Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Marupá is the bark of Simarouba amara, a tall tree of the American tropics. Traders have called it bitterwood for centuries. The bark is intensely bitter.
In Latin American folk medicine the bark was used for loose stools, dysentery and fever. Today it is sold as dried bark, tea, capsules or tincture.
The honest verdict: human evidence is thin. Old, small studies of one purified compound from the tree pointed to an effect on amoebic dysentery, a gut infection with blood in the stool. Long traditional use is not proof that a remedy works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
The bitterness comes from a group of plant chemicals called quassinoids. They are the reason anyone studies this bark.
In test tubes, some quassinoids slow or kill Entamoeba histolytica. That is the parasite behind amoebic dysentery. Whether a cup of bark tea does this inside your gut is not established.
Lab work also shows action against the malaria parasite and against some bacteria and fungi. These are dish tests, not people.
In animals, related bitter extracts have calmed gut cramping and loose stools. That has not been confirmed in human trials.
Bitter plants in general are thought to trigger saliva and stomach juices. This is the old reasoning behind taking bitters before a meal. It remains a traditional idea rather than a measured one.
Marupá reaches buyers mainly as dried bark.
Common forms: - shredded or powdered bark, simmered as a tea - capsules of powdered bark - tinctures, which are alcohol extracts - bulk bark chips sold in Amazonian markets
Labels may read Simarouba amara, Simarouba glauca, paradise tree, dysentery bark or aceituno. Those names are not all the same plant. Check the Latin name on the pack.
The tree is also logged for pale, light timber and plywood. That wood is not the medicinal part.
Strength is not standardised anywhere. Two bags of the same product can differ a lot.
Marupá bark held a wide place in folk practice across the Amazon, the Guianas and Central America.
European records from the 1700s describe bark shipped to France for "the flux", an old word for dysentery. Later herbal texts listed it as a bitter tonic and a fever remedy. It appeared in several Western pharmacopoeias under the name simarouba bark.
Village healers in Brazil, Peru and Colombia prepared bark decoctions for gut complaints. Healers also used bark washes on skin sores.
The tree had non-medical roles too. The small purple fruit was eaten, and the seed fat went into soap and cooking oil.
By the 1800s its use was broad and well recorded. That tells you how much people relied on it, and nothing more.
Stop the herb and see a doctor the same day if you have: - blood or mucus in your stool - a fever with belly pain - vomiting you cannot stop - loose stools lasting more than two days
Get urgent care for signs of dehydration: a dry mouth, little or no urine, dizziness on standing, or confusion.
Get urgent care for yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, or severe pain in the upper right side of your belly. If you are being treated for a parasite and are not getting better, go back to your doctor rather than adding more herb.
In the United States it is sold as a dietary supplement. It is not approved there to treat or prevent any disease.
In the UK and the EU it is not a licensed herbal medicine, so quality and strength are not checked the way a drug is. The tree itself is a widely logged timber species and is not generally trade-restricted.
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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