Wild Sarsaparilla
Quick Facts
- What it is: The root of a North American woodland plant in the ginseng family, used in folk and Eclectic herbal medicine.
- Main uses: Skin complaints, Coughs, Spring tonic for tiredness, Joint aches, Drink flavouring
- Active ingredients: Triterpene saponins, Polyacetylenes, Volatile oil, Tannins, Plant sterols
- Forms: Dried rhizome for tea, Tincture, Capsules, Cough syrups, Root beer flavouring
- Time to effect: No proven effect; it may do nothing.
- Side effects: Mostly mild stomach upset; rash or allergy is rare.
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What is Wild Sarsaparilla?
What is wild sarsaparilla?
Wild sarsaparilla is a small woodland plant from eastern North America. Herbalists use the creeping underground stem, called the rhizome. It is not the true sarsaparilla of old root beer drinks.
True sarsaparilla comes from tropical Smilax vines. Wild sarsaparilla sits in the ginseng family instead. Shops and old books have mixed up the two names for a long time.
Folk and Eclectic healers used it as a spring tonic, a cough syrup and a wash for sores. Human evidence for any of these uses is almost absent. Long use in tradition is not proof that a remedy works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
How does Wild Sarsaparilla work?
How is it thought to work?
No one has shown how wild sarsaparilla acts in the human body. No human trials have tested it.
The root holds soapy compounds called saponins. In test tubes, saponins from many plants can slow some bacteria and fungi. Whether this happens in a person is not known.
Lab work on Aralia plants also points to mild anti-inflammatory action (calming of swelling and redness). That work used cells and animals, not people. Results in a dish often fail to repeat in the body.
Old writers called the root a "blood purifier". That phrase has no modern meaning and no test behind it.
What forms does Wild Sarsaparilla come in?
How is it sold?
You will mostly meet it as dried root, a tincture or capsules. It also turns up in blended products.
Forms sold for home use:
- Dried cut rhizome, simmered as a decoction (a long-brewed root tea). - Liquid tincture made with alcohol. - Capsules of powdered root.
Other products that may hold it:
- Cough syrups and mixed herb blends. - Old-style root beer drinks, where it is used for flavour only.
Many products labelled "sarsaparilla" hold Smilax root, not this plant. Others hold Indian sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus). Look for the Latin name Aralia nudicaulis on the label.
Where it comes from:
What did tradition claim?
Eastern Woodlands peoples used the root for wounds, coughs and tiredness. Settlers copied those uses and added their own.
Nineteenth-century Eclectic doctors in the United States listed it as an "alterative". That old word meant a remedy thought to slowly clean the blood.
It was also brewed as a spring tonic and carried as a trail drink. None of this was tested the way medicines are tested today.
Who should avoid Wild Sarsaparilla?
- Do not use if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, as safety in pregnancy is unknown.
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding.
- Do not give it to babies or young children.
- Avoid it if you are allergic to ivy, ginseng or other plants in the Araliaceae family.
- Do not start it in the two weeks before planned surgery, and tell your surgeon if you have been taking it.
- Do not use it alongside lithium (a mood-stabilising drug) unless your prescriber agrees.
- Do not use it in place of treatment for eczema, a chest infection or arthritis.
- Never eat the plant's blue-black berries, which are not a food.
- Avoid wild-picked root unless an expert has identified the plant, as look-alikes grow in the same woods.
When should you see a doctor?
When should you see a doctor?
Stop taking it and get urgent help if your lips, tongue or throat swell, or if breathing becomes hard. Those are signs of a serious allergic reaction.
Stop and book an appointment if you get a new rash, lasting stomach pain or ongoing diarrhoea.
See a doctor rather than self-treating if a cough lasts more than three weeks, if a skin problem spreads or weeps, or if joint pain keeps you from normal activity.
Is Wild Sarsaparilla legal where you live?
In the United States it is sold as a dietary supplement and as a food flavouring. It is not approved as a drug for any condition. In Canada it may appear in licensed natural health products, and in the UK and EU it is sold as a food supplement with no approved health claims.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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