Eurycoma longifolia

This article is about the small Asian tree in the genus Eurycoma. For the tall Australian tree also known as "Long Jack", see Flindersia xanthoxyla.
Eurycoma longifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Simaroubaceae
Genus: Eurycoma
Species: E. longifolia
Binomial name
Eurycoma longifolia
Jack[1]

Eurycoma longifolia (commonly called tongkat ali or pasak bumi) is a flowering plant in the family Simaroubaceae, native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and, to a lesser extent, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. It is also known under the names penawar pahit, penawar bias, bedara merah, bedara putih, lempedu pahit, payong ali, tongkat baginda, muntah bumi, petala bumi (all Malay); bidara laut (Indonesian); babi kurus (Javanese); cây bá bệnh (Vietnamese)[2] and tho nan (Laotian).[3] Many of the common names refer to the plant's medicinal use and extreme bitterness. Penawar pahit translates simply as "bitter charm" or "bitter medicine".[4] Older literature, such as a 1953 article in the Journal of Ecology, may cite only penawar pahit as the plant's common Malay name.[5]

Botanical description

A medium size slender shrub reaching 10 m in height, often unbranched with reddish brown petioles. Leaves compound, even pinnate reaching 1 m in length. Each compound leaf consists of 30-40 leaflets, lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate. Each leaflet is about 5–20 cm long, 1.5–6 cm wide, much paler on the ventral side. Inflorecense axillary, in large brownish red panicle, very pubescent with very fine, soft, grandular trichomes. Flowers are hermaphrodite. Petals small, very fine pubescent. Drupe hard, ovoid, yellowish brown when young and brownish red when ripe.[6]

Folk medicine

A 2010 ethnopharmacological inventory study on E. longifolia stated: "The plant parts have been traditionally used for its antimalarial, aphrodisiac, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, and antipyretic activities ..."[7]

Products

General

In Malaysia, the common use of E. longifolia (apart from traditional medicine and dietary supplements) are as food and drink additive. Specifically, it is a common ingredient for coffee and functional beverage positioned as energy drinks.

Given the availability of abundant and cheap varieties of herbs (and the significant higher pricing of well-extracted E. longifolia), instances where products may falsely claim the content of its ingredient is rampant. An electronic taste sensor was devised to detect the presence and concentration of quassinoids and determine the use of genuine E longifolia.[8] This alleged taste sensor has, however, since its invention more than 10 years ago, not found entry into testing practices in laboratories. Even on Google Scholar, it is referenced only in the original article by the inventors.

Quassinoids, the biologically active components of E. longifolia root,[9][10][11] are bitter. They are named after quassin, the long-isolated bitter principle of the quassia tree. However, Eurycoma longifolia does not contain any quassin, and that quassin is bitter does not mean that every quassinoid is just as bitter. Furthermore, the most bitter substance in nature, denatonium, is readily available as a bittering agent to avoid incidental ingestion of poisons, and is probably added to fake tongkat ali extracts. Consumers are advised to treat with caution any online retailer who emphasizes bitterness as proof for a genuine product.

Adulteration

The USFDA has banned numerous products such as Libidus,[12] claiming to use E. longifolia as principal ingredient, but which instead are concoctions designed around illegal prescription drugs, or even worse, analogues of prescription drugs that have not even been tested for safety in humans, such as acetildenafil.[13]

In February 2009, the FDA warned against almost 30 illegal sexual enhancement supplements,[14] but the names of these products change quicker than the FDA can investigate them. Libidus, for example, is now sold as Maxidus, still claiming E. longifolia (tongkat ali) as the principal ingredient.[15]

Other products claiming to be tongkat ali, or to contain it, such as SD-200, sold by a business named Pure Science Supplements in Singapore, have been warned against on legitscript.com, the world's foremost site protecting consumer health by tracking down the illegitimate sale of pharmaceuticals on the Internet.

The government of Malaysia has banned numerous fake products which use drugs such as sildenafil citrate instead of tongkat ali in their capsules. To avoid being hurt by bad publicity on one product name, those who sell fake tongkat ali have resorted to using many different names for their wares.[16]

In relation to such tactics, the USFDA preventive measures taken in 2008 saw the seizure of more than 14,000 dosages of products originating from China under multiple names.[17]

Standardization

Products claiming various E. longifolia extract ratios of 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, and 1:200 are sold. Traditionally, E. longifolia is extracted with water and not ethanol. However, selling E. longifolia extract based on extraction ratio may be confusing and is not easily verifiable, but extracts of the higher strength ratios tend to be darker in colour, a very Dark Brown at the 1:200 ratio. To date, there are no active markers identified for E. longifolia. While there are many quassinoids in Eurycoma longifolia, and while it has not been sufficiently researched which of them is responsible for the alleged pharmaceutical effects, eurycomanone is the one that has been isolated in most attempts.

Sumatra Pasak Bumi Indonesia is one of the few companies that produce real Tongkat Ali extract.

Product contamination

Over 200 E. longifolia products were registered in Malaysia. When quality tested, one study determined that 36% were contaminated with mercury beyond legally permitted limits.[18][19]

Patents

A water extract has been copatented by the government of Malaysia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[20] for sexual dysfunction and male infertility. A polar organic solvent have also been patented with approximately similar claims.[21] Other patents in relation to tongkat ali have also been filed which claims use for maintaining anabolic hormone profile during weight loss and intense exercise.[22]

However, the idea that products of nature on which exist a large body of knowledge among indigenous peoples can be the subject of intellectual property rights, even of national governments, has long been challenged in peer-reviewed law journals.[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Eurycoma longifolia information from NPGS/GRIN". www.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  2. ↑ vi:Bá bệnh
  3. ↑ Medicinal Plants, International Technology Center, United Nations International Development Organisation, UNIDO, Trieste, Italy
  4. ↑ Free Indonesian and Malay dictionary search
  5. ↑ Wyatt-Smith, J. (August 1953). "The Vegetation of Jarak Island, Straits of Malacca". Journal of Ecology 41 (2): 207–225. doi:10.2307/2257036. JSTOR 2257036.
  6. ↑ Malaysian Herbal Monograph Technical Committee (1999). Malaysian Herbal Monograph. Vol. 1. Forest Research Institute Malaysia. ISBN 983987019X, 9789839870190
  7. ↑ Bhat, R; Karim, AA (2010). "Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia Jack): a review on its ethnobotany and pharmacological importance". Fitoterapia 81 (7): 669–79. doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2010.04.006. PMID 20434529.
  8. ↑ Abdullah, M.Z.; Rahman, A.S.A.; Shakaff, A.Y.M.; Noor, A.M. (2004). "Discrimination and classification of Eurycoma longifolia Jack in medicinal foods by means of a DSP-based electronic taste sensor". Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control 26: 19. doi:10.1191/0142331204tm0103oa.
  9. ↑ Jiwajinda, S; Santisopasri, V; Murakami, A; Sugiyama, H; Gasquet, M; Riad, E; Balansard, G; Ohigashi, H (2002). "In vitro anti-tumor promoting and anti-parasitic activities of the quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia, a medicinal plant in Southeast Asia". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 82 (1): 55–8. doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(02)00160-5. PMID 12169407.
  10. ↑ Ang, H (2000). "Eurycolactones A–C, novel quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia". Tetrahedron Letters 41 (35): 6849. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)01159-X.
  11. ↑ Tada, H; Yasuda, F; Otani, K; Doteuchi, M; Ishihara, Y; Shiro, M (1991). "Nouveaux quassinoïdes antiulcéreux à partir d'Eurycoma longifolia". European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 26 (3): 345. doi:10.1016/0223-5234(91)90069-Y.
  12. ↑ FDA Warns Consumers About Dangerous Ingredients in "Dietary Supplements" Promoted for Sexual Enhancement
  13. ↑ FDA Warning Letter
  14. ↑ Hidden Risks of Erectile Dysfunction "Treatments" Sold Online
  15. ↑ This no-follow link to a spam site is included only as evidence and reference that the illegal drug Libidus is now sold as Maxidus, still with the claim that it is mostly E. longifolia.
  16. ↑ "Etumax products banned by ministry".
  17. ↑ USFDA Consumer Health Information link
  18. ↑ Ang, Hooi-Hoon; Lee, Ee-Lin; Cheang, Hui-Seong (2004). "Determination of Mercury by Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer in Tongkat Ali Preparations Obtained in Malaysia". International Journal of Toxicology 23 (1): 65–71. doi:10.1080/10915810490269654. PMID 15162849.
  19. ↑ Ang HH (2004). "An insight into Malaysian herbal medicines". Trends Pharmacol Sci 25 (6): 297–298. doi:10.1016/j.tips.2004.04.003. PMID 15165743.
  20. ↑ U.S. Patent 7,132,117Inventors: T.G. Sambandan, ChoKyun Rha, Azizol Abdul Kadir, Norhaniza Aminudim, Johari Md. Saad. Assignees: Government of Malaysia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  21. ↑ US Patent 20100221370 A1 link
  22. ↑ US Patent 20070224302 A1 link
  23. ↑ Huft, Michael J. (October 1995). "Indigenous People and Drug Discovery Research: A Question of Intellectual Property Rights". Northwestern University Law Review 89.
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