Could Chinese jujuba help with RLS?

[BAK524]

Has anyone tried jujuba for their RLS? Here's an interesting article I found:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/145...

Another:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/308...

[Elffindoe]

Well found.

Thank you for sharing these.

Some thoughts on this which I hope can give a balanced view.

They do seem to suggest that jujuba may reduce glutamate levels.

The studies demonstrate that this can occur in a specific area of the brain, i.e. the hippocampus.

This area of the brain is associated with learning and memory plus spatial navigation.

Glutamate is, I believe, the most common neurotransmitter found in the brain. It is also found in many areas of the brain and like other neurotransmitters, e.g. dopamine, it performs different functions in different areas. It's main effect overall is excitatory.

As you know excess glutamate is a cause of RLS symptoms. However in this case this is due to excess glutamate in sensory motor nerves. A different part of the brain.

The question then is, although jujuba may have an effect on glutamate in the hippocampus, does it also have the same effect on sensory motor nerves.

These studies make no mention of this, so they do not show any such effect and hence no indication therefore that jujuba can help with RLS.

This doesn't necessarily mean that it has no effect, it just means that it isn't known.

It is possible since when you take any active medicine, it doesn't necessarily go to one specific place, it can go all over.

The conclusion is the is that jujuba MAY possibly help with RLS.

Practically, I know little about jujuba but I imagine it may be available as a "natural" medicine and it seems it has a track record of being safe.

(Not all "natural" medicines are automatically safe.)

Hence if anybody were to carry out a personal experiment, at their own risk, it would be interesting to see what the effect is.

Perhaps one thing that needs to be considered is that the active substances in natural remedies are diluted by the others substances in it.

In some cases therefore, the natural form may have considerable less side effects compared to a medicine derived from it, which will be stronger. This is great!

Unfortunately, it also means the natural form won't be as effective.

As a natural remedy, it's worth giving a try. It may help mild RLS or may be used as a complementary medicine.

Whether anybody studies the effect of any drug derived from it on RLS is another matter. If that's the case, then after trials, it may be found to have no advantage over gabapentinoids.

[Elffindoe]

I'm surprised you haven't had more replies about this!

[Butterflysun1]

Very interesting - though I don’t really follow it all. Looks as if it might have potential though & I would hope someone might research re RLS.

I wonder if traditional Chinese medicine already knows the answer as RLS is not a new disease - though probably more troublesome with our aging populations - so there will have been folk desperate for help for a long time

[DicCarlson]

Lots of info on this - pretty neat history and current uses

draxe.com/nutrition/jujube-...

Amazon has a ton of listings including jujube tea, the jujube fruit itself, and even seeds to grow your own. Search from Amazon...

amazon.com/s?k=jujube+tea&r...

I'll try the tea and report back. Thanks for this lead!

[LanaCSR in reply to DicCarlson]

Let us know what you find out, DicCarlson! I am very intrigued by this!