorption of them. We are able to digest a very small amount as a result. These are more soluble in hot water or hot alcohol.

Beta-sitosterol, also seen as B-sitosterol, is in a lot of higher plants. It is essential in cell membranes. It seems to have antihyperlipoproteinemic activity. Ganora adds this constituent accounts for around 70% of phytosterols, which of course means sterols that are found in plants.  (Hoffman, 2003, p. 84, 143; Ganora, 2009, p. 145).

Tannins can damper some of the harsher effects of some constituents but excessive use of them can cause certain cancers. In lab studies, they can inhibit fungi, yeast, bacteria and viruses. They do inhibit some other cancers and are antioxidants. There are different kinds of tannins so the risks vary. They are present in plants to protect them in various ways, depending on location (Hoffman, 2003, p. 114-117, 201).

Resins are not water-soluble and need either alcohol or oil to extract the constituents.  The older the sample, the harder it is to extract.

Thymol is antiseptic and anti-fungal but may irritate gastric mucosa. Ganora adds this is a very effective anti-microbial. (Hoffman, 2003. p. 66; Ganora, 2009, p. 15, 56, 68, 135).

Essential oils are steam soluble. These are often the active compounds in the plant but even more so, they are often needed to activate the other constituents of the plant for a synergistic effect (Ganora, 2009, p. 19, 43, 45, 46, 51, 68 ,109, 134, 137, 139).

Volatile oil: Volatile just means they evaporate more quickly than other substances. If it says "volatile", you want to use the plant as fresh as possible and try not to warm it up in any way (Ganora, 2009, p. 52, 57, 61, 134, 139).

I'll discuss the rest of these over the next two days if there is enough information available on them.

terpenoids
saccharides
hexacosanal
5-hydroxy-7,3,4-trimethoxyflavone
arbutin
hydroquinones
hydroquinone glycosides
luteolin 8-C-E-propenoic acid
tetraphyllin B
cryophylene
cadinene

Have a Great Day!