Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Tamarind is the sour fruit of the tamarind tree, Tamarindus indica. In Hausa it is called tsamiya. The sticky brown pulp inside the pod is used as food, drink and home remedy.
In West Africa the pulp is soaked in water to make a tart drink. The leaves, bark and seeds are also used in folk medicine. Tamarind is sold around the world as blocks of pulp, paste, powder and sweets.
Here is the honest verdict. As a food, tamarind is safe for most people.
Human proof that it treats illness is thin. Long traditional use is not proof that it works. It is not proof that large or medicinal doses are safe either.
Most of what we know about how tamarind acts comes from the lab, not from people.
The pulp is rich in fruit acids, sugars and fibre. These pull water into the gut. That is the likely reason for its mild laxative effect, and it is the best understood of its traditional uses.
In test tubes, tamarind extracts mop up free radicals (unstable molecules that can damage cells). In animals, seed extracts have lowered blood sugar and blood fats. Whether the same thing happens in people is not settled.
Lab tests also show that tamarind extracts slow the growth of some bacteria. That does not mean tamarind treats an infection in the body.
One other effect does matter in real life. In small human studies, tamarind drink raised blood levels of aspirin and of chloroquine. So tamarind may change how some medicines behave.
Tamarind is sold mainly as food, and the same pulp is what most home remedies use.
- Whole pods, dried, sold in markets. - Blocks of seeded or unseeded pulp. - Jars of tamarind paste or concentrate.
- Powder for drinks and sauces. - Sweets, chutneys and bottled drinks.
- Capsules of seed or fruit extract, sold as supplements. - Tamarind seed gum in some eye drops and food products.
In West African homes the pulp is usually soaked in water, strained and drunk. Leaves and bark are sometimes boiled by traditional healers.
Tamarind has a long and well recorded place in West African life. In Hausa-speaking areas it is known as tsamiya, and the tree is a familiar sight in villages and markets.
Healers used the soaked pulp as a cooling drink in fever and as a gentle laxative. Leaf and bark washes were applied to sores and swellings. Mouth rinses were used for sore throat and mouth pain.
The tree also carries social and spiritual meaning in some communities, where it marks meeting places. Tamarind travelled with trade into Arab, Indian and Caribbean medicine, where similar uses were recorded.
Stop tamarind and get urgent help if your face, lips or tongue swell, or you wheeze or struggle to breathe. These are signs of a serious allergic reaction.
See a doctor soon if you have black or bloody stools, severe stomach pain, or vomiting that will not stop.
Make an appointment if constipation lasts more than a week, or keeps coming back. Also check in if you take diabetes or blood thinning medicine and start using tamarind often.
Tamarind is an ordinary food in the UK, the EU, the United States and across West Africa. Extract capsules are sold as food supplements, not as licensed medicines. No health claim for treating disease is approved.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
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