Woman’s Best Friend - Shatavari

Shatavari, meaning ‘a woman possessing hundred husbands’, is a versatile herb used in the Indian traditional healing system to help balance the female hormonal system.  It is also known to promote positive emotions while calming fiery emotions such as hatred, resentment, anger, irritability, and jealousy.

 

Shatavari is a climbing under shrub with woody stems and recurved or rarely straight spines.

Roots: tuberous and succulent; up to 1 m in length, smooth, tapering at both ends.
Young stems: very delicate, brittle and smooth.
Leaves: chaffy scales and spines.
Flowers: white, fragrant, in simple or branched racemes.
Fruits: globular 3 lobed, purple berries, purplish black when ripe.
Seeds: seeds have hard and brittle testa (outer covering).

Parts used as medicine: roots, stem, and leaves.


Ayurvedic recommendations

Shatavari is bitter sweet in taste. It has constipating, aphrodisiac, diuretic, carminative, anti-spasmodic, and rejuvenating properties. It acts as a nervine tonic and appetizer. In Ayurveda, shatavari is recommended for conditions such as nervous diseases, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery, tumors, inflammations, burning sensation, eye disorders, nephropathy, hepatopathy, throat infection, cough, bronchitis, gonorrhea, leucorrhea, leprosy, epilepsy, hyperacidity, colic, piles, cardiac debility, hypertension, abortion, general debility and all female reproductive diseases, and vitiated conditions of Vata and Pitta.


Therapeutic uses

1.    The root extract is useful in diarrhea, chronic colic, and dysentery.
2.    In folk medicine, milk processed with shatavari root is given to those with bilious dyspepsia and diarrhea.
3.    In Ayurveda, boiled leaves of shatavari dipped in clarified butter (ghee) are applied to boils and small pox eruptions to prevent their confluence.
4.    Juice of the bark mixed with milk is given as tonic to women to strengthen their reproductive system and as treatment for gonorrhea.
5.    Shatavari extracts help fight problem related to menstrual cycle and menopause.
6.    The juice of the roots boiled with ghee, milk and honey is a good recipe for seminal weakness and general debility.


Side effects

1.    Sensitivity to asparagus may cause skin reactions and pulmonary allergic reactions in some people.
2.    According to Natural Standard, patients with edema due to kidney disorder or impaired heart function should not be using shatavari.
3.    Not advised for pregnant women or nursing mothers due to lack of enough scientific evidence.


Research

1.    A research was undertaken to evaluate the effect of alcohol and water extracts of Asparagus racemosus for its anti-diarrheal potential in experimental rats.  The results published in the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences suggest the possible anti-diarrheal effect of the herb extracts and substantiate its use as non-specific treatment for diarrhea. [J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2005 Feb 25; 8(1):39-46.]

2.    The roots of Shatavari are useful for its steroidal saponin content. A study was designed to investigate its cholesterol metabolism regulation as well as anti-oxidant potential in experimental animals. The results published in the journal Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine indicated that the potent phyto-components present in the roots of A. racemosus could be responsible for elimination of excess cholesterol and elevation of hepatic anti-oxidant status in hypercholesteremic (high cholesterol) conditions. [eCAM 2009 6(2):219-226; doi:10.1093/ecam/nem091]