5 Hidden Herbal Stars: Sceletium

Sceletium tortuosum, also known as kanna, is a South African succulent that is featured in some dietary supplements in the United States, albeit not yet on a broad scale. What is sceletium’s claim to fame? Its brain-stimulating health benefits. “It’s quite a significant antidepressant, and it really causes your brain to fire on all cylinders,” says Kilham. There are some human studies on sceletium. For more information, he recommends www.sceletium.org. And, sceletium’s effects happen quickly. “One of its great benefits is that it’s very, very rapid. You take it and you feel [effects] in a half hour,” he says. “It’s quite remarkable, actually. And while I think that sceletium is getting off to a very slow start, my opinion is that it will become significant over time.”

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Photo © By Tommi Nummelin (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons