Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Verdolaga is a low, fleshy green plant eaten as a vegetable. Its botanical name is Portulaca oleracea. English speakers call it purslane.
In Latin American kitchens the leaves and stems are cooked with pork, salsa verde, eggs or beans. Home healers also used it as a cooling food for the stomach and the skin. It grows wild in gardens, fields and cracks in the pavement.
Here is the short verdict on evidence. As food it is genuinely nutritious, and it is one of the richest leafy sources of plant omega-3 fat. As a medicine the human evidence is thin and early, and long traditional use is not proof that it works or that it is safe.
No one has shown clearly how verdolaga works as a medicine in people.
The plant is rich in a plant omega-3 fat (alpha-linolenic acid), potassium and vitamin C. Diets higher in these nutrients are linked with better heart health. That link comes from whole diets, not from verdolaga on its own.
In test tubes and in animals, purslane extracts lower blood sugar and reduce markers of inflammation. Animal work also suggests effects on blood fats. Whether any of this happens when a person eats the greens is not established.
The leaves hold a slippery fibre (mucilage) that holds water. In theory this could soften stool and soothe an irritated gut. That idea has not been tested properly in people.
Most people meet verdolaga as food, not as a supplement.
Common forms: fresh leaves and stems sold in bunches; cooked as a side dish or stew green; dried leaf used as a tea; fresh juice; capsules or powder of dried leaf; seeds used as a grain or meal; crushed fresh leaf used on the skin.
Food use is the best studied form, and it is the one with the longest record of ordinary safe eating. Capsules and concentrated extracts are far less studied. Their strength varies a lot between brands.
Verdolaga has a long record as both food and folk remedy.
In Mexico and Central America it was eaten long before European contact, and it stayed in everyday cooking through the colonial era. Healers gave it as a cooling food for upset stomachs, for constipation and for hot, irritated skin. A crushed leaf poultice was a common home treatment for stings and small burns.
The plant has a similar standing far beyond Latin America. It appears in Mediterranean cooking and in Chinese medicine, where it is called ma chi xian. These records describe what people did, not what was tested.
Stop and see a doctor if you get pain in your side or back, blood in your urine, or pain passing urine. These can be signs of a kidney stone.
See a doctor promptly if you get repeated low blood sugar: shaking, sweating, confusion or faintness.
Get emergency care for swelling of the lips, face or throat, or trouble breathing. Those are signs of a severe allergic reaction.
Also check in if stomach pain or diarrhoea lasts more than a few days.
In the United States, the European Union, Mexico and most of Latin America, verdolaga is an ordinary food vegetable and is sold freely. Dried leaf and capsules are sold as food supplements. No regulator has approved it to treat, prevent or cure any disease.
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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