Bacopa - Actions, Uses, and Considerations

Ayurvedic physicians in India have been prescribing bacopa monnieri for centuries, mainly for people with memory and learning problems. Now, promising research in India and elsewhere is demonstrating the effects for which it has long been prescribed - and some others as well.

Actions
Bacopa has many active ingredients, quite a few of which were isolated in India more than 40 years ago. These ingredients include alkaloids, saponins, and bacosides.

Several actions have been associated with these ingredients. They can improve the transmission of nerve impulses and help repair nerves that have been damaged. They act as an antioxidant on some areas of the brain. They can inhibit some types of prostaglandin, which gives them an anti-inflammatory effect. They have also been known to stop the replication of DNA in some kinds of cancer cells.

Uses
In clinical trials with human subjects, bacopa has been shown to improve memory, concentration, and learning in both adults and children. It also had a positive effect on the symptoms of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Patients with anxiety problems also showed significant improvement when they were treated with bacopa. And studies with rats showed that bacopa's actions were similar to those of the synthetic drug lorazepam, but without the amnesia that sometimes occurs with the latter. In fact, the bacopa not only did not cause memory problems, it actually helped improve memory.

Bacopa has also been used in India to treat people with acute asthma or bronchitis. In studies with animals, it's been shown to ease the muscle spasm that causes the narrowing of bronchial passages.

Bacopa has also been used to treat digestive problems like stomach ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Research has shown that it relaxes the smooth muscle of the intestinal tract, which would definitely explain why it helps IBS. It also acts as a kind of antibiotic against H. pylori, the bacteria associated with gastric ulcers, so it can both cure and prevent ulcers caused by this bacteria.

Considerations
Bacopa has been used by Indian doctors to treat heart disease. There's been no research to confirm or deny its usefulness for this condition, but it seems that further study would be helpful. Research has also been suggested to study bacopa's possible anti-cancer effects.

In animals bacopa has been known to have occasional - but not consistent - relaxing effects, which might suggest that it not be combined with sedative drugs. However, research with humans has shown no side effects at all, sedative or otherwise. This would confirm its successful long-term use in India.

However, "long term" is the operative phrase here; many of bacopa's therapeutic effects, especially those associated with memory and learning, don't show themselves for several months. A study in Australia showed no effects for three months. And in the research with children with ADHD, the bacopa also took three months to work. However, its effects were still present four weeks later, even though the participants took no bacopa during those last four weeks.

Final thoughts
Bacopa, unlike many other medicinal plants, has undergone enough study to prove its usefulness for a variety of conditions. But research is needed in some other areas, especially the treatment of heart disease and cancer. In the meantime, though, bacopa might be worth checking out if you have one of the conditions it's already been proven effective for - like memory and learning difficulties. Just be sure to check with your physician if you have any questions, or are already taking other drugs.

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For photographs of bacopa, please see this site.