In common with things such as ginseng and taurine, guarana has recently become a very fashionable word to bandy about. I’m sure you know the kind of thing I mean – stuff you get in energy drinks, the kind of things style magazines tell you are cool because they give you a buzz. The trouble is, none of them really tells you what these substances are actually about, and while in this case it’s not a particular problem, as guarana isn’t really hazardous, I think that all herbal supplements should be treated with a little respect. At the very least, you should know a little bit about them before you start to gobble them up…
So anyway, to get to the point, what is guarana? Well, first up, Paullinia cupana, as it is officially known, is a climbing shrub which originates in the Amazon basin, and supplies nowadays nearly all still originate from this area, either collected naturally or grown on government plantations. It is the seed of the fruit that is used. This seed is traditionally normally dried, roasted and made into a paste with water. It has been used for its medicinal properties, especially for helping with bowel complaints, by native peoples of the area for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It was also commonly used to
aid travel over long distances – hard sticks of a chocolately nature were normally carried, enabling tribes people to travel easily for two or three days without food.
In common with many herbs and plants from this area of the world, guarana has many varied and complementary effects. In the West it is largely known as a stimulant – its primary stimulatory constituent is actually natural caffeine (also known as guaranine in this context). However, this stimulatory effect is much greater than that of the equivalent dose of artificial caffeine, as the herb contains a range of other phenolic compounds, giving a holistic effect. These chemicals work on the central nervous system, and as well as acting as a mental stimulant, also help the body burn fat cells, giving a physical energy boost. They also have some other related neurological effects, especially as a nervine (soothing to the nerves) tonic, helping to relieve headaches, especially ones resulting from menstruation, hangovers and neuralgia. So it's actually a very effective general tonic too.
Guarana also contains a whole host of other xanthines (caffeine is a type of xanthine), which add to its efficiency as a physical booster, increasing stamina and endurance. Primary effects of these include aiding the removal of lactic acid from the muscles and acting as a muscle relaxant, increasing blood sugar levels, slowing the pulse and suppressing exercise-induced hypoglycaemia, as well as acting as a diuretic (something I don’t need, given the amount of tea I drink) and suppressing appetite (although this probably isn’t a beneficial effect in many cases – I think under normal conditions, when your body tells you to eat, you should eat). For these reasons it has recently become especially popular amongst athletes and other sports-people.
In addition to its stimulant and nervine effects, guarana also has a wide range of medicinal effects (and is attributed with a whole lot more). It is largely effective when treating fevers, diarrhoea and leucorrhoea (a white, mucous vaginal discharge, the actual nature of which I know nothing of), as well as being used as an astringent in various parts of the world. In Brazil, where it is used to make the national drink, guarana soda (no idea what this tastes like), it is attributed with properties including fighting heat fatigue and premature ageing, as well as detoxifying the blood. It is also held to be useful for flatulence, obesity, dyspepsia, fatigue and arteriosclerosis. Although I wouldn’t really know about those… I’m young, slim (well, thin), and definitely non-toxic. It also has antioxidant properties and is an anti-aggregant, helping thin the blood and prevent and break-up blood clots.
Guarana is pretty easy to get hold of at the moment. Personally, I’d recommend either getting a raw (usually powder or seeds) from an ethnobotanical supplier, or your standard tablet type supplement from a shop such as Holland And Barret (usually just crushed up seed). In this case, it is often thought to be better not to get a standardised extract (not that I’ve been able to find one anyway), as it has been shown that a large number of unscrupulous manufacturers have just been using a tiny quantity of seed, adding caffeine, and calling it guarana - this is not only illegal, but pretty much defeats the purpose, as you loose all the holistic and tonic effects. You may as well just drink a cup of coffee… the same is often true (perhaps more often) in the case of energy drinks, etc – a strong dose of artificial caffeine with little or no actual guarana extract. If you require a strong stimulant effect, it may be best to find a coffee made of guarana – this is commonly drunk in Brazil, and is also said to be highly refreshing. In fact, I think that guarana coffee is usually just said to be ‘very effective’ on most herbal sites – usually a very good sign ;).
Personally, I take a tablet once a day with my breakfast, and find it gives a good morning (or in my case, afternoon) energy boost, although I don’t really notice a stimulatory effects as such – I’m very tolerant to caffeine. I’d also highly recommend it as a general health tonic. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), I’ve never had to test it on a particular ailment, so I can’t really comment on its effects under those circumstances. I’ve only been taking it for a month or two, but I definitely feel that it has a daily beneficial effect, especially as I always used to feel generally yucky and lethargic so several hours after getting up – now I feel right as rain (although not the kind of yellowish rain you get around where I live).
As always with herbal supplements, and medicine in general, guarana’s effects can vary from person to person. The answer in this case is to try it and see I think – it’s certainly done wonders for my morning syndrome – especially as it as no side effects that I know of. I guess the only way you’d have to be careful is if you are especially sensitive to caffeine.
Anyway, I hope this op has provided some helpful information, and there’s certainly a lot more out there. I’d definitely recommend this stuff to anyone, even the most energetic of people, as whether you need an energy boost or not, its great for it’s general tonic properties.
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May 29th, 2001
(Oct 24th, 2001)
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