Pueraria mirifica reviews

Pueraria mirifica is a plant also known as white Kwao Krua, is a plant found in northern and northeastern Thailand which belongs to the family of Leguminosae, and the soy, bean, and pea subfamily Papilionoideae, whose dried and powdered tuberous roots are now widely used in rejuvenating preparations to promote youthfulness in both men and women, may have major estrogenic influence ¹. Pueraria mirifica has long beenused in Thai traditional medicine because of the presence of phytoestrogen components such as daidzin, daidzein, genistin, genistein,puerarin, miroestrol, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, coumestrol, puerarin,mirificoumestan, kwakhurin and mifiricin, especially in the tuberousroots of the plant ². These compounds may be classified as coumarins, flavonoids and chromenes. In particular, chromenes, which include miroestrol and its isomers and derivatives, are the most active estrogenic compounds in the tuberous roots of Pueraria mirifica ³.

Dried and powdered tuberous roots of pueraria mirifica contain at least 17 chemical compounds with estrogenic biological activities, usually divided into three groups: the first group includes teniso flavonoids such as genistin, genistein, daidzein, daidzin, kwakhurin, kwakhurin hydrate, tuberosin, puerarin, mirificin, and puemiricarpene ⁴; the second group of coumestans comprises coumestrol, mirificoumestan, mirificoumestan glycol, and mirificoumestan hydrate; and the third features chromenes, such as miroestrol, deoxymiroestrol, and isomiroestrol ⁵. All these substances are phytoestrogens with structures similar to that of 17 β-estradiol. Miroestrol, the phytoestrogen with the highest estrogenic activity among all those isolated from pueraria mirifica, is considered similar to estriol, which is considered the safest estrogen for humans ⁶. Furthermore, pueraria mirifica has been reported to contain phytoestrogens like β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, as well as the cytotoxic non-phytoestrogen spinasterol ⁷. Puerarin might account for about half of the total isoflavone content of pueraria mirifica, with lower amounts of genistin and daidzin present, all these being glycoside forms which can be partially hydrolyzed in the intestine by C-glycosyl bond cleavage to give the respective aglycoside forms: genistein, daidzein, and daidzein ⁵.

The dose-dependent estrogenic effects of pueraria mirifica have been verified in the reproductive organs ⁸. In addition, pueraria mirifica has been reported to prevent bone loss ⁹, provide rejuvenating properties ¹⁰ and provide antioxidant activities ¹¹. Moreover, pueraria mirifica can prolong the menstrual cycle in mature female monkeys ¹².

On the other hand, pueraria mirifica has been reported to increase uterine endothelium and induce vaginal cornification ¹³, whereas it decreases the number of growing ovarian follicles ¹⁴. Recently, some manufacturers have adulterated some dietary supplements and foods with pueraria mirifica and these products labeled as ‘pueraria mirifica’ have been sold in Korea. These products are advertised as having rejuvenating, antiaging and breast enhancement effects. Furthermore, products adulterated with pueraria mirifica are being indiscriminately imported into South Korea. Such ingredients can be easily purchased as dietary supplements in retail stores as well as through internet markets. However, such products have not been approved by the regulatory authorities, and thus, when the adulterated dietary supplements are included as part of normal intake, some customers have reported side effects such as vaginal bleeding ¹⁵. In South Korea, pueraria mirifica is regulated under the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which prohibits the indiscriminate use of raw food materials. Therefore, in order to safeguard human health and safety, accurate and effective qualitative and quantitative analytical methods are needed to control the quality and composition of the dietary supplement products by detecting potential adulterants.

Pueraria mirifica benefits

Pueraria mirifica is available in tablets, extracts, creams, sprays, and powdered forms, so that it can be added to other medicinal preparations or herbs, and individual conditions require different applications and dosages ¹⁶. It can be readily obtained from internet resources in many countries, including the USA and Japan, and is primarily used for supporting memory, smoothing the skin, increasing hair growth, improving appetite, and providing relief for ailments like osteoporosis and even cancer ¹⁷. Continuous administration of pueraria mirifica at 20–100 mg/day for 6 months, or at 100–200 mg/day for 12 months, was found to help women having menopause symptoms, while no significant changes were detected in their hepatic, hematologic, and renal functions ⁴. Pueraria mirifica was proven to exhibit estrogenicity on vaginal tissue, to alleviate vaginal dryness symptoms and dyspareunia, to improve signs of vaginal atrophy, and to restore the atrophic vaginal epithelium in healthy postmenopausal women ¹⁸. The use of a 12‐week treatment regimen with Pueraria mirifica gel was shown to be efficacious and safe for the treatment of vulvovaginal atrophy ¹⁹. However, conjugated estrogen cream was found to be more effective compared to Pueraria mirifica gel in improving signs of vaginal atrophy and restoring vaginal epithelium at 6 and 12 weeks. A double‐blind study was conducted on 52 hysterectomized women with menopausal symptoms who had an indication for hormone therapy ²⁰. The women were randomly allocated into two groups receiving either Pueraria mirifica 25 mg tablet (Arm A; n = 26) or Pueraria mirifica 50 mg (Arm B; n = 26) for 6 months. All women completed the study. Both dosages of Pueraria mirifica were similarly effective and safe in the treatment of menopausal symptoms ²⁰.

Pretreatment with pueraria mirifica at a high dose (1000 mg/kg body weight/day) for 4 weeks was shown to suppress the development of mammary tumors induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in Sprague–Dawley rats ²¹. However, the effect of long-term administration at different doses has not yet been clarified in detail. Based on available studies, a safe dosage of pueraria mirifica as a dietary supplement for humans was suggested at 1–2 mg/kg body weight/day or about 50–100 mg/day ⁴. Nowadays, doses of 20–100 mg/day are commonly used, but in some cases 200–900 mg/day or even higher (up to 3000 mg/day) are applied. Until now, no serious side effects have been recorded with the prescribed safe dosage, although at high doses pueraria mirifica may cause epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, and migraine ⁴.

Pueraria mirifica side effects

Despite the data on the benefits of pueraria mirifica, there are reasons for concern that a herb which exhibits strong estrogen-like properties may stimulate the growth of existing estrogen-sensitive breast or endometrial tumors, pointing out questions such as: what is a safe dose? Previously, nanomolar concentrations of genistein, present in pueraria mirifica, was shown to induce acid ceramidase (ASAH1) transcription through a GPR30-dependent, pertussis toxin-sensitive pathway that requires the activation of c-Src and extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), thus stimulating breast cancer cell growth ²². Recently, Kakehashi et al ²³ further demonstrated that postpubertal administration of soy isoflavones at estrogenic doses promotes mammary and endometrial carcinogenesis in Donryu rats. These data call into question the safety of long-term exposure to phytoestrogens with regard to effects on the mammary gland and endometrium. It is of particular importance that concentrations of pueraria mirifica which might exert promoting effects on mammary gland and uterine carcinogenesis be determined.

References

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