Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Baobab bark is the bark of Adansonia digitata, the African baobab tree. In Hausa the tree is called kuka. The bark is boiled into a bitter drink, or dried and ground into powder.
It has been used in West African folk medicine for fever, pain and loose stools. It is not an approved medicine anywhere. Most modern research on baobab looks at the fruit pulp and leaves, not the bark.
The short evidence verdict: there are no good human trials of baobab bark. Long use in a tradition is not proof that something works, and it is not proof that it is safe. Both still have to be tested, and for the bark they have not been.
No one has shown how baobab bark acts in the human body. The ideas below come from lab and animal work only.
In test tubes, bark extracts slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. In rats and mice, extracts have reduced fever and swelling. Whether any of that happens in a person is not established.
The bark holds a lot of tannins. Tannins bind proteins and give a drying, puckering feel in the mouth. In test tubes this firms up tissue, which may be why healers used the bark for diarrhoea.
Older colonial writing claimed the bark acted as an antidote to arrow poison. That claim has never been confirmed in people.
Baobab bark is sold mainly as cut bark for boiling and as dried bark powder.
- Bark decoction: pieces boiled in water to make a bitter brown drink. - Dried bark powder: ground bark, sometimes stirred into food. - Tinctures and capsules: sold by small herb sellers, mostly online.
Do not confuse the bark with the other baobab products. Fruit pulp powder and dried leaf powder are ordinary foods. They are better studied and far more widely sold.
Bark products are rarely tested for identity or purity. Labels often do not say which part of the tree is inside. Stripping bark also harms or kills the tree, so supply is unreliable.
In West Africa the baobab was a village tree, and almost every part had a use. Healers in Hausa, Fulani and Mandé communities boiled the bark for fevers, body pain and loose stools.
The soaked bark was also beaten into rope, mats and cloth. Some healers used bark washes on skin sores. Colonial-era writers recorded its use against fevers thought to be malaria.
Use was usually short and guided by a local healer who knew the tree. Records describe what people did, not what the bark achieved.
Stop taking it and see a doctor if you get a rash, itching or any swelling of the face or throat. Call emergency services if breathing is hard.
See a doctor the same day for a fever above 38C that lasts more than two days, or any fever after travel in a malaria area. Bloody stools, severe stomach pain, or signs of dehydration also need care.
Get checked if your skin or eyes turn yellow, or if your urine turns dark. Tell your doctor that you have been taking baobab bark.
In the EU, baobab fruit pulp is approved as a novel food, but the bark is not approved as a food ingredient. In the US, fruit pulp is treated as safe for food use, while bark is sold as a supplement with no FDA review of its safety. It is not a licensed medicine in the UK, EU or US.
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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