Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
What is false cotton, or yellow root?
False cotton is a small shrub of the dry West African savannah. Its thick underground root is bright yellow inside. In Hausa it is called rawaya, a name that points to that colour.
The root is used both as a folk medicine and as a yellow dye. Healers gave it for jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), fever, stomach upset and liver trouble. The same root colours food, cloth, soap and skin creams.
Here is the honest verdict on the evidence. Nearly all of it comes from test tubes and from rats and mice. Long traditional use is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
How is it thought to work?
No one has shown what this root does inside the human body. Lab work gives hints only.
In test tubes, root extracts mop up free radicals (unstable molecules that damage cells). In rodents given a liver poison, extracts lowered some blood markers of liver damage. Whether the same thing happens in people has not been tested.
In lab dishes, extracts slow the growth of some bacteria and of the malaria parasite. These are dish results. They do not show that the root treats an infection in a person.
Animal studies have also reported lower blood sugar and less swelling in injured paws. Those findings are early. Treat them as questions for research, not as reasons to use the root.
What forms does it come in?
Most use is of the dried root, sold in West African markets.
Common forms are: - Dried root pieces or sticks - Coarse yellow root powder - Water decoctions made by boiling the root - Root soaked in water or in local spirits - Powder blended into soap, cream or food colouring
Capsules and tinctures turn up online, mostly as imports. These are rarely tested for purity or strength. Mislabelling and mixing with other roots are real risks with market herbs.
What did tradition claim for it?
Yellow root has a long, well-recorded place in West African folk medicine. It was used across Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Healers gave root decoctions for jaundice, fever, malaria, stomach pain and worms. The bright colour helped drive its use for liver and bile complaints, in line with the old idea that like treats like. It was also given as a bitter tonic to lift appetite.
Outside medicine, the root dyed cloth, coloured butter and shea products, and tinted cosmetics. That food and cosmetic use is why many people meet it first as a pigment. None of this history tells you whether it helps or harms a sick person today.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop taking it and get medical help if you notice: - Yellow skin or eyes, or yellowing that gets worse - Dark urine or pale stools - Pain under your right ribs - Repeated vomiting, or vomit with blood - A fever that lasts more than two days - Shaking chills, confusion or drowsiness - A spreading rash, or swelling of the face or throat
Go to an emergency department for confusion, breathing trouble or a fever with a stiff neck. In a malaria area, treat any fever as urgent. Children with fever need to be seen the same day.
In the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, this root is not approved as a medicine. Any product sold there is a food supplement or a dye, and makers may not claim it treats disease. In West African countries it is sold openly in markets as a herb and pigment, with little or no quality control.
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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