Guaranà Article

What is Guaraná?
Guaraná (pronounced gwa-ra-naa in Brazil and gur-ah-nah in the United States) is a berry named after the Amazonian Guarani tribe. A small red fruit, Guaraná grows in clusters, primarily in the northern parts of Brazil’s rainforest. It contains a black seed that is dried, roasted and then ground into Guaraná powder. The Guarani Indians still wild harvest the seeds and hand process them into paste, accounting for 80% of the world’s commercial production of this paste. 

Guaraná Uses
Rainforest tribes have used Guaraná for thousands of years to cure fevers, headaches, cramps, and lack of energy.  Today, Guaraná is well known for its stimulant and thermogenic (i.e., fat burning) action. In the United States, Guaraná is reputed to increase mental alertness, fight fatigue, increase stamina and improve physical endurance. Millions of Brazilians take Guaraná as a daily health tonic. They believe it helps overcome heat fatigue, combat premature aging, detoxify the blood, and reduce flatulence, obesity, dyspepsia (indigestion), fatigue, and arteriosclerosis. The adaptogenic plant is today used to treat heart problems, fever, headaches, migraines, neuralgias and diarrhea. Guaraná has been used for its tonifying and astringent properties in body care products, and for its lipolytic and vasodilative actions in the treatment of cellulite.

How Does Guaraná Work
Guaraná contains tetra-methylxanthine (as much as 5.8%), a compound almost identical to caffeine; it also contains large amounts of theophylline, theobromine, tannic acid and saponins. The fact that Guaraná seed is fatty means that, even if ground into a powder, it is not readily water soluble and therefore not quickly absorbed by the body. The caffeine is released slowly---over as much as 6 hours---so the resulting energy boost is not like that from coffee or energy drinks (with a sudden rush and quick drop-off), but rather like that from one which rises over hours. The tannic acid is astringent and probably accounts for Guaraná’s use as a digestive tonic. The saponin content may be partially responsible for its long-term effects (saponins are the agents responsible for the energizing effects of Ginseng when it is taken over long periods). Theobromine and theophylline are two constituents of Guaraná that are well known to educated chocoholics. Theophylline is a stronger stimulant than even caffeine, but it is present in smaller amounts. Theobromine is the stimulant/euphoriant so craved by chocoholics.

History of Guaraná
In the 1700s, the German botanist Theodore von Martius performed the first chemical examination of Guaraná seeds. He isolated a bitter, white crystalline substance that stimulated a remarkable physiological action. Von Martius named this substance guaranine, (later renamed caffeine). Many today still believe guaranine to be a unique phytochemical in Guaraná. It is, however (according to chemists), simply caffeine. As one group of researchers put it, guaranine is a product of crude laboratory processes and “should be considered non-existent, being in reality impure caffeine.” Guaranine is probably just caffeine bound to a tannin or phenol. In living plants, xanthines (such as caffeine) are bound to sugars, phenols, and tannins, and are set free or unbound during the roasting process. Guaraná seeds contain up to 4-8% caffeine (25,000 to 75,000 ppm), as well as trace amounts of theophylline (500 to 750 ppm) and theobromine (300 to 500 ppm). They also contain large quantities of alkaloids, terpenes, tannins, flavonoids, starch, saponins and resinous substances.

The xanthine alkaloids (caffeine, theophylline, theobromine) are believed to contribute significantly to Guaraná ’s therapeutic activity. In clinical studies, theophylline stimulated the myocardium and central nervous system, enhancing alertness and reducing fatigue. It also exhibited strong diuretic activity and lowered constriction of the bronchia, making it a useful treatment for asthma. Theobromine has similar effects. Its caffeine content may explain many traditional uses of Guaraná. Among its many documented effects, caffeine has been shown to facilitate fat loss and reduce fatigue.

While the Indians have been using Guaraná for centuries, Western science has been (slowly but surely) validating the value of these indigenous uses. In 1989, a U.S. patent was filed on a Guaraná seed extract, one that was capable of inhibiting platelet aggregation in mammalian blood. The patent described Guaraná’s ability to prevent the formation of blood clots and to help in the breakdown of already-formed clots. Clinical evidence was presented in conjunction with the 1989 patent---and again in 1991---by a Brazilian research group that reported these antiaggregation properties. Once again, scientific validation was given to a plant used for centuries by the Indians as a heart tonic and as an agent that “thinned the blood.”

Scientists recently validated the use of Guaraná as an effective energy tonic, and as an enhancer of long-term memory. In a 1997 in vivo study, Guaraná increased physical activity of rats, raising their physical endurance under stress, and improving their memory with single doses as well as chronic ones. Interestingly, the study revealed that a whole-seed extract performed more effectively than did a comparable dose of a caffeine or ginseng extract. Another Brazilian research group has been studying Guaraná’s apparent ability to enhance memory capacity. This property is believed to be linked to essential oils found in the seed. The plant also was found to enhance memory retention and to have an anti-amnesic activity in mice and rats. A U.S. patent has been filed on a combination of plants (including Guaraná) for promoting sustained energy and mental alertness “without nervousness or tension.” Guaraná (often in combination with other plants) also has been found to facilitate weight loss by creating a feeling of fullness and inducing a mild thermogenic effect.

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Some of the above information was provided to Zola with written permission by Leslie Taylor - author of Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest, - 2nd edition.