Central and South America natives have used Suma to promote robust health for over 300 years. It is well know as a general tonic, being an adaptogen, it increases the body’s resistance to stress and has a restorative effect on the body as a whole. It has been called Para Toda, which means “for all things.” Suma has been taken by Russian Olympic athletes for many years to increase muscle building and endurance without the side effects of steroids because it contains an anabolic-type phytochemical called beta-ecdysterone.^{1, 2}
Research shows that Suma contains high levels of saponin³. Plant saponins have a wide range of activities that include lowering blood cholesterol, inhibiting cancer cell growth, and acting as antifungal and antibacterial agents. One specific saponin, pfaffoside, has shown the ability to inhibit tumor cell melanomas (in vivo), and help to regulate blood sugar levels (in vivo)⁴. It has also been shown to slow the growth of lymphoma and leukemia in mice and may delay mortality⁵ Sickle cell anemia patients showed improvement and a higher quality of life with no side effects while taking Suma⁶ Other research has demonstrated analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities in various studies⁷. Another study shows that Suma is a sexual stimulant and aphrodisiac^{8, 9}. No wonder it is called Para Toda!

Risco E, Ghia F, Vila R, Iglesias J, Alvarez E, Canigueral S.

Unitat de Farmacologia i Farmacognosia, Facultat de Farmacia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.

Planta Med. 2003 Sep;69(9):785-94.

PMID: 14598201 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2. South American plants II: taspine isolation and anti-inflammatory activity.

Perdue GP, Blomster RN, Blake DA, Farnsworth NR.

J Pharm Sci. 1979 Jan;68(1):124-6

PMID: 758452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3. Taspine is the cicatrizant principle in Sangre de Grado extracted from Croton lechleri.

Vaisberg AJ, Milla M, Planas MC, Cordova JL, de Agusti ER, Ferreyra R, Mustiga MC, Carlin L, Hammond GB.

Planta Med. 1989 Apr;55(2):140-3.

PMID: 2748730 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4. Evaluation of the mutagenic, antimutagenic and antiproliferative potential of Croton lechleri (Muell. Arg.) latex.

Rossi D, Bruni R, Bianchi N, Chiarabelli C, Gambari R, Medici A, Lista A, Paganetto G.

CATgroup--Centro Analisi Territoriali, Copparo, Ferrara, Italy.

Phytomedicine. 2003 Mar;10(2-3):139-44.

PMID: 12725567 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

5. Isolation of a dihydrobenzofuran lignan from South American dragon’s blood (Croton spp.) as an inhibitor of cell proliferation.

Pieters L, de Bruyne T, Claeys M, Vlietinck A, Calomme M, vanden Berghe D.

University of Antwerp, Belgium.

J Nat Prod. 1993 Jun;56(6):899-906.

PMID: 8350090 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

6. Review of sangre de drago (Croton lechleri)--a South American tree sap in the treatment of diarrhea, inflammation, insect bites, viral infections, and wounds: traditional uses to clinical research.

Jones K.

Armana Research, Inc., Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, Canada. armana@dccnet.com

J Altern Complement Med. 2003 Dec;9(6):877-96

Publication Types: Review, Review, Tutorial

PMID: 14736360 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

7. Studies on the anti-tumour, anti-bacterial, and wound-healing properties of dragon’s blood.

Chen ZP, Cai Y, Phillipson JD.

Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, U.K.

Planta Med. 1994 Dec;60(6):541-5.

8. South American plants II: taspine isolation and anti-inflammatory activity.

Perdue GP, Blomster RN, Blake DA, Farnsworth NR.

J Pharm Sci. 1979 Jan;68(1):124-6.

PMID: 758452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

1. Cytotoxic effects of butanolic extract from Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng) on cultured human breast cancer cell line MCF-7.

Nagamine MK, da Silva TC, Matsuzaki P, Pinello KC, Cogliati B, Pizzo CR, Akisue G, Haraguchi M, Górniak SL, Sinhorini IL, Rao KV, Barbuto JA, Dagli ML.

Department of Pathology, University of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2009 Jan;61(1):75-82. Epub 2008 May 16.

Roots of Pfaffia paniculata have been well documented for multifarious therapeutic values and have also been used for cancer therapy in folk medicine. This study has been performed in a human breast tumor cell line, the MCF-7 cells. These are the most commonly used model of estrogen-positive breast cancer, and it has been originally established in 1973 at the Michigan Cancer Foundation from a pleural effusion taken from a woman with metastatic breast cancer. Butanolic extract of the roots of P. paniculata showed cytotoxic effect MCF-7 cell line, as determined with crystal violet assay, cellular death with acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining, and cell proliferation with immunocytochemistry of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). Subcellular alterations were evaluated by electron microscopy. Cells treated with butanolic extract showed degeneration of cytoplasmic components and profound morphological and nuclear alterations. The results show that this butanolic extract indeed presents cytotoxic substances, and its fractions merit further investigations.

PMID: 18485683 [PubMed - in process]

2. Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng) methanolic extract reduces angiogenesis in mice.

Carneiro CS, Costa-Pinto FA, da Silva AP, Pinello KC, da Silva TC, Matsuzaki P, Nagamine MK, Górniak SL, Haraguchi M, Akisue G, Dagli ML.

Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2007 Aug;58(6):427-31. Epub 2007 May 3.

Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechny, University of São Paulo, Av Prof Dr Orlando Marques de Paiva, no 87, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng) roots have been indicated for the treatment of several diseases. Our studies have shown that P. paniculata roots present antineoplastic effects and cancer chemopreventive activity in a mouse hepatocarcinogenesis model. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Brazilian ginseng on corneal angiogenesis in mice. We first conducted a toxicological study employing 250, 500, or 1000mg/kg/day of the methanolic extract of P. paniculata roots by gavage to BALB/c mice. Animals did not lose weight during the treatment nor presented histopathological alterations. The effect of this root on angiogenesis in the cornea of BALB/c mice was then assessed. Male mice were treated, by gavage, once a day, with doses of 250, 500, or 1000mg/kg of methanolic extract of P. paniculata powdered root for 10 days; filtered water was used as control. Corneal cauterization was accomplished by the contact of a silver nitrate crystal on the central area of the cornea, in the 5th day of treatment with P. paniculata, which continued thereafter; the animals were euthanized on the 6th day after cauterization. Newly formed blood vessels were filled with India ink, and the corneas were routinely processed. Blood vessels were quantified in an image analysis system. A smaller total area of neovascularization in the mouse cornea was observed in animals treated with 1000mg/kg of the methanolic extract of P. paniculata. These results indicate an antiangiogenic effect of this extract. The mechanisms of this antiangiogenic activity of P. paniculata should be further investigated.

PMID: 17481871 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3. Taspine is the cicatrizant principle in Sangre de Grado extracted from Croton lechleri.

Vaisberg AJ, Milla M, Planas MC, Cordova JL, de Agusti ER, Ferreyra R, Mustiga MC, Carlin L, Hammond GB.

Planta Med. 1989 Apr;55(2):140-3.

Sangre de Grado extract used by Peruvian natives as a cicatrizant agent, was collected from trees of the species Croton lechleri growing in the Peruvian jungle. The Sangre de Grado was found to contain one alkaloid identified as taspine and which was shown to be the active cicatrizant principle by an in vivo test in mice. This alkaloid exhibited a dose-related cicatrizant effect and an ED50 of 0.375 mg/kg. Experiments with taspine hydrochloride in order to study its mechanism of action in cell culture systems showed that the alkaloid was non-toxic to human foreskin fibroblasts at concentrations below 150 ng/ml and that it had no effect on cell proliferation. On the other hand, taspine hydrochloride was found to increase the migration of human foreskin fibroblasts. This effect on the migration of fibroblasts is probably the mechanism by which Sangre de Grado and taspine hydrochloride accelerate the wound healing process. Using the two-stage mouse skin carcinogenesis system, we have been able to show that neither Sangre de Grado nor taspine hydrochloride had carcinogenic or tumour promoter activity after 17 months of treatment.

PMID: 2748730 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4. Evaluation of the mutagenic, antimutagenic and antiproliferative potential of Croton lechleri (Muell. Arg.) latex.

Rossi D, Bruni R, Bianchi N, Chiarabelli C, Gambari R, Medici A, Lista A, Paganetto G.

CATgroup--Centro Analisi Territoriali, Copparo, Ferrara, Italy.

Phytomedicine. 2003 Mar;10(2-3):139-44.

Sangre de Drago is a red viscous latex extracted from Croton lechleri (Euphorbiaceae) cortex, renowned in South American popular medicine for its wound-healing properties. The in vitro antiproliferative effects were determined on the human myelogenous leukemia K562 cells line (IC50 = 2.5 +/- 0.3 microg ml(-1)). The mutagenic and antimutagenic activity of C. lechleri sap was examined by means of the Ames/Salmonella test. No mutagenic activity was found on the Salmonella typhimurium strains T98 and T100, either with or without S9 activation. On the other hand, the sap showed an inhibitory effect against the mutagenic activity of the indirectly acting mutagen 2-Aminoanthracene in presence of S9 and a moderate protective activity against directly acting mutagens Sodium Azide and 2-Nitrofluorene. Therefore we suggest that C. lechleri sap interacts with the enzymes of the S9 mix, thereby inhibiting the transformation of 2-Aminoantracene into its active forms.

PMID: 12725567 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

5. Isolation of a dihydrobenzofuran lignan from South American dragon’s blood (Croton spp.) as an inhibitor of cell proliferation.

Pieters L, de Bruyne T, Claeys M, Vlietinck A, Calomme M, vanden Berghe D.

University of Antwerp, Belgium.

J Nat Prod. 1993 Jun;56(6):899-906.

Dragon’s blood is a red viscous latex extracted from the cortex of various Croton spp. (Euphorbiaceae), most commonly Croton lechleri, Croton draconoides (or Croton palanostigma), and Croton erythrochilus. It is used in South American popular medicine for several purposes, including wound healing. Bioassay-guided fractionation of dragon’s blood, using an in vitro test system for the stimulation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, has resulted in the isolation of a dihydrobenzofuran lignan, 3’,4-O-dimethylcedrusin or 4-O-methyldihydrodehydrodiconiferyl alcohol [2-(3’,4’-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydro-7-methoxybenzo furan-5- propan-1-ol] [1] as the biologically active principle. A related compound, 4-O-methylcedrusin [2-(3’,4’-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydro-7-hydroxybenzo furan-5- propan-1-ol] [2], and the alkaloid taspine [3], also isolated from dragon’s blood, were not active in the same assay. A cell proliferation assay, measuring the incorporation of tritiated thymidine in endothelial cells, showed that compound 1 did not stimulate cell proliferation, but rather inhibited thymidine incorporation, while protecting cells against degradation in a starvation medium.

PMID: 8350090 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

6. Review of sangre de drago (Croton lechleri)--a South American tree sap in the treatment of diarrhea, inflammation, insect bites, viral infections, and wounds: traditional uses to clinical research.

Jones K.

Armana Research, Inc., Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, Canada. armana@dccnet.com

J Altern Complement Med. 2003 Dec;9(6):877-96

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the pharmacologic evidence that may or may not support clinical and ethnomedical uses of the sap of sangre de drago (dragon’s blood; Croton lechleri Mull. Arg.). Data sources used were BIOSIS, EMBASE, PubMed, TOXLIT, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, manual searches, papers on file from peer-reviewed journals, textbooks available at Armana Research, Inc., and researchers in the field of South American botanical medicine. CONCLUSIONS: The results of in vitro and in vivo studies largely support the majority of ethnomedical uses of sangre de drago including the treatment of diarrhea, wounds, tumors, stomach ulcers, herpes infection, the itching, pain and swelling of insect bites, and other conditions. Clinical studies of sangre de drago products have reported positive results in the treatment of traveler’s and watery diarrhea and the symptoms of insect bites. Because the sap has shown low toxicity and preparations used in clinical studies were well tolerated, further clinical and pharmacologic studies are anticipated. Acknowledgment of the diversity in the chemical makeup of the sap from one geographic area to another and the recent characterization of alkaloid chemotypes of sangre de drago will require that materials developed for clinical use are standardized.

Publication Types: Review, Review, Tutorial

PMID: 14736360 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

7. Studies on the anti-tumour, anti-bacterial, and wound-healing properties of dragon’s blood.

Chen ZP, Cai Y, Phillipson JD.

Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, U.K.

Planta Med. 1994 Dec;60(6):541-5.

Three in-vitro assays have been adopted to examine the cytotoxicity and anti-bacterial activity of the blood-red sap of Croton lechleri from Ecuador, and to examine its effect upon the proliferation of endothelial cells. The sap was found not to be cytotoxic. Several simple phenolic compounds and diterpenes showed a potent anti-bacterial activity. The sap has little effect upon the proliferation of endothelial cells, and no single active ingredient was identified. A mechanism for the wound-healing property of the sap has been proposed.

PMID: 7809208 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

8. South American plants II: taspine isolation and anti-inflammatory activity.

Perdue GP, Blomster RN, Blake DA, Farnsworth NR.

J Pharm Sci. 1979 Jan;68(1):124-6.

Croton lechleri L. (Euphorbiaceae), a plant from the Upper Amazon Valley of Peru, yielded the alkaloid taspine. The anti-inflammatory activity of taspine hydrochloride was studied using the carrageenan-induced pedal edema method, the cotton pellet-induced granuloma method, and the adjuvant polyarthritis model.

PMID: 758452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]