What is Sweet gum?

What is sweet gum?

Sweet gum is a tall American tree, Liquidambar styraciflua. When the trunk is cut, it bleeds a sticky, fragrant resin. That resin is the medicine, and it is sold as American storax or styrax.

The tree is also called bilsted. Its spiky seed balls and bark were used in folk remedies too. The resin smells sweet and balsamic, a bit like cinnamon and vanilla.

Folk healers and Eclectic doctors used it mostly on the skin. They also used it in cough syrups and as an incense. Today you are most likely to meet it inside compound benzoin tincture, a skin varnish sold in pharmacies.

Here is the honest verdict. There are almost no human trials of sweet gum for any health problem. Long use in a tradition is not proof that something works, and it is not proof that it is safe.

What we do know well is the risk side. Storax is a recognised cause of allergic skin rashes. That part is well documented in people.

How does Sweet gum work?

How is it supposed to work?

Most of what is claimed about sweet gum comes from the lab, not from patients.

The resin is rich in cinnamic acid and its esters. In test tubes, these slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. Whether that happens on human skin at safe amounts has not been shown.

On a wound, the resin dries into a sticky film. That film is a physical barrier and helps dressings stick. This effect is simple and easy to observe, and it does not depend on any drug action.

In cell and animal studies, extracts of the bark and seed pods appear to calm some markers of inflammation. These studies do not tell you what will happen in a person.

One point needs to be cleared up. The seed balls contain shikimic acid, which chemists use as a starting material to build oseltamivir (Tamiflu, a flu drug). The building happens in a factory over many steps.

Shikimic acid is not an antiviral itself. Drinking tea from sweet gum balls does not make Tamiflu in your body. Do not treat the pods as a flu remedy.

What forms does Sweet gum come in?

What forms does it come in?

You will most often meet sweet gum as an ingredient in something else, not on its own.

Common forms: - Compound benzoin tincture, a pharmacy skin varnish that contains storax - Raw resin or balsam, sold by weight - Salves and ointments for skin - Tinctures in alcohol - Dried seed pods sold for folk teas - Incense sticks and cones - Fragrance and flavour in soap, perfume and some foods

Resin sold as "storax" may come from the Asian tree Liquidambar orientalis instead. The two are used in much the same way. Labels often do not say which one you have.

Food-grade styrax used as a flavour is a tiny amount. That is a different situation from smearing resin on your skin.

Where it comes from:

Where does it come from?

Sweet gum resin has a long record in American folk practice and in pharmacy.

Native peoples of the southeastern United States used the resin and bark. Settlers picked up the habit and chewed the hardened gum. Writers from the 1600s onward describe it as a wound dressing.

Nineteenth-century Eclectic physicians listed it as a stimulating balsam. They put it in ointments for itch and scabies. They also added it to syrups for coughs and to washes for sore throats.

Storax held a place in official drug books, including the United States Pharmacopeia, for many years. Its main surviving medical role is as one part of compound benzoin tincture.

It was also burned as incense and used in perfume. That use continues today.

These are historical records of what people did. They are not a recommendation that you do the same.

What does Sweet gum help with?

• Minor cuts and grazes: This is the use with the clearest basis. The resin dries to a sticky film over the skin. That film acts as a simple barrier. In lab tests, the cinnamic acid parts slow some bacteria. It is not known whether that helps a real wound. Sweet gum does not replace cleaning a wound. Deep, dirty or gaping wounds need medical care.
• Helping dressings stick: Compound benzoin tincture, which contains storax, is widely used in hospitals for this. Painted on skin, it gets tacky and grips tape. This is a practical, well-known effect. It is not a treatment for any disease. It is also the setting where allergic rashes are most often reported.
• Itchy skin and scabies: Eclectic doctors mixed the resin into ointments for the itch of scabies. Storax ointments appear in old formularies. There are no modern trials backing this. Safe and proven scabies treatments exist, and a doctor should direct them. Using resin instead can delay real treatment and spread the mites to others.
• Coughs and chest congestion: The resin was added to cough syrups and steam inhalations. The warm, balsamic smell was thought to loosen phlegm. No human trials test sweet gum for cough. Any benefit may be the comfort of warm steam. Inhaled resin fumes can irritate the airways in some people.
• Sore throat: Tinctures and gargles containing storax appear in old American practice. The claim was that it soothed and dried the throat. There is no human evidence for this. Swallowing resin-containing tinctures is not well studied.
• Diarrhoea and dysentery: Bark teas were taken for loose bowels, likely because of the tannins. Tannins do bind and tighten tissue in lab settings. No trials support this use in people. Diarrhoea that lasts, or comes with blood or fever, needs a doctor.
• Incense and fragrance: Burning storax for scent is its oldest and least controversial use. No health claim is attached. Smoke of any kind irritates the lungs. People with asthma should be careful around it.

What are the side effects of Sweet gum?

• Allergic skin rash, with redness and itching
• Blistering or weeping skin where it was applied
• Burning or stinging on contact
• Lasting skin sensitivity after repeated use
• Rash in places the product never touched, in strong reactions
• Airway irritation from fumes or smoke
• Stomach upset or nausea if swallowed
• Rare whole-body allergic reaction

Good to know:

Skin allergy is the main concern, and it is well documented.

Storax belongs to the balsam of Peru family of fragrance allergens. These show up often in patch testing clinics. If you react once, you are likely to react again, and often more strongly.

Most reactions stay local and settle after you stop. Swelling of the face or lips, or trouble breathing, is an emergency.

How much Sweet gum should you take?

• Recommended daily: There is no established dose of sweet gum for any health purpose. For the pharmacy product that contains it, labels for compound benzoin tincture say to apply a thin layer to clean, intact skin, then let it dry. That is a label instruction for that product, not advice for you. No reliable amount exists for taking the resin by mouth. Old recipes vary wildly and were never tested for safety. If you are thinking about internal use, ask a pharmacist or doctor first.
• Best time of day: Time of day does not matter for skin use. Apply when the skin is clean and dry. That is the only timing point that counts.
• With or without food: This does not apply to skin use. If swallowed in a tincture, resins can upset an empty stomach. Since no safe oral dose is known, this page gives none.
• Time to effect: The sticky film forms in a minute or two as the alcohol dries. For every other claimed use, no honest time frame can be given. It may do nothing at all. Do not wait on a wound that is getting worse. Redness spreading, pus or fever means see a doctor.
• How long to take it: No safe length of use has been set. Skin products containing storax are meant for short, occasional use. The chance of an allergy rises the more often your skin meets it. Stop at once if any rash appears. Repeated use on the same patch of skin is the pattern most linked to reactions.