Wild lettuce extracts come from the leaves, sap and seeds of Lactuca virosa, a wild leafy plant.
Contents
Uses
- People self-prescribe wild lettuce extracts as a medical aid for everything from asthma, coughs, joint pain and, importantly, insomnia.
- Anxiety
-
Benefits
- In a 2006 study, scientists found the active ingredient, lactucin, acted as a sedative in mice.The effects of lettuce opium have been known for centuries as a potential remedy, published in a bookand highlighted in a historical overview.The lettuce opium that has similar properties to opium, but is unrelated to the illegal drug is still being touted as a sleep aid.
As an easy fix, Dr. Oz recommends you try taking 30 mg of wild lettuce extract before bedtime, the doctor wrote on his website. Also known as lettuce opium, the extract comes from the stems of the wild lettuce plant and has been shown in an animal study to have calming and sedative effects.
Dr. Oz warned that certain people should not take wild lettuce extract if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have the eye condition narrow-angle glaucoma, have allergies to related herbs such as ragweed, have surgery scheduled in the next two weeks or have an enlarged prostate.
Cautions
- Please see wild lettuce.
Interactions
- Please consult your doctor/physician about possible interactions between wild lettuce extract and other medications. Also see wild lettuce.
Other names
lettuce opium, Bitter lettuce, Lactuca virosa
References
Source: Annie’s Remedy, http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail364.php
Ibtimes, http://www.ibtimes.com/wild-lettuce-extract-where-buy-5-other-natural-sleep-aids-421108
- In a 2006 study, scientists found the active ingredient, lactucin, acted as a sedative in mice.The effects of lettuce opium have been known for centuries as a potential remedy, published in a bookand highlighted in a historical overview.The lettuce opium that has similar properties to opium, but is unrelated to the illegal drug is still being touted as a sleep aid.