Summary
Eucommia ulmoides is a Traditional Chinese Medicine that has been recommended for vitality enhancement and longevity. It is a collection of flavonoids (ones that are fairly common in the plant world) as well as both lignans and irioid compounds (both of which are not unique to this plant, but tend to be less common).
There is not a lot of human evidence on this plant at this moment in time except for one study noting reductions in blood pressure, but currently the animal evidence and mechanisms suggest that eucommia ulmoides could have a role in preventing bone loss, inducing fat loss, and reducing elevated blood pressure and triglycerides. At least one study suggests that the plant can augment steroid signalling without inherently being a strong agonist (applies to both androgens and estrogens), but this may apply to caprylic acid in general (which would then suggest that coconut oil is better at this role, due to providing much more caprylic acid).
It is not clear exactly how this plant burns fat or the molecules that mediate this effect, but currently the PPAR system is implicated and acute doses of the supplement have been confirmed to increase heat production in rats. The fat loss (or more acurately, anti-obese) effects of the plant in animal models is surprisingly potent among nutritional supplements.
This plant does have potential as a nutritional supplement as, unlike many other plants, it is active at relatively low oral dosages of 3,000mg or less (plant dry weight).
What are other names for Eucommia Bark
- Du Zhong
- Gutta-Percha
- Rubber Bark Tree
- Tochu
- Eucommia Ulmoides
- Euonymus alatus or Eurycoma Longifolia Jack (sound similar)
Dosage information
There is insufficient evidence to suggest an optimal dosage, but the limited human evidence and the animal evidence suggest a daily dose of around 3g of the leaf extract is effective for blood pressure and fat mass reduction. It may be prudent to use this in three daily doses of 1g, as the lone human study used thrice daily dosing.
