What is Utazi?

Utazi is the bitter leaf of a climbing vine from West Africa. Its Latin name is Gongronema latifolium. Cooks slice the leaves into soups, and home healers use the same leaves as a remedy.

People take utazi most often for blood sugar, for an upset stomach, and to help the body settle after childbirth. It is also used as a bitter tonic to wake up the appetite.

Here is the short verdict. Utazi is a well-loved staple of one tradition, but good human trials are almost missing. Long traditional use is not proof that a plant works, and that is true here.

How does Utazi work?

No one has proved how utazi works in people. The ideas below come from lab dishes and animal studies, not from patients.

The leaf holds bitter plant compounds. Bitter tastes can make the mouth and gut produce more juices, which may explain the old use for poor appetite.

In rats and mice, leaf extracts lowered blood sugar and calmed swelling in tissue. Some work suggests the leaf slows how fast the gut breaks starch into sugar. Whether any of this happens at the amounts a person eats is still unknown.

What forms does Utazi come in?

Fresh leaf is the main form. You can buy it in West African markets, and in African food shops abroad. Cooks shred it thin and drop it into soup near the end of cooking.

Dried leaf and leaf powder are also sold. People stir the powder into warm water, or add it to food.

Capsules and liquid extracts turn up online. Their strength is rarely tested or printed on the label, so two bottles may not match.

Some people chew one small fresh leaf on its own. Others soak leaves in water overnight and drink the water in the morning.

Where it comes from:

Utazi comes from the forest belt of West Africa. It has been eaten and used as a home remedy in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon for a very long time.

Among the Igbo it is called utazi, among the Efik utasi, and among the Yoruba arokeke. It flavours pepper soup, nkwobi and isi ewu.

Women have long taken it after giving birth. It also had a place in home care for stomach trouble, worms and fever.

What does Utazi help with?

• Poor appetite and indigestion: This is the use with the best fit to what the plant does. Bitter foods have long been used to wake up the appetite. Utazi is strongly bitter, and West African cooks use it this way every day. No trial has tested it for indigestion in people.
• Blood sugar support in type 2 diabetes (a long-term high blood sugar problem): This is the most studied use, but the studies are in rats and mice, not people. Extracts lowered blood sugar in those animals. We could not find a solid human trial. Utazi is not a replacement for diabetes medicine, and mixing the two can push your sugar too low.
• Recovery after childbirth: Traditional use is strong here. In parts of Nigeria, women eat utazi soup in the weeks after birth to help the womb settle and to build appetite. There is no human trial evidence for this. Because of that same womb-related use, it should be avoided during pregnancy.
• Fever and malaria, in traditional use only: Home use for fever is old and widespread. Lab work shows some action against malaria parasites in a dish. That is a long way from treating a person. Malaria is dangerous and needs proper testing and proper drugs.
• Worms in the gut, in traditional use only: Bitter leaves were often used against worms in West African home care. Evidence is limited to laboratory work. If you think you have worms, a doctor can test for them and give a medicine that is known to work.

Which foods are rich in Utazi?

1. Nigerian pepper soup: shredded utazi is added near the end for its bitter edge
2. Isi ewu and nkwobi: utazi is the classic garnish on both dishes
3. Abacha and ugba (African salad): thin strips of utazi are mixed through
4. Ofe nsala (white soup): utazi gives the dish its bitter note

Practical Tips:

In these dishes utazi is a flavouring, not a dose, and the amount each person eats is small.

What are the side effects of Utazi?

• Very bitter taste, which some people cannot tolerate
• Nausea (a sick feeling) when taken on an empty stomach
• Loose stools or stomach cramps at large amounts
• Low blood sugar signs such as shaking, sweating and confusion, mainly if you also take diabetes medicine
• Light-headedness, reported with large amounts
• Mouth rash or itching, in rare cases of allergy

Good to know:

In normal food amounts, utazi is eaten daily by many people and is generally well tolerated. Most complaints are mild and come from the strong bitter taste.

The risks rise with concentrated capsules and extracts. Animal studies using high doses over weeks showed changes in liver and kidney tests, and changes in the male reproductive organs. Those doses were far above food levels, but they are a good reason not to megadose.

How much Utazi should you take?

• Recommended daily: There is no established or tested dose. Nothing here is a proven treatment amount. As food, people use a small handful of shredded fresh leaves in a pot of soup shared by several people. As a home tea, one to two teaspoons of dried leaf in a cup of hot water is common. Commercial capsules vary a lot in strength. If you use one, follow the label and do not double up.
• Best time of day: For appetite, take it shortly before a meal so the bitter taste can do its work. Otherwise take it at any time of day that you will remember.
• With or without food: Best taken with food or as part of a meal. On an empty stomach the bitterness can cause nausea (a sick feeling) in some people.
• Time to effect: The bitter effect on appetite is felt in minutes. Any other effect, if it happens at all, has not been measured in people, so no honest time can be given.
• How long to take it: Food amounts in cooking are used all year round. If you are taking it as a daily remedy, keep it short. Two to four weeks is a sensible limit, then stop and see how you feel. Check in with a doctor before you go past that, especially if you have diabetes or a liver problem.