Once upon a time, in the heart of the great Amazon, there was a small settlement. There lived a married couple, kind and peaceful, but without children. The Spirit of Goodness took pity on them and gifted them with a baby boy, beautiful and cheerful, who helped everyone and was always welcome. The whole settlement loved him dearly. But the Spirit of Evil, envious of the love that surrounded him, turned into a poisonous serpent and fatally wounded the boy. Everyone was filled with grief. Again, the Good Spirit came to the rescue. It planted the left eye of the beloved boy in the jungle and gave the right eye to his parents, ordering them to bury it near their hut. An amazing plant grew from it. Its fruit looked exactly like the wide open black eyes of the dead child, and its useful properties resembled his pure heart.
This is a beautiful legend of the South American tribes, the Maués, Tupí, and Guaraní, of how guarana, the amazing plant, appeared on their land. Not all of it is fantasy; it has certain real elements. The fruits do so much resemble human eyes that they become terrible to behold. And thanks to their useful properties, this plant has recently been steadily included in the top 10 superfoods. However, traditional medicine is not in a hurry to classify it as a medicinal plant. Why?
What is it
Guarana is an evergreen climbing vine that winds around trees. It can reach 10 meters in height. Its growth area is the Amazonian lowlands of South America.
**Description**
It has dark branches, oblong large leaves with carved edges, and large reddish-whitish flowers that grow in whole clusters. From the third year, it begins to bear fruit the size of hazelnuts, covered with a thin bright yellow or gray-green skin with a blood-red top. Ripening, it opens up and exposes a seed (black or bluish-purple) the size of a large grape, resembling an eye. It bears fruit during the winter months. After five years, up to 3 kg of harvest can be collected from one bush.
The fruits successfully compete with coffee beans, containing twice as much caffeine. In this way, the plant defends itself from infectious microbes, because in such a high concentration, this substance becomes toxic.
**Seed processing**
The fruits are harvested and soaked to separate the seeds from the pulp (otherwise it will begin to ferment and quickly lead to the appearance of mold). They are washed, dried, and roasted to remove the skin. The final stage is grinding into a fine powder. This extract is what is added to dietary supplements and food products. The local people dilute it with water or milk, resulting in a beverage similar to coffee or cocoa in taste and properties.
**Production**
For the first time, guarana was mentioned in the chronicles of the 16th century by Spanish authors. Brazilian physician Luis Pereira Barreto began to use its fruits for commercial purposes. In 1906, he launched the production of soda water based on it, and later the famous champagne brand Guarana Champagne Antarctica.
In the middle of the 20th century, its fruits began to be used in the food industry on a large scale. They are used to make not only energy drinks, but also tea, chocolate, paste, candies, lollipops, chewing gum, and more. In Brazil, it is generally difficult to find a product that does not contain guarana extract, from breakfast muesli to toothpaste. It is the main source of caffeine in South America.
Today, guarana is most often promoted as a natural fat-burning supplement for weight loss and sports nutrition, with psychostimulating and tonic effects. However, the level of its effectiveness is disputed by many, including traditional medicine.
**Etymology**
In Portuguese the word “guarana” comes from the Maué language (an Amazonian people) and means “fruit resembling human eyes.”
Composition
The value of guarana lies in its seeds, which contain a large amount of caffeine. In some sources, it is called guaranine. Its properties are identical to the caffeine from coffee beans. But here its content is 2 times higher: 20 mg per 100 g of natural raw material.
However, the valuable properties of the plant are not determined by caffeine alone. The seeds contain other useful bioactive ingredients:
* Xanthine alkaloids (including theophylline and theobromine, natural heart stimulants)
* Polyphenols (flavonoid antioxidants – catechin and epicatechin)
* Amides (derivatives of oxygen-containing acids)
* Saponins
* Vitamins A, E, and almost the entire B group (most of all thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin)
* Many minerals: zinc, magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, copper
* Tannins
It is a zero-calorie plant source of protein. It contains no carbohydrates. There is a minimum of fat.
**Interesting:** Some South American tribes valued guarana’s beneficial properties so highly that they used it as currency.
Usefulness
A large number of dietary supplements are produced on the basis of guarana seeds. Most often, they are promoted as energy drinks (in sports nutrition) and fat burners (in dietetics). In addition to these basic properties, they are credited with many other health benefits.
Health benefits
For a long time, South American tribes have used guarana seeds to treat various diseases. Today, some studies have partly confirmed its health benefits. However, the experiments and tests conducted are not enough to officially declare the plant medicinal and use it in pharmacology.
It is believed that guarana seed extract has a therapeutic effect on the body:
* It relieves various kinds of pain from headaches to toothaches.
* Reduces fever, making it easier to tolerate a cold.
* Eliminates spasms.
* Strengthens the immune system, reducing the risk of bacterial infections.
* Relieves fatigue, increasing working capacity.
* Helps with arthritis, reducing joint inflammation.
* Improves digestion, stopping diarrhea.
* Treats a hangover.
* Reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases: atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction.
* Improves the condition with dysentery and neuralgia.
Another property that manufacturers, consumers, and even scientists note is increased cognitive abilities. With regular use of the extract, memory improves, concentration increases, and the learning process is optimized (the results are quite high).
Soothing properties are often mentioned: supposedly, the extract can relieve stress, improve sleep, and strengthen the heart muscle. However, this is a rather controversial point. After all, the main effect of guarana is psychostimulating. That is, on the contrary, it activates the body’s psyche, relieves fatigue, drowsiness, and lethargy, increases working capacity and muscle tone, speeds up reactions, and sharpens hearing and vision.
Weight loss
Most often, guarana is offered for weight loss as a component of fat-burning and appetite-reducing food additives. Theoretically, the seed extract should help you lose weight, because:
* It has a tonic effect, stimulates physical activity, which allows you to burn extra calories.
* Improves digestion, increasing the absorption of nutrients and preventing the deposition of fats.
* Has a fat-burning effect (a merit of caffeine).
* Improves metabolism.
* Reduces appetite, saving you from hunger during a diet.
* Prevents the appearance of cellulite.
* Removes puffiness, removing excess fluid from the body (has a slight diuretic effect).
* Eliminates psychological fatigue, preventing compulsive overeating.
* Normalizes liver function, accelerating the process of cleansing the body of toxins and other harmful substances.
That is, in theory, guarana should have a beneficial effect on weight loss. In practice, for some, dietary supplements based on it do help in the fight against extra pounds. But there are also negative reviews indicating that there is no weight loss.
In sports
Guarana is included in sports nutrition as a natural source of caffeine, a psychostimulant, tonic, and energy drink. Such supplements
