Mexican Tea (Chenopodium ambrosioides) Medicinal uses and pharmacology

Sugandha vastuka – Chenopodium ambrosioides is a herb mentioned in Ayurveda for the treatment of intestinal worms, diarrhea, fever and indigestion.  

Latin name- Chenopodium ambrosioides Linn. Chenopodium ambrosioides
Family- Chenopodiaceae

Names in different languages:
Hindi name- Vathuya
English name- Worm seed, Sweet Pigweed, Mexican Tea, Jesuit’s tea, payqu (paico), epazote
Bengali name- Bathu sag
Nepalese name- Hyang hamo
Malayalam name-Kat ayamoddakam
Tamil name- Kattasambadam
Unani name- Bathua

Synonyms: Shwethacilli, Kshetra vastuka

Morphology of Chenopodium ambrosioides:
The species of Chenopodium are annual or perennial herbs, shrubs or small trees. They are nonaromatic, but sometimes foetid. The young stems and leaves are often densely covered by vesicular globose hairs, thus looking farinose. Flowers consist of 4–5 perianth segments connate basally or close to the middle, usually membranous margined and with a roundish to keeled back; almost always 5 stamens, and one ovary with 2 stigmas. In fruit, perianth segments become sometimes colored, but mostly keep unchanged, somewhat closing over or spreading from the fruit. Pericarp membranous or sometimes succulent, adherent to or loosely covering the seed. The horizontally oriented seeds are depressed-globular to lenticular, with rounded to sub- acute margin. The black seed coat is almost smooth to finely striate, rugulose or pitted. It grows mainly in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The plant is a native of West Indies and South America. The plant is currently known as Dysphania ambrosioides in Latin.

Mexican tea medicinal properties:
Rasa (Taste)- Madhura
Guna (Qualities) – Laghu (Light for digestion)
Vipaka – Katu (Undergoes Pungent taste after digestion)
Veerya (Potency) – Ushna (Hot)
Karma (Actions) – Tridosha hara  (reduces all the three vitiated dosha)

Part used- Seed, Oil
Dosage-
Powder- 0.5 to 2 g
Oil- 5 to 20 drops

Chemical composition of Dysphania ambrosioides:
The plant consists mainly of Chenopoidium oil, Chenopodosides A and B, Ascaridole. The leaves contain kaempferol, rhamnoside and ambroside.

Epazote essential oil contains ascaridole (up to 70%), limonene, p-cymene, and smaller amounts of numerous other monoterpenes and monoterpene derivatives (α-pinene, myrcene, terpinene, thymol, camphor and trans-isocarveol). Ascaridole (1,4-peroxido-p-menth-2-ene) is rather an uncommon constituent of spices; another plant owing much of its character to this monoterpene peroxide is boldo. Ascaridole is toxic and has a pungent, not very pleasant flavor; in pure form, it is an explosive sensitive to shock. Ascaridole content is lower in epazote from Mexico than in epazote grown in Europe or Asia

श्र्वेतचिल्ली सुमधुरा क्षरा च सा।
त्रिदोषशमनी पथ्या ज्वरदोषविनाशनी ॥     ( रा.नि)

Uses of Sugandha vastuka:

• The decoction of the leaf of Chenopodium ambrosioides is given in a dose of 30 ml to treat intestinal worms.
• The extracted oil is also effective in treating round worms, hook worm and tape worm in a dose of 10 drops.
• Dysphania ambrosioides is used as a leaf vegetable, herb, and herbal tea for its pungent flavor.
• The paste prepared from the root and leaf of the plant is applied over the area affected with localized inflammation for treatment.
• The extracted oil from Chenopodium ambrosioides is applied over the area affected with fungal infection as part of treatment.

Adverse effects: No known adverse effect is reported after the normal use of herb but the extracted oil should be used with caution as high dose can cause diarrhea leading to abdominal cramps and dehydration.

Research articles related to Chenopodium ambrosioides:
Anti- inflammatory action: This work aims to analyze the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory responses of the crude hydroalcoholic extract (HCE) of C. ambrosioidesleaves in an experimental OA model. C. ambrosioides HCE was effective in the treatment of OA because it reduced synovial inflammation and behavioral changes due to pain. This effect may be related to the antagonistic effect of ascaridole on the NMDA receptor.

Anti- microbial and Anti- fungal activity: Extracts from C. ambrosioides (Hex, DCM and EtOH) and K. neglecta (EtOAc and EtOH) showed high bioactivity against A. salina(LD50 < 1000 μg/mL), which might be associated with cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. C. ambrosioides Hex and DCM showed specific activity against yeasts, highlighting the activity of hexanic extract against Candida krusei (MIC = 100 μg/mL).

Analgesic  action: A methanol extract of the dried leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides was investigated for anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. The extract (300-700 mg kg^-1, p.o.) produced a dose related inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw oedema and cotton pellet-induced granuloma in rats. The results of the present study further confirm the use of Chenopodium ambrosioides traditionally for the treatment of painful inflammatory conditions.

In vitro study to prevent bone loss: The study was done to evaluate the effect of the Chenopodium ambrosioides L (mastruz) extract for preventing bone loss and bone metabolism in ovariectomized rats. The cortical bone was significantly larger in the G2 than G1, whereas G1 presented the highest amount of adipocytes in the bone marrow (p<0.05). The blood levels of aspartate aminotransferase, triglycerides and cholesterol were significantly higher, whereas globulin and lactate dehydrogenase were smaller in G2 than G1. The hydroalcoholic extract of mastruz has effects on bone metabolism by changing blood proteins and enzymes and preventing both bone loss.

Anti- cancer property: The purpose of the study was to investigate the most effective compound of C. ambrosioides essential oil for the induction of cell death in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), and the mechanism of induction. MTT results showed that essential oil and its two main compositions significantly inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cells in 24 h (p < 0.05), which was consistent with the Live/dead cell fluorescent staining results. The data suggest that the essential oil of C. ambrosioides and its two main components inhibit MCF-7 cell proliferation cell death by inducing oxidative damage. However, the two main components are less effective in their anticancer activity than the essential oil.