Scientific name: Acanthopanax senticosus

Family: Araliaceae

Part used: Root cortex and leaf

Principal Use: Loss of vitality, fatigue, exhaustion

Principal Action: Adaptogen and tonic

Ukogi is native to Japan, and grows wild in the mountains, fields, and riverside thickets. It is a deciduous shrub with thorny stems and branches reaching four meters in height. There are male and female trees, each bearing unisex flowers which appear in August. A close relative of notorious Panax ginseng, it is seen as a less expensive substitute for its revered relation.

The traditional uses for Ukogi include bronchitis, heart ailments, rheumatism, lumbago, headache, weak heart, abdominal pain, paresis, neuralgia, insomnia, menopausal problems and impotence. It is used to promote bone and muscle growth and strength, to restore vigour, memory, appetite, and to increase longevity. It is seen as being a stimulant to health, gently improving well-being.

In the country, where the thorny shrub grows wild, local people use virtually every part of the plant. They pick the young shoots and leaves in spring as a tasty seasonal treat. The mature leaves are picked , dried, and used to make a healthy tea. The fresh root bark is soaked in clear liquor to make a vitality boosting cordial. Roots are dug in winter and dried in the sun to be used in health stimulating medicine. There are two different varieties; one with five leaflets and the other with three leaflets. Country people do not distinguish the two varieties and use them interchangeably.

When the Chinese Buddhist monks made their way to Japan, they came bearing more than the word of Buddha. They brought knowledge of Ukogi. In Mainland China, it had been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a long time when the monks came to Japan. In China, Ukogi is mentioned as health stimulating tonic used to treat debility, or being run down. It appears in the oldest Chinese herbal, "Shinnou honzoukyou" or Divine Husbandman’s Classic of the Materia Medica. The text was written by the Divine Husbandman one thousand five hundred years ago! Another Chinese medicine classic, "Meiibetsuroku", written in 500AD, mentions it as both a male and female aphrodisiac. In yet another Chinese classic herbal, "Honsoukoumoku"(1590AD) tells a rather telling tale. The book states that men who drank Ukogi liquor found themselves unable to get out of bed due to an insatiable appetite for sex. The same amorous gentlemen were said to live for three hundred years. Lurking in legend, many a truth can be found, as is the case with Ukogi.

In ancient China, the variety of Ukogi with five leaflets was especially favored (The number five was regarded as propitious). It was so popular amongst the ancient Chinese, an ode to Ukogi proclaiming its virtues was written in ancient times.

It would be fair to say that since the beginning of time Ukogi has been seen as an esteemed tonic and aphrodisiac in both China and Japan!

Ukogi has been used for hundreds of years to increase wellness, vitality, and vigor. Like all members of the Ginseng family, Ukogi is rich in a complex combination of chemical compounds. Research reveals these compounds, in a synergistic manner, do exactly what the ancients said the plant could do. They keep people well. The list of compounds it contains includes:

Phenylpropanoids ( 4-methoxysaalicylaldehyde)

Acids ( palmitic acid, linolenic acid)

Glucosides (β-sitosterol, acanthosides, l-savinin. L-sesanien. Syringaresinol)

Tannins

Essential oils (echinopanacene, echinopanacol)

Saponins (eleutherosides)

Polysaccharides

In clinical research, these compounds and indeed the crude drug, have been shown to stimulate several body functions essential to life.

The herb has been found to increase adrenal capacity in stressed animals. Fight or flight is improved.

Animals fed the root bark of Acanthopanax senticosus were able to swim significantly longer than controls; live longer than controls exposed to radiation, either acutely or chronically; live longer than controls exposed to the very toxic carbon tetrachloride; and have decreased rates of spontaneous cancers.

In animals with high blood sugar either from food intake or cortisone ingestion, the herb lowered plasma blood sugar levels. In animals with low blood sugar from disorders of the islets of Langerhorn, the herb raised blood sugar levels. The implication being that the herb has a regulatory effect on blood sugar levels!

This herb exerts a tranquilizing effect on central nerve system.

Ukogi caused a 90% improvement in neurasthenia, a 60-90% improvement of high blood pressure, a 75% improvement in high cholesterol, a 65% improvement in impotence, and a 93% improvement in hypoxia in human subjects. It also increased the life expectancy of stomach cancer patients by 1-4 years.

Human research conducted between 1972-1974 showed that the roots were effective against bronchitis and heart disease, and had no side effects.

Soviet scientists have reported a doubling of survival time amongst rats treated with Acanthopanacis senticosus when exposed to radiation. 7000 rats were used in the study.

Saponins from this herb have been shown to be highly pharmacologically active with noted effects on sexual arousal and performance, energy metabolism, cardiovascular performance, and cellular synthesis in the liver, testes and bone marrow. They have been shown to have a protective effect against myocardial infarction, to have a stimulating effect on the ACTH-cortisol system and to lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Indeed, when given to oxygen deprived animals, the saponins increased survival time.

Polysaccharides have been shown to act as immunostimulants.

All done and said, science has revealed Ukogi to be the strengthening tonic traditional medicine tells us it is. It works on many, many levels to improve health and vitality. And, most importantly, it has been shown to be entirely non-toxic and safe to use long term.

Practitioners throughout Japan have found that both the root and the leaf of this plant can be used to increase general health and to raise vitality and vigour. In cases of exhaustion, debility, constant infections, and chronic fatigue there could be no better herb. It can be used as an aphrodisiac, but, more importantly, to address the lack of vitality which often lies at the root of poor sex drive and poor sexual performance.

Dried root bark 5g per day

Tincture 1:1 5ml per day

Tincture 1:5 25ml per day

Dried leaf

Tincture 1:1

Tincture 1:5

1) James Duke, Medicinal Plants of China, Reference Publications, p119, 1985

2) Kee Chang Huag, The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs, p45-47, 1999

3) Kazuo Izawa, Color Encyclopedia of Medicinal Herbs, Shufunotomo-sha, p479, 1998

4) Masao Kobayashi, Japanese Medicinal Plants, Noubunkyou, p25-29, 1987

5) Kun-Ying Yen, The Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica, SMC Publishing INC., p1, 1992

6) Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble, Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica, Eastland Press, p235, 1986