Ashitaba

The Amazing Longevity Herb
Did you know there is a plant with such strong life force that if you pluck a leaf today, a new one will sprout tomorrow? This amazing plant is ashitaba.

Ashita means tomorrow and ba means leaf in Japanese. Native to Japan's Hachijo Island, ashitaba has long been used by the island's inhabitants as both food and medicine. Because of its strong life force, ashitaba is well known as a longevity herb.

Ashitaba is renowned for its healing properties, and the Japanese use it to improve overall health.

In traditional medicine, ashitaba is a rejuvenating food that contributes to long life. Hachijo Island used to be a place of exile for convicts during the Edo period. Despite hard labor and poor diets, the convicts lived long lives. Their unlikely longevity was attributed to the continual consumption of ashitaba, for which they foraged.

Superb Nutrition
Flavonoids
Flavonoids are naturally occurring plant pigments with antioxidant effects. Some flavonoids have been linked to a reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and stroke. Luteolin 7-glucoside and isoquercitrin are among the different flavonoids present in ashitaba.

Coumarins
Coumarins are potent antioxidants with anticancer properties. They are particularly abundant in ashitaba. An example of a coumarin in ashitaba is laserpitin.

Chlorophyll
Ashitaba is rich in chlorophyll, the green pigment present in plants and responsible for collecting and storing energy from the sun. Chlorophyll stimulates the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the body's tissues. It is also excellent for cleansing the blood and liver and promotes the growth of friendly intestinal bacteria. Chlorophyll has antioxidant properties and helps prevent DNA damage, thereby inhibiting cancer activation.

Chalcones
Cut ashitaba's stem and a sticky yellow sap flows out. This sap is very precious - only a few milligrams can be collected from the cross section of the stem. The sap is mostly made up of chalcones, which are yellow pigments. Many of ashitaba's health-promoting benefits have been attributed to chalcones.

The two main types of chalcones in ashitaba root are exanthoangelol and 4-hydroxyderricin. These two chalcones are also polyphenols. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants and help fight free radical damage.

Cancer Prevention
In vivo and in vitro tests have shown exanthoangelol and 4-hydroxyderricin to be promising anticancer agents. They inhibit tumor growth and spread and prolong lives of animal models with lung cancer. Isobavachalcone induces cancer cell death in human neuroblastoma (a cancer that arises in immature nerve cells and affects mostly infants and children) without killing normal cells.

4-hydroxyderricin  prevents the decrease of cancer-fighting cells-lymphocytes, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and natural killer T cells - in the spleen of tumor-removed mice. It also exhibits potent cytotoxic activities against leukaemia, melanoma, and cancers of the lung and stomach.

Ashitaba chalcones inhibit the spread of liver cancer cells in mice. Isobavachalcone also inhibits skin tumor promotion in experimental studies.

Antioxidant Effects
Free radical damage is linked to aging, inflammation, and diseases like cancer. Chalcones in ashitaba, such as exanthokeismins A-C and exanthoangelol B, have potent antioxidant effects to fight free radical damage. Ashitaba seeds contain ashitabaol A, an antioxidative sesquiterpenoid that exhibits free radical scavenging activity.

Anti-allergy Effect
Xanthoangelol B, xanthoangelol C, and Xanthoangelol E in ashitaba inhibit histamine release, which can prevent an allergic reaction.

Blood Glucose
Ashitaba is a promising functional food for regulating blood glucose levels because it contains abundant amounts of 4-hydroexderricin and xanthoangelol.

Results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study show that chonic intake of ashitaba powder containing 4-hydroxyderricin is safe, moderately reduces blood glucose, and improves blood glucose control in subjects with mild hyperglycemia.

Bone Health
Ashitaba helps promote bone formation and increase bone mass. As such, it is a promising ingredient for treating osteoporosis and preventing osteopenia, a condition considered a precursor to osteoporosis. An individual with osteopenia has a lower bone mineral density than normal.

Cardiovascular Health
Ashitaba may help to alleviate hyperlipidemia, or high blood cholesterol level. In experimental studies, the herb has been shown to lower total cholesterol as well as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol ("Bad" cholesterol) and triglycerides, both of which contribute to hardening and narrowing of arteries. Laserpitin, a coumarin in ashitaba, raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ("good" cholesterol) levels.

Both 4-hydroxyderricin and laserpitin have been shown to lower liver far content in experimental studies.

Gastrointestinal Health
Ashitaba restores balance to the digestive tract and generally acts as a digestive tonic. It improves digestion and speeds up waste elimination. It may help those with weak digestion or with gastric or duodenal ulcers.

As a natural diuretic, ashitaba helps remove toxins from the body.

Immunity
Before vaccination was introduced in Japan, ashitaba was used to cure and prevent smallpox. Modern research has confirmed ashitaba's powerful infection-fighting ability. Xanthoangelol and 4-hydroxyderricin show antibacterial activity against gram-positive pathogenic bacteria.

Nervous System
Chalcones have also been found to stimulate the production of nerve growth factor (NGF), which is essential in the development and survival of certain nerve cells in the peripheral and central nervous systems. NGF is believed to have the potential to alleviate Alzheimer's disease and peripheral neuropathy. An experimental study conducted in Japan showed a 20% increase in NGF concentration after subjects took ashitaba for just four days.

Weight Management
Visceral fat, also known as abdominal fat, has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer. Evidence from a human clinical study and from experimental studies indicates that ashitaba chalcones may help reduce visceral fat.

Xanthoangelol helps to enhance fat metabolism while 4-hydroxyderricin works to inhibit fat accumulation.

Wound Healing Agent
The sap of ashitaba stems and roots, used externally, prevents wound infection, promotes healing, and treats various skin conditions, such as athlete's foot. It also helps to repel insects and prevent infection in insect bites.

Modern science has confirmed ashitaba's astounding array of health benefits, further enhancing ashitaba's well-deserved reputation as a longevity herb. Add ashitaba to your diet today to maintain good overall health!