• • Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata/edulis) is a vine found growing throughout the tropics, but is mainly found wild in South America. Its leaves and stems are used for medicine, and its fruit is used as a flavoring.
• • Passionflower is a very well rounded herb. It offers support for anxiety, and stress related conditions, through its antioxidant actions, as well as modulation of various chemical activities in the brain (such as Na+, K+, and ATPase activity).

• • The leaves offer strong anti inflammatory actions as well, both topically on the skin, as well as internally. This can be useful for a wide range of conditions related to inflammation such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel conditions, and sports injuries.
• • Passionflower has been found to be useful in cancer therapy as well through an essential oil known as “chrysin”.
• • Passionflower is one of the best herbs for neurological issues, including stress, depression, and Alzheimer's. It is even useful for insomnia. It works best for insomnia characterized by a wandering, and busy mind at bedtime.

When taking passionflower, it is the leaves and stems that are medicinal. Use them in the form of a tea, with a long steeping time. The infusion should be dark and flavorful for the most effect.

Tincture, or liquid extract is another great way of taking this herb, and this way they can easily be used at exact doses and added to any beverage you want. Tinctures are convenient and effective.

Capsules and tablets are also available, however unless of high quality, some of the medicinal components such as the essential oils may have been destroyed in the process of making them.

Use it as an addition to herbal teas, or add some of the tincture to juices or teas. Most tinctures use alcohol, so by adding it to a hot beverage and waiting a few minutes, much of the alcohol will evaporate off and lessen the alcohol taste.

To help with sleep combine with valerian, hops, melissa (lemon balm), or chamomile

For neurological conditions, passionflower combines well with ginkgo, muira puama, and/or gotu kola.

Passionflower is classified by the FDA as “generally regarded as safe”. It has been found to have no negative effects, even at extremely high doses in mice [4].

Cancer

The essential oil contained in passionflower has been found to provide positive effects against a wide range of cancer cell lines including oropharyngeal, mammary, melanoma, anaplastic thyroid, pancreatic, liver, gastric, colon, cervical, melanoma, lung, colon, rectal, glioma, esophageal squamous, leukemia, hepatocellular, neuroblastoma, squamous cell carcinoma, oral, and prostate [1].

Neurological disorders

Passionflower provides benefits for a variety of neurological disorders including insomnia, stress, Alzheimer's, and ischemic stroke. It achieves this through a variety of actions, including powerful antioxidant activity in the hippocampus of the brain and neurons, as well as through inhibition of Na+, K+, and ATPase activity in the brain. Its effects on reducing anxiety have been noted to be as effective as benzodiazepines such as oxazepam in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, and noted to have less side effects [5, 6]

Cardiovascular

Passionflpower provides a cardioprotective action, which is suggested to be through PPAR-γ activation, modulation of MAPKs and TGF-β inhibition. [3]. It is also useful in reducing high blood pressure through inhibiting calcium channels in vascular and smooth muscle tissue [2].

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