Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
African peach is a shrub or small tree of West and Central Africa. Botanists call it Nauclea latifolia, now often listed as Sarcocephalus latifolius. In Hausa it is tafashiya.
The roots, bark, leaves and fruit have all been used by healers. Root bark boiled into a bitter drink is the best known form. Twigs are also chewed as a tooth stick, and the soft red fruit is eaten.
It was used most often for fever and malaria, pain, toothache and loose stools. Those claims come from custom, passed down over many years.
Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. Long use is not proof that something works, and it is not proof that it is safe. Nearly all the research is in test tubes and rodents, so human proof is thin.
No one has shown in people how African peach works, or whether it works at all.
The root and bark hold indole alkaloids, a group of plant nitrogen compounds. In test tubes, some of these slow the malaria parasite. They also slow some bacteria in lab dishes.
In rats and mice, root bark extracts have eased pain and lowered fever. Part of that effect appears to act through opioid-like pathways in the brain. This is animal work, and it may not carry over to people.
Animal studies also point to calmer gut muscle. That may be the root of the old use for cramps and loose stools. It has not been tested properly in humans.
One more point matters a great deal. In 2013, researchers reported tramadol, a strong painkiller drug, in root bark from northern Cameroon. Later work traced it to farm contamination in the soil, not to the plant.
Root samples from other regions did not contain it. Still, pain relief felt after taking some root bark may not come from the plant at all.
The most common form is dried root bark, boiled in water to make a bitter drink.
Other forms you may meet: - Stem bark, dried and boiled the same way - Leaf infusion, steeped like a tea - Powdered bark, sold loose in markets - Chewing sticks cut from twigs, used to clean teeth - The ripe fruit, eaten as food - Capsules and tinctures, sold online by a few sellers
Market bark is rarely labelled with a species name. Mix-ups with related trees do happen. Dust, mould and soil residue are also common in loose bark.
Capsules are not better by default. Very few give a tested strength, and almost none name the plant part used.
African peach has been used across the West African savanna for generations. The belt runs from Senegal and Mali east to Nigeria, Cameroon and Sudan.
Hausa speakers call it tafashiya. Yoruba speakers call it egbesi. It appears in several national lists of traditional plants.
Healers boiled the root bark for fever and malaria. The same drink was given for belly pain, loose stools and toothache. Some used it for fits, and some for low energy after illness.
Twigs were cut as tooth sticks to clean the mouth. The ripe fruit was eaten by children and travellers.
In some places it was given to women in labour. That history is one reason it is treated as unsafe in pregnancy today.
This record tells you the plant mattered to people. It does not tell you the plant worked, and it is not a reason to dose yourself.
Stop and see a doctor if you feel worse in any way.
Get care the same day for: - Fever that lasts more than a day, or any fever with chills and sweats - Yellow eyes or yellow skin (jaundice, a sign of liver trouble) - Dark urine, or passing much less urine than usual - Vomiting that will not stop - Severe belly pain
Call emergency services for heavy drowsiness you cannot shake off, confusion, slow or shallow breathing, or a seizure.
In the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, it is not approved as a medicine. It may be sold as a plant product or supplement, with no health claims allowed. In several West African countries it is sold freely in markets and listed in national traditional medicine records.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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