Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
What is African yellow wood bark?
It is the bark of Enantia chlorantha, a forest tree of West and Central Africa. The inner bark is a bright yellow. Healers in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana have long used it for fever and for yellow skin.
In Yoruba it is called dokita igbo, or awopa. The first name points to its old role as a "bush doctor" remedy. The bark is sold as chips, powder, capsules and liquid extracts.
Here is the honest verdict. We found no published human trials of this bark. Lab and animal work is interesting, but it does not show that the bark helps people.
Long use in a tradition is not proof that something works. It is also not proof that it is safe. Both points matter here, because the bark's main compounds are strong ones.
How is it thought to work?
The yellow colour comes from alkaloids of the berberine family. These are plant compounds with real activity in the lab. What they do inside the human body is much less clear.
In mice given malaria, bark extracts lowered parasite counts in several studies. In test tubes, the extracts slow some bacteria and some fungi. Whether any of this happens at a safe dose in people is not known.
In rats, the bark has been studied for liver effects. Low doses appeared to shield the liver from certain poisons. Higher doses damaged liver and kidney tissue in the same kinds of studies.
So the same plant looks protective in one animal setting and harmful in another. That gap is the main reason this page urges care. None of this mechanism work has been tested properly in humans.
What forms does it come in?
- Dried bark chips or shavings, sold loose in West African markets - Ground bark powder - Capsules of powdered bark - Water decoctions, made by boiling the bark - Alcohol tinctures and liquid extracts - Mixed herbal bitters and tonics, where it is one of several plants
Most products carry no test of strength or purity. Mixed bitters often list the bark without saying how much is in them.
What did tradition use it for?
Healers in West and Central Africa used the bark for fever, and above all for malaria. Written records of this go back to the colonial era and likely much further in oral use.
It was also given for jaundice, which is yellow skin and eyes. Some healers reasoned from the yellow colour of the bark itself.
Other recorded uses were wounds, boils, mouth sores and loose stools. The bark was boiled in water, or soaked in palm wine or spirits. These accounts describe what was done in the past; they are not a guide to treating yourself today.
When to see a doctor
Stop the bark and get medical help if you notice:
- Yellow eyes or yellow skin - Dark urine, or pale stools - Pain or swelling under the right ribs - Vomiting that will not stop, or a swollen belly - Shaking, sweating or confusion, which can mean low blood sugar - A fever that lasts more than 48 hours, or any fever with a stiff neck, rash or drowsiness
If you have a fever after travel to a malaria area, go to a doctor the same day. Malaria can turn severe fast.
In the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the European Union, it is not approved as a medicine. Where it is sold at all, it is sold as a herbal supplement, with no check that it works. In Nigeria and Cameroon it is a common market herb, and some bottled products carry local registration.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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