For Patients & Caregivers
How It Works
There is limited evidence of Damiana’s stimulant effects. It has not been shown to treat cancer in humans.
Damiana is a wild shrub found in Mexico, Central America and parts of South America. It is used as a diuretic, laxative, stimulant, aphrodisiac, and also to treat diabetes and venereal diseases. Animal data show that damiana can reduce anxiety and affect sexual behavior but there are no human data.
Damiana has not been studied in cancer patients.
Purported Uses
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Diuretic
No scientific evidence supports this use. -
Diabetes
Damiana may affect blood sugar level based on animal studies. -
Aphrodisiac
Traditional use is widespread. A small study in women with sexual dysfunction showed that ArginMax, which contains damiana, improved sexual function. -
Stimulant
There are no clinical data to support this use. -
Anxiety
Data from studies done on mice show that damiana reduced anxiety but human studies are lacking. -
Laxative
There are no data to substantiate this use. -
Kidney disorders
No scientific evidence supports this use. -
Menstrual disorders
Traditional use is widespread but there are no data to validate this use.
For Healthcare Professionals
Clinical Summary
Damiana is a wild shrub prevalent in South America. It is used in traditional medicine as a diuretic, laxative, stimulant, aphrodisiac and for treating diabetes and venereal diseases. In vitro and animal studies have shown that damiana acts as an anxiolytic (1), stimulates sexual behavior (3) (13) (14), and has hypoglycemic (7) (9) , anti-ulcer (15) and cytotoxic (16) effects. It is used in the botanical formulation ArginMax (4), which is marketed for the treatment of sexual dysfunction in women. Data from studies of damiana’s estrogenic activity are conflicting (8) (12).
Oral intake of capsules containing a mixture of damiana, Yerba Mate, and Guarana led to weight loss in healthy volunteers (5).
Diabetics should use damiana with caution as it may potentiate the effects of hypoglycemic drugs. Damiana has not been studied in cancer patients.
Purported Uses
Mechanism of Action
Damiana’s anti-ulcer activity is believed to be due to the inhibition of lipid peroxidation, immuno modulation and antioxidant effects of its major constituent, arbutin (15).
In other studies, a damiana extract and pinocembrin and acacetin, compounds derived from the herb, suppressed aromatase activity. Other compounds including apigenin 7-glucoside, Z-echinacin and pinocembrin demonstrated estrogenic activity (12).The pro-sexual activity of damiana was shown to involve the nitric oxide pathway, with the anxiolytic property of the herb thought to contribute to such effects (14).