PhytoChi TM Ingredient

Part Used: Dried flowering and fruiting tops.

Properties: Sedative, antispasmodic, diaphoretic.

Most Common Traditional Uses: Insomnia, nervous anxiety, hysteria, nervous headache, neuralgia, epilepsy.

Native to the United States, passion flower is one of the most well-known Western sedative herbs. It is used in many sedative and sleep-aid products in the Western world, especially in Europe. And most of our production of the herb ends up in Europe where most of the research and use takes place. Although our own FDA does not recognize passion flower as a safe or effective drug, the German health authorities have approved its use for conditions involving nervous unrest.

Despite continued laboratory studies on passion flower, scientists so far have not yet been able to attribute its medicinal properties to any one single chemical component. Maybe they never will. This applies to most herbs, especially tonics. There is a major flaw in our drug research, production and regulatory control system that prevents meaningful research from being conducted. So far, all drug research and approval are based on single chemicals because, compared to combinations, they are easy to test and control. But research and clinical data in recent years have frequently shown that single drugs are often simply too toxic or don't work too well. What we should do is start looking at combinations, such as those used in Cancer chemotherapy and in AIDS treatment, and in using tonics to mitigate their toxic side effects as practiced in China.