NIB Spotlight Wild Yam

October 1, 2019

Nature’s Ingredient Benefit (NIB) Spotlight this month is focused on Wild Yam.

Wild Yam

The wild yam (Dioscorea villosa ) is a climbing plant that is native to the Southeast United States and Mexico. These plants are used for the herbal preparations known as Mexican yam and Mexican wild yam.  Wild yam is one of some 850 species of yam in the Dioscoreaceae family. It is a perennial plant with twisting, climbing vines that grows in warm tropical climates.

Wild yam has long had a reputation as a woman’s herb. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, wild yam was used to treat menstrual pain and conditions related to childbirth.  In 1936, it was discovered that wild yam contained diosgenin, a chemical that scientists used in the 1940s to create synthetic progesterone and the hormone DHEA.

Wild yam products are also advertised as treatments for menstrual problems and osteoporosis. They are sometimes recommended for hormone replacement therapy during menopause, and sometimes the natural hormones are said to slow down the aging process. In addition, Mexican yam and wild yam products are said to boost progesterone effects that fall during the last half of the month.

OUR PRODUCTS CONTAINING WILD YAM

Wild Yam Roll On

Written by Lisa Scheerer, CEO and Creative Alchemist of Not The Same dba Alise Body Care
October 1, 2019

Photo via Medical News Today