aguaje
Quick Facts
- What it is: Aguaje is the orange Amazon palm fruit Mauritia flexuosa, eaten as food and sold in capsules for unproven hormone claims.
- Main uses: Vitamin A and carotenoid intake, Skin and hair oil, Traditional use for women's complaints, Marketed for body shape, without evidence
- Active ingredients: Beta-carotene and other carotenoids, Oleic acid, Tocopherols (vitamin E), Phytosterols, Vitamin C, Fibre
- Forms: Fresh fruit, Pulp drink (aguajina), Frozen or powdered pulp, Buriti oil, Capsules and tablets, Creams and hair oils
- Time to effect: Weeks for vitamin A status; the hormone claims may never show any effect.
- Side effects: Usually mild: loose stools, stomach upset, and an orange skin tint with heavy use.
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What is aguaje?
Aguaje is the fruit of the moriche palm, Mauritia flexuosa. The palm grows in swampy ground across the Amazon basin. In Peru, Brazil and Colombia the fruit is an everyday food.
The fruit is small and egg-shaped, with red scaly skin. Inside is soft orange flesh with a mild, oily taste. People eat it fresh, drink it as a pulp drink, or press it for oil.
It is one of the richest plant sources of beta-carotene known. Your body turns beta-carotene into vitamin A. That nutrition role is solid and well measured.
Outside the Amazon it is sold in capsules as a "female hormone" or curve-boosting pill. Human evidence for those claims is close to zero. Long traditional use is not proof that a remedy works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
How does aguaje work?
The one clear thing aguaje does is deliver vitamin A. The orange pulp is loaded with carotenoids. Your gut converts these into vitamin A, which your eyes, skin and immune system need.
The hormone story is a different matter. Chemists have found plant sterols in the pulp and oil. In test-tube work some plant sterols can bind weakly to estrogen receptors, the docking points for a female sex hormone.
That is a laboratory finding, not a result in people. No good human trial has measured hormone levels after eating aguaje. Claims about breast or hip size are marketing, not science.
Buriti oil has shown antioxidant activity in test tubes. In animal studies it has helped wounds close faster. Whether either effect happens on human skin is not established.
The fat in the fruit may also help you absorb the carotenoids. Carotenoids need fat to cross the gut wall. Aguaje brings its own, which makes it a useful food source of vitamin A.
What forms does aguaje come in?
Fresh fruit is the main form where the palm grows. It is peeled and eaten plain or soaked in water first.
Aguajina or refresco: a thick drink made from the soaked pulp, often sweetened. Sold from street carts across the Peruvian Amazon.
Frozen or powdered pulp: used for ice cream, jam, sweets and smoothies.
Buriti oil: pressed from the pulp. Used in cooking locally, and in soaps, sun products and hair oils abroad.
Capsules and tablets: dried pulp powder or extract, usually sold for the hormone and curve claims.
Skin and hair products: creams, balms and oils that list buriti oil on the label.
Quality control on exported capsules is patchy. Some products do not state how much pulp they actually contain.
Where it comes from:
Aguaje has been eaten in the Amazon for centuries. Indigenous groups in Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela treated the palm as a staple. It fed people, and its leaves and stems were used for roofs, mats and fibre.
The moriche palm was called the "tree of life" in parts of the region. Harvest and trade of the fruit supported whole river towns.
Traditional healers used the pulp and oil for burns, dry skin and sore eyes. Oil was rubbed on wounds. Some communities linked the fruit to women's health and to a fuller figure.
The modern "female hormone" marketing grew out of that folk link. It spread through Peruvian city markets and then online. The export trade in capsules is recent, not ancient.
Who should avoid aguaje?
- Do not take high-dose aguaje or beta-carotene capsules if you smoke, used to smoke, or have been exposed to asbestos. High-dose beta-carotene supplements raised lung cancer risk in these groups.
- Do not use aguaje capsules or oil supplements if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, unless your doctor or midwife approves. The fruit as an occasional food is a different matter.
- Do not add aguaje capsules if you take isotretinoin or acitretin (vitamin A-type drugs for acne or psoriasis).
- Do not take aguaje capsules alongside vitamin A supplements or cod liver oil without checking your total intake with a pharmacist.
- Do not use aguaje supplements if you have a hormone-sensitive cancer, such as some breast or womb cancers, unless your cancer team agrees.
- Avoid aguaje supplements if you have liver disease, since extra vitamin A load can add strain.
- Do not use it if you have had an allergic reaction to aguaje or buriti oil.
- Never use buriti oil as a sunscreen or as a treatment for a deep or infected wound.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop and see a doctor if you get a rash, itching, swelling of the lips or face, or trouble breathing. That can be an allergic reaction and needs urgent care.
See a doctor if the whites of your eyes turn yellow. An orange palm tint from carotene is harmless, but yellow eyes can mean liver trouble.
Get checked if you have ongoing diarrhoea, belly pain or vomiting after using the oil or capsules.
See a doctor rather than self-treating if you have menopause symptoms, missed periods, unexplained breast changes or vision problems. These need a proper assessment.
Is aguaje legal where you live?
In Peru, Brazil and Colombia aguaje is an ordinary food sold in markets. In the United States, the UK and the EU it is sold as a food or dietary supplement, not as an approved medicine. Some aguaje products may need novel food clearance before sale in the EU and UK.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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