Wild yam for women's health: Nikki Solomon teaches about this heart-shaped healer.

Living under a canopy of maple, oak, pine and tulip poplar trees, Dioscorea villosa gracefully twists and turns, reaching for the dappled sunlight at the forest's edge. The heart-shaped, pubescent leaves move in an alternate pattern on a viney stem, whorled at the base; the the woody and knobby rhizome is embedded in the soft, nourishing earth. Dioscorea villosa is also known as Wild Yam, Colic Root, Devil's Bones, China Root, Yuma, Hairy Yam and Rheumatism Root, and many of the 150 or so varieties found throughout the world are edible, like the potato. The rhizome has bitter, cool, oily, dry and astringent qualities.

Chinese herbalists value the plant for problems associated with the spleen, kidneys, liver and lungs; as it was first mentioned in the Pen Tsao Ching in 25 B.C. The root tea was used by American Indians to relieve labor pains and colic. The rhizome is generally used for allaying pain, with an influence on the uterus and gastrointestinal tract. Eclectic physicians favored it specifically as an anti-spasmodic for bilous colic and for nausea and vomiting with preganancy, painful gastro-intestinal spasms, dysmenorrhea, indigestion and "chronic gastritis of drunkards." (1) Dioscorea has also traditionally been used for neuralgic affections, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, gallstone pain, flatulence, hormone balancing, and as a diaphoretic and an expectorant. Recently, it has been used in Western Medicine for menopause, contraceptive agents, to increase progesterone levels and fertility. How did these new uses of Wild Yam come into effect?

In the late 1940's, a chemical firm focusing on steroid research, Syntex, was formed in Mexico. One of their discoveries, a plant called Dioscorea mexicana (or Mexican wild yam), was found to contain the compound diosgenin, which could be chemically altered in the lab to produce steroid hormones. Mexican Wild Yam proved to be low-cost and abundant, containing up to 10,000 seeds on a single plant. Diosgenin was used to produce a wide variety of hormonally active steroids to act as progesterone, which were used as the base for contraceptive pills. Wild yam does not contain progesterone in its natural state; progesterone must be chemically added as a pharmaceutical. The steroidal saponin diosgenin is not found to be converted to the hormone in the body and does not stimulate progesterone production. "In 1950 the sales for diosgenin were zero. By 1965 the worldwide market for its fertility controlling products alone could have easily jumped to $100,000,000 per year." (3) But by 1970, the Mexican Government had nationalized the industry of wild yam use as steroidal precursors. This action caused diosgenin prices to skyrocket, making other naturally-occurring options more economically feasible and more widely used.

Dioscorea is, however, very beneficial for the female reproductive system by balancing and normalizing the functions of the liver and endocrine glands. Dioscorea helps to move liver congestion and stagnation, thereby balancing hormones to help regulate female difficulties such as menstrual irregularities, PMS, infertility, threatened miscarriage, dysmenorrhea and menopause. Many of these difficulties can arise with increased levels of estrogen in the body and progesterone deficiency. The steroidal saponins and phytosterols in wild yam have been shown in studies to have estrogenic effects and increase the binding to receptors. (5) This stabilization in estrogen can, in turn, cause an increase in progesterone to balance the relationship between the two hormones and support the system.

Dioscorea is quickly being depleted from our forests due to over-harvesting and land development and is currently on the United Plant Saver's at-risk list, along with many other medicinal plant species. We can do our part to save this plant by growing organic wild yam plants to protect the ecosystem and by using alternatives such as Catnip, Peppermint, Licorice and Chamomile (for digestion) and Vitex. Burdock root, Dandelion root, Nettle leaf and Yellow dock root (for the liver and hormonal issues). These herbs are easy to grow and some are considered weeds along roadsides and in many backyards. The future of our forests depends on careful conservation and restoration of the valuable medicines it contains to ensure abundance for generations to come.

Women's Balancing Root Tea

This is a wonderful tea to help regulate hormone production,
tone and cleanse the liver and endocrine glands.

2 parts Dandelion root
2 parts Burdock root
1 part Wild Yam root *
1 part Licorice root
1 part Ginger root
1/2 part Cinnamon

Optional: pinch of Stevia or 1/4 part orange peel to taste

* Please use organic, cultivated roots to help preserve our native
habitats. Herbs that can be substituted for Wild Yam to tone the
liver and hormonal systems are Vitex, Yellow dock root, Burdock
root, Dandelion root and Nettle leaf.

Combine herb parts and mix well. Use four to six tablespoons of
mixture per quart of water. Add to cold water, bring to light boil
and simmer for twenty minutes. Strain herbs. Drink three to four
cups daily for several months.

Bibliography can be found online at newlifejournal.com

Nikki recently graduated from the Mountain Spirit School of Herbalism with advanced and clinical training and is currently qualifying for certification as a Flower Essence practitioner. She is offering herbal and flower essence consultations at Return to Wholeness Herbal Clinic and Apothecary in downtown Asheville and can be reached at 828-337-2385 and woodlily7@hotmaihcom.