SUMA HEBANTHE ERIANTHA

SUMA (Hebanthe eriantha (Poir.) Pedersen) ++

Synonyms :
Gomphrena paniculata (Mart.) Moq., Hebanthe paniculata Mart., Pfaffia paniculata (Mart.) Kuntze.

Activities (Suma) :
Adaptogen (f; APA); Antiascites (1; APA); Anticancer (1; APA); Antimelanomic (f; APA); Antitumor (1; APA); Antiviral (f; APA); Chemopreventive (f; APA); Immunostimulant (f; APA).

Indications (Suma) :
Anemia (1; BJH111:359); Cancer (1; APA); Diabetes (f; APA); EBV (f; APA); Fatigue (f; APA); Immunodepression (f; APA); Melanoma (f; APA); Menopause (f; APA); Sickle Cell Anemia (1; BJH111:359); Stress (f; APA); Tumor (1; APA); Virus (f; APA).

Dosages (Suma) :
500 - 1000 mg dry herb 2 - 3 ×/day (APA); 1 - 2 (520 mg) capsules 2 ×/day (APA).

Contraindications, Interactions, and Side Effects (Suma) :
Class 1 (AHP). Not covered (KOM; PHR; PH2). Once a well-known published author offered me a generous consulting fee to go through the Spanish and Portuguese literature and summarize the folk literature and information on suma for him. I had written on the plant long ago for the Flora of Panama, where Pfaffia also occurs. He came from one of the four main entry disciplines to ethnobotany and herbal medicine and medical botany, (1) anthropology, (2) botany, (3) chemistry, and (4) pharmacy/pharmacology but Ill not divulge. I gave him 4 days worth of work and found nothing. He reneged because my report was negative. Today, that scientist continues to publish, often copying without citing other ethnobotanical writers data. And he is, what I call, one of the paid hypsters who will write a positive opinion page on a worthless herb, for a fee. Then an unscrupulous pusher will sell that product based on Doctor Hypsters glittering report, often handed out as (pseudo) scientific literature based on Dr. Hypsters world renown. Both hypster and huckster make money while damaging the images of honest herbs and herbalists. And sometimes they threaten those who would expose the lack of credibility of some of those studies. More recently, I see that an edible plant book describes suma as Brazilian ginseng a promotional misnomer. The roots have reportedly been used as a ginseng-like tonic by the Xingu tribe of Matto Grosso, Brazil for at least three hundred years (FAC).