Artemisia annua

Artemisia annua

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Botanical Name: Artemisia annua
Common name: Annual Wormwood (Mueller, Runyambo, Wagner, Borrmann, Dietz & Heide, 1984, Abstract). Sweet Annie, Sweet Wormwood, Chinese Wormwood, Ging Hoa (Chinese) (Giese, Costa, Goodfriend, Hegarty, Tanguay-Colucci, Ulbricht & Weissner, 2013).
Family: Asteraceae (Giese et al., 2013)
Parts used: Aerial parts

 

Constituents

  • Artemisinin
  • Deoxyartemisinin
  • Artemisinic acid
  • Arteannuin-B
  • Stigmasterol
  • Friedelin
  • Friedelan-3 beta-ol
  • Artemetin
  • Guercetagetin 6,7,3′,4′-tetramethyl ether

(Giese et al., 2013)

 

Actions

  • Antipyretic
  • Antineoplastic
  • Antiviral
  • Antimalarial
  • Immunosepressive

(Giese et al., 2013)

  • Anticancer (Hoffmann, 2003, p. 459; Giese et al., 2013)

 

Indications

  • Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat fevers (Giese et al., 2013)
  • Active constituent artemisinin has shown to be beneficial in the treatment of Malaria (Mueller et al., 1984, Abstract; Giese et al., 2013; Hoffmann et al., 2003, p. 459)
  • Preliminary evidence has shown antineoplastic and antiviral activity (Giese et al., 2013).
  • Active constituent has been studies to be effective against a wide varieties of cancers, notably leukemia and colon cancer. Intermediate activity was shown against melanoma, breast, ovarian, prostate, CNS and renal cancer (Hoffmann, 2003, p. 459).

 

Preparation & Dosage

No standardisation (Giese et al., 2013)

 

Cautions & Contradictions:

  • Pregnancy
  • Individuals recovering from surgery
  • May have immunosepressive activity
  • Use catiously in individuals with compromised cardiac or neural function as related species have exhibited cardiotoxic and neuro toxic activity

(Giese et al., 2013)

 

REFERENCE
Mueller, M., Runyambo, N., Wagner, I., Borrmann, S., Dietz, K., & Heide, L. (1984)Randomized controlled trial of a traditional preparation of Artemisia annua L. (Annual Wormwood) in the treatment of malaria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg., 98(5), 318-21. Retrieved from:http://www.naturalstandard.com/news/news200405052.asp

Giese, N., Costa, D., Goodfriend, J., Hegarty, J., Tanguay-Colucci, S., Ulbricht, C., & Weissner, W. (2013). Sweet annie (Artemisia annua). Natural Standard Professional Monograph. http://www.naturalstandard.com.ezproxy.think.edu.au/databases/herbssupplements/sweetannie.asp?#

Hoffmann, D. (2003). Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine. Rochester Vermont: Healing Arts Press.

Image I: Retrieved from: http://hollirichey.com/tag/artemisia-annua/

Image II: Yashiya, A. (n.d.). Ahaya Yasiya-Dietary Law Recipes!. Retrieved from: http://ahayahyashiyadietrylawsrecipes.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/sweet-wormwood-or-artemisia-annua-herb-kills-98-of-the-cancer-cells/

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