Rehmannia

Steamed Rehmannia root is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a Yin Jing tonic. It contains many vitamins and nutrients, is said to be beneficial for sexual functions and is almost always included in formulas intended to have reproductive and fertility benefits. Rehmannia is often included in "womens' formulas" for uterine health and easing menstrual pain. In traditional Chinese Medicine, Rehmannia is not used alone, but is combined with other ingredients - such as Asparagus root, Cuscuta, Ginseng or Astralagus. "Prepared" Rehmannia is sun dried after having been soaked in a special wine that has been prepared with Amomi and Tangerine peel. [3]

Rehmannia - History

Rehmannia glutinosa is one of the "50 fundamental herbs" used in Traditional Chinese medicine. [2] This means it would most likely have been used in China since ancient times.

It is mentioned in Robert Hans van Gulik's Sexual life in ancient China as part of a Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) aphrodisiac recipe which was taken by an seventy-five-year-old man. After twenty days of taking the formula, apparently "his face become smooth and shining, so that he looked like a man of thirty" - and he became spectacularly potent, fathering several children and taking part in many orgies "with remarkable force". [w]

The recipe for this potion was Sheng ti huang (Rehmannia lutea stems soaked in wine), cinnamon, Glycyrrhiza glabra (European licorice), Atractylis ovata (Okera) and "Kan-ch'i" (unknown) - made into a preparation and taken three times daily.

However, Rehmannia does not appear in Western literature until the 1830s, when it begins to appear in plant and medicinal databases. However, none of these 19th century manuals lists it as Aphrodisiac. Rehmannia is mentioned in passing in John Lindley's 1840 Sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River Colony - where alternate names are listed: Digitalis glutinosa, Gerardia glutinosa and Rehmannia chinensis. (Chinese Rehmannia).

I found no evidence that Rehmannia is listed as an aphrodisiac in western literature prior to the 1980's - and then it appears in many guides as such.

Is Rehmannia an Aphrodisiac?

Rehmannia has been the subject of some considerable scientific study - and appears in over 200 entries on Pubmed, being tested for efficacy and showing promise in a wide range of conditions including ulcers, cancer, renal failure, diabetes. Rehmannia has even shown promise in anti-aging / age related neurological damage and positive results in enhanced cognitive processing formulas. [4] [5] It would appear that the reputation of Rehmannia has warranted close inspection by the medical world. Most of the studies are from researches in China.

I scanned through all 202 of the entries in Pubmed - and was quickly struck by the fact that this is an astonishing plant with tremendous medical potential in a wide range of conditions including pathological disease; worthy in every way, to my mind, of deep investigation. However (as this researcher has come to expect during the course of this aphrodisiac study) but a few of the trials concern themselves with the plant's aphrodisiac qualities. And of these, as is common in Traditional Chinese Medicine, preparations are made from a concoction of a number of ingredients; thus it is difficult to determine which of the ingredients is active - or even if activity is generated by combinations.

In a 2003 study at Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang, a tablet containing Rehmannia Root, Dogwood Fruit, Poria, Water-plantain, Tuber Peony bark, Chinese Yam and Red Sage was shown to increase estrogen in postmenopausal women. [6]

In a 2003 study at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, a woman who had ovarian failure, conceived after being treated with a Traditional Chinese remedy of herbal extracts of cooked rehmannia, Chinese yam, wolfberry fruit, dogwood fruit, cyathula root, dodder seed, antler glue, tortoise-plastron glue, epimedium and morinda root. [7]

Rehmannia has a long history of use in Traditional Chinese medicine and a reputation stretching back to ancient times as an aphrodisiac. More investigation is clearly needed to determine its aphrodisiac effects.

Rehmannia is listed in the AHPA's "Herbs of Commerce", p.267 and is available in the USA as a dietary supplement. [8] It is not on the United Kingdom's General Sale List and so research should be done by product importers to verify the status of Rehmannia in the location concerned. [9]