What is Sceletium and Should You Be Taking It?

Sceletium tortuosum is a succulent plant, classed under the Aizoaceae family, is native to South Africa and also known as a Kanna, Channa, and Kougoed which literally means “chew things” or “something to chew”. Traditionally this plant has been used as a powerful medicine by African tribes, such as the Khoisan and San people. It has been a ceremonial herb for inducing psychotropic effects, in high concentrations often in combination with other herbs such as sage and C. sativa for enhanced effects.

As a natural medicine, it has been well categorized for its anxiolytic and mood enhancing effects, whereby it can be used to treat symptoms associated with PTSD, depression, anxiety and more. The leaves of the plant are often dried and fermented, to help activate and its actives.

The actives in that can be attributed to the effects felt from supplementing with Sceletium tortuosum are mesembrine-type alkaloids such as mesembrenol, Δ7mesembrenone, mesembranol, mesembrenone, mesembrine and epimesembranol as well as some non‐mesembrine types such as Sceletium A4, tortuosamine and joubertiamine.

These phytochemicals exist in the Sceletium plant in varying concentrations and ratios, which can result in slightly varying effects, but overall these actives can cause sedation, stress and anxiety relief, combat depression, improved mood and assisted sleep. Some studies have shown that it may also combat pain and inflammation as well as act as an appetite suppressant.

The mesembrine-type alkaloids present in this plant have proven to be natural Serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which provides rationale for Sceletium's ability to act as an antidepressant. Additionally, mesembrenone has potent PDE4 inhibitory activity, which leads to the accumulation of intracellular cAMP, thereby activating protein kinase A and Epac1/2.

This plant has been proven to be safe to take as a daily supplement, if taken in proportional doses, but this also varies depending on the users age, health, sex and other factors and conditions. Essentially a dose between 25mg to 100mg is seen as an appropriate daily intake, but people have reported taking doses up to 500mg at a time and cycling their doses to 1 dose every 2-4 days. It is important to be aware to follow related directions on products labels and consult your pharmacist or physician or some other health care professionals before using Sceletium tortuosum.

The form in which Sceletium also varies whereby it can be