Wild Yam: Why it's NOT Recommended for Progesterone but Does Provide Eight Other Health Benefits
by www.SixWise.com

The wild yam has been used worldwide for centuries to improve health and more. The wild yam (contrary to popular belief, it's NOT related to the sweet potato) is native to North America, Mexico and Asia, though many species now exist throughout the world. It is actually a vine, of which the roots and rhizome (stem) are used medicinally.

Traditionally, Native Americans used wild yam to relieve labor pains, morning sickness, colic, asthma, rheumatism, joint pain and gastritis.

The Chinese had their own uses for a wild yam tonic, which they used to help the liver, aid digestion and relax the muscles. And in India, Ayurvedic practitioners used yam to help with impotence and infertility.

Why Wild Yam Should NOT be Used for Progesterone

Wild yam does provide some real benefits, and we discuss these below, but first it's important to dispel a common myth in this country that wild yam is a good source of progesterone. In reality, wild yam should not be used for this purpose.

Wild yam is a plant source for a saponin called diosgenin (the active component in wild yams), which can be converted in a laboratory into progesterone.

However, your body cannot convert diosgenin into progesterone, DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) or any other sex hormone, and wild yam does not naturally contain any progesterone that your body can use. The progesterone that is made from wild yam is known as pharmaceutical progesterone because it only exists after a chemical conversion process has been performed in a lab.

So, wild yam products that say they contain "natural progesterone" -- and many do -- can be misleading because progesterone does not actually exist in wild yams, nor can your body convert any wild yam components into it.

Many manufacturing companies prefer to use synthetic diosgenin or wild yam as primary ingredients in their products, though, simply because they're nearly half the cost of real progesterone.

Real progesterone can provide many health benefits for women (read our important article on natural progesterone for more information) , but only if it's USP progesterone, the only type that's bio-identical to the naturally occurring progesterone in your body.

If you're looking for a natural source of real progesterone to help rebalance your hormones and relieve some of the symptoms of hormonal imbalance (these include hot flashes, mood swings, weight gain, night sweats, bloating, fatigue, loss of sex drive and headaches, to name just a few), we highly recommend Renaissance Natural Progesterone Cream--it's one of the ONLY progesterone creams on the market containing 100 percent pure micronized USP progesterone powder in a topical cream.

Renaissance Natural Progesterone contains absolutely NO synthetic progestin, NO wild Mexican yam and NO pharmaceutical-grade progesterone.

Eight Health Benefits of Wild Yams

While wild yam shouldn't be used for progesterone, there are a number of good reasons why you may want to give wild yam, which is anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic, a try.

For women, we highly recommend trying wild yam in the form of RevivAll Female Formula, a phytosterol and sterolin blend of wild yam and 17 nutrient-dense whole foods and herbs that helps the body cope with uncomfortable health problems that arise with age.

These are eight key health benefits of wild yam:

Reduce inflammation: Wild yam has anti-inflammatory properties, and has been used to help reduce the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions.

Digestive aid: Herbalists have used wild yam to treat colic, flatulence and irritable bowel syndrome.

Lower blood sugar levels: Dioscoretine, an alkaloid compound in wild yam, has been shown in animal studies to lower blood sugar levels.

Antioxidant properties: A clinical trial found that wild yam has free-radical-fighting antioxidant properties.

Good cholesterol: Another study found that wild yam extract might help raise HDL cholesterol (the good kind) in the elderly.

Relax muscles (and relieve cramps): Wild yam has been used by herbalists to help relax muscles, which may occur, in part, due to substances in wild yam called alkaloids. This may also provide relief for menstrual cramps and endometriosis.

Regulate metabolic function: Substances in wild yam may help to regulate the body's metabolism.

Enhance virility: Traditional uses for wild yam suggest that it may be useful for enhancing virility.

Recommended Reading

The Real Facts on Natural Progesterone: What Women Need to Know

PMS: The Latest Insights on its Causes and How to Reduce & Even Eliminate It

Whole Health MD