Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Dawadawa bark is the bark of the African locust bean tree, Parkia biglobosa. The tree grows across the dry savanna belt of West Africa. In Hausa it is called dorowa.
Most people know this tree for its seeds. Fermented, the seeds become dawadawa, a dark, strong-smelling cooking condiment. The bark is a separate folk remedy, and it is not a food.
Healers boiled the bark for wounds, loose stools, fever and toothache. Long use is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
Here is the plain verdict. There are no good human trials of the bark for any health problem. Almost everything known comes from test tubes and from rats.
No one has shown what dawadawa bark does inside the human body.
In laboratory tests, bark extracts slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. Whether that happens on skin or in the gut is not known.
In rats, bark extracts have lowered blood pressure in some studies. Other rodent work points to lower blood sugar. Rodent results often do not carry over to people.
The bark is rich in tannins. Tannins bind proteins and give that dry, puckering taste. In theory this astringent action could firm up loose stools.
That idea fits the old use, but it is a guess. It has not been tested in people in any trial we can point to.
The bark is sold mostly as dried pieces or as a coarse powder.
Forms you may meet: - Dried bark pieces, boiled into a decoction - Ground bark powder - Bark steeped in water or in local spirits - A paste or wash put on the skin - Capsules sold by a few online sellers
None of these forms is standardised. You cannot judge strength from the label.
Do not confuse the bark with the food. Dawadawa the condiment is made from fermented seeds. It is an ordinary West African food and is not the subject of this page.
Parkia biglobosa has been a central tree in West African village life for centuries. Farmers protected it on their land for its pods, seeds and shade.
Healers in Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana and Senegal used the bark widely. Bark decoctions were given for loose stools, fever and stomach pain.
Washes and pastes were put on wounds, sores and burns. The bark was also used in mouth rinses, likely for its astringent taste.
Other written records list use for toothache, chest complaints and "high blood". In some areas the bark was part of treatment for malaria fever.
Most of what we know comes from surveys of healers. These records say what people did. They do not say what worked.
Stop using it and see a doctor if any of these happen: - Your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow - Your urine turns dark, or you pass much less urine - You have severe stomach pain or keep vomiting - There is blood in your stool - You get a rash, swelling of the lips or trouble breathing
Get urgent care if a fever lasts more than two days, or if a child with diarrhoea becomes floppy, sunken-eyed or stops passing urine.
Also call your doctor if you feel faint, shaky or sweaty, which can mean low blood sugar or low blood pressure.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, dawadawa bark is sold as a herbal product, not an approved medicine. No regulator has reviewed it for safety or for effect.
The fermented seed condiment is an ordinary food in West Africa and in African food shops abroad.
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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