Suma Root Powder (Pfaffia paniculata)

Amazonian rain forest tribes have used Suma as a potent tonic for at least 300 years. Suma root may support vitality due to its anabolic-like substances and concentration of vitamins, trace minerals, and 19 amino acids.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to cure, treat, diagnose, or prevent any disease.

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Amazonian rain forest tribes have made use of Suma as a potent sexual tonic and energy booster for at least 300 years. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated its efficacy in stimulating sexual performance, especially when mixed with Damiana. Furthermore, the root has been highly effective in treating chronic fatigue due to its anabolic-like substances and concentration of 19 amino acids, vitamins, and trace minerals.

In South America Suma is known as Para Toda (which means "for all things") and as Brazilian ginseng, since it is widely used as an adaptogen with many applications (much as "regular" ginseng). The indigenous peoples of the Amazon region who named it Para Toda have used Suma root for generations for a wide variety of health purposes, including as a general tonic; as an energy, rejuvenating, and sexual tonic; and as a general cure-all for many types of illnesses. Suma has been used as an aphrodisiac, a calming agent, and to treat ulcers for at least 300 years. It is an important herbal remedy in the folk medicine of several rain forest Indian tribes today.

In herbal medicine throughout the world today, Suma is considered a tonic and an adaptogen. The herbal definition of an adaptogen is a plant that increases the body's resistance to adverse influences by a wide range of physical, chemical, and biochemical factors and has a normalizing or restorative effect on the body as a whole. In modern Brazilian herbal medicine practices, Suma root is employed as a cellular oxygenator and taken to stimulate appetite and circulation, increase estrogen production, balance blood sugar levels, enhance the immune system, strengthen the muscular system, and enhance memory.

In North American herbal medicine, Suma root is used as an adaptogenic and regenerative tonic regulating many systems of the body; as an immunostimulant; to treat exhaustion and chronic fatigue, impotence, arthritis, anemia, diabetes, cancer, tumors, mononucleosis, high blood pressure, PMS, menopause, and hormonal disorders, and many types of stress. In herbal medicine in Ecuador today, Suma is considered a tonic and "normalizer" for the cardiovascular system, the central nervous system, the reproductive system, and the digestive system; it is used to treat hormonal disorders, sexual dysfunction and sterility, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, circulatory and digestive disorders, rheumatism, and bronchitis. Thomas Bartram, in his book Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, reports that Suma is used in Europe to restore nerve and glandular functions, to balance the endocrine system, to strengthen the immune system, for infertility, menopausal, and menstrual symptoms, to minimize the side effects of birth control medications, for high cholesterol, to neutralize toxins, and as a general restorative tonic after illness.

Suma has also been called "the Russian secret," as it has been taken by Russian Olympic athletes for many years and has been reported to increase muscle-building and endurance without the side effects associated with steroids. This action is attributed to an anabolic-type phytochemical called beta-ecdysterone and three novel ecdysteroid glycosides that are found in high amounts in suma. Japanese researchers filed a U.S. patent in 1998 for a proprietary extract of Suma (which extracted the ecdysterone and beta-ecdysterone); it claimed (through various in vivo and in vitro studies) that their compound maintained health, enhanced the immune system, and had a tonic and an anti-allergenic effect. A French company also filed a U.S. patent on the topical use of these ecdysterone chemicals, claiming that their Suma ecdysterone extract strengthened the water barrier function of the skin, increased skin keratinocyte differentiation (which would be helpful for psoriasis), gave the skin a smoother, softer appearance and, also, improved hair appearance.

Suma root has a very high saponin content (up to 11%). In phytochemistry, plant saponins are well known to have a wide spectrum of activities including lowering blood cholesterol, inhibiting cancer cell growth, and acting as antifungal and antibacterial agents. They are also known as natural detergent and foaming agents. Phytochemists report that saponins can act by binding with bile acids and cholesterol. It is thought that these chemicals "clean" or purge these fatty compounds from the body (thus lowering blood cholesterol levels). One of the most famous plant saponins is digitalis, derived from the common foxglove garden plant, which has been used as a heart drug for over 100 years.

The specific saponins found in the roots of Suma include a group of novel phytochemicals that scientists have named pfaffosides. These saponins have clinically demonstrated the ability to inhibit cultured tumor cell melanomas (in vitro) and help to regulate blood sugar levels (in vivo). The pfaffosides and pfaffic acid derivatives in Suma were patented as antitumor compounds in several Japanese patents in the mid-1980s. In a study described in one of the patents, researchers reported that an oral dosage of 100 mg/kg (of suma saponins) given to rats was active against abdominal cancer.

The other patents and Japanese research report that the pfaffic acids found in Suma root had a strong in vitro activity against melanoma, liver carcinoma, and lung carcinoma cells at only 4-6 mcg of pfaffic acids. However, it should be noted that this equates to taking 400 to 600 g (about 1 pound) of natural Suma root daily to achieve the therapeutic dosage of pfaffic acids reported to demonstrate toxic activity against these cancer cells. As such, it will probably be left up to the pharmaceutical companies to provide synthesized versions of these chemicals in therapeutic amounts.

In addition to the pfaffic acids having anticancerous activity, recent research in Japan (in 2000) reported that natural Suma root had anti-cancerous activity as well. In this in vivo study, an oral administration of powdered Suma root (at a dosages of 750 mg/kg) was reported to inhibit the proliferation of lymphoma and leukemia in mice and, otherwise, delay mortality. Notice, however, that this antiproliferative effect slowed the growth of these cancer cells - it did not eradicate them. These researchers postulated that the inhibitory effect evidenced might be due to the enhancement of the nonspecific and/or cellular immune systems.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Suma Root is classified as an aphrodisiac, energizer, cognitive enhancer, sexual performance enhancer, and anti-cancer supplement.

If using prescription medications, seek the advice of a health care professional before using this product. Not to be taken during pregnancy or if breastfeeding. Not for use by persons under the age of 18 years. Keep out of reach of children.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to cure, treat, diagnose, or prevent any disease.