Wake to Find You are the Eyes of the World!
"A Plant a Day"- Guarana (Paullinia cupana)-
This South American source of caffeine is a tropical climbing plant with large leaves and clusters of white flowers. After flowering, it produces red fruits with seeds that are black with white coverings when the fruit splits open, resembling eyeballs to some people. In fact, the name Guarana comes from a Guarani word with origins meaning “fruit like eyes of the people”. Local people make a herbal tea made from a powder of the dried seeds, a powder kneaded into a dough make guarana bread, and a paste from the seeds is mixed with sugar and used in beverages and candy and referred to as ‘Brazilian chocolate’. Guarana is a natural source of caffeine, as well as other xanthine alkaloids such as theophylline and theobromine. It also contains natural phenols such as (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin. Guarana is considered GRAS in the US for use in foods. The health benefits and substitution for caffeine products with Guarana are expected to trigger an increase in market growth throughout 2018-2023 of CAGR of 7.4%, according to Mordor Intelligence. All major regions of the world show market growth, with Europe and Asia-Pacific expected to be key growing markets.
Guarana has been used as a traditional medicine by Amazonian tribes which use it for its stimulant and astringent nature, for short term energy, mild depression, pain, migraines and headaches, as well as diarrhea. Clinical studies have found beneficial results for guarana in different conditions, including obesity, athletic performance, cognitive function, anxiety, chemotherapy-related fatigue and cancer-related anorexia. Other health benefits guarana offers are for cardiovascular health, for type 2 diabetes, digestive, and stimulation of the urinary system. Interestingly, in a recent scientific study Guarana has been found to reduce obesity, insulin resistance, and adipokines dysregulation induced by a standard Western diet through activation of brown adipose tissue. A separate previous study showed that it had modulatory effects on adipogenesis through altering genes and miRNAs.
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Photo by Geoff Gallice from Gainesville, FL, USA - Guarana