Not only does it improve sexual ability, but Epimedium can also help with metabolism, reproduction, cognition, inflammation, and muscle.

There is a field official at the door, comforting my wandering soul. Then he said there is a magical medicine, near the plains of western Hunan. After taking it for less than ten days, I was able to walk freely.

This poem "Planting Xianlingbi" records Liu Zongyuan's experience of understanding and planting Xianlingbi, a traditional Chinese medicine, to treat his leg disease.

I believe that it is not just Paipai who thinks that compared with the transliterated names of Western medicines such as aspirin, amoxicillin, and oseltamivir, the names of Chinese traditional medicines such as Angelica, Atractylodes, Polygonum multiflorum, and Xianlingbi are far superior in terms of hearing and imagery.

What you may not expect is that in modern times, Xianlingbi actually has a more popular and commonly used name - Epimedium. The anti-aging protagonist we are going to introduce today is its main active ingredient: "Icariin".

Although its name seems to be informal and its function is not formal (Viagra in the Chinese medicine world), it has shown anti-aging potential, so we have to discuss what is going on.

Caption: This unprepossessing plant that looks like a roadside weed actually has anti-aging effects. You never thought of it, did you?

Epimedium was first recorded in the Shennong Herbal Classic 2,000 years ago: it has a pungent, cold smell and is non-toxic. It is used to treat impotence, pain in the penis, promote urination, improve energy and strength, and strengthen the will (i.e., treat impotence, promote urination, and improve energy and physical strength). It can be seen that it was used to treat sexual dysfunction at the very beginning, and it lives up to its name.

Regarding the origin of the name "Epimedium", the New Compendium of Materia Medica records: "There are epimedium sheep in the northern part of Xichuan, which have sex a hundred times a day, probably because they eat epimedium, so it is called Epimedium." This ancient text may not be elegant when translated into plain language, so Paipai will skip it here, hehe.

With the development of modern medicine, we are taking many traditional Chinese medicines more seriously. Looking at those Western medicines that are unparalleled in the domestic market, the army of traditional Chinese medicines is not to be outdone and said: We can fight for another five thousand years!

Nowadays, more and more traditional Chinese medicines are shining again, such as artemisinin, which won the Nobel Prize, and isatis root, which almost every Chinese has eaten. In this wave of "modernization of traditional Chinese medicine", epimedium has not been left behind.

Caption: Epimedium on the left, icariin on the right

In the current mainstream cognition, in addition to strengthening yang, the main effects of icariin include preventing and treating osteoporosis, dilating blood vessels to protect the myocardium, protecting the nervous system[1], and even resisting tumors[2].

As for the ancestral effect of strengthening yang, although the latest nematode experiment showed that icariin did not improve the reproductive capacity of nematodes[3], a rat experiment showed that icariin could significantly improve the erectile ability of rats with sexual dysfunction[4]!

Caption: ICP refers to intracavernous pressure

It is said that when Viagra applied for a patent, it claimed to be the first drug to promote male erectile function, but the patent examiner refuted it on the grounds that "epimedium has been used in ancient China" [5].

As an old Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of epimedium has long been respected in Chinese history, but in the West, it unexpectedly became popular as a horticultural plant. Yes, that unattractive "weed" actually has many very beautiful species!

Caption: Top left: Coarse-haired epimedium. Bottom left: Shizhen epimedium. Top right: Fang's epimedium. Bottom right: Wushan epimedium

Therefore, in foreign history, people rarely pay attention to the medicinal value of epimedium. We have to sigh that sometimes beauty does make people ignore strength. But! Gold will always shine, and the anti-aging and life-prolonging effects of epimedium have gradually been noticed by scholars at home and abroad.

Extending life by nearly 90%

As the head of the Department of Plant Cell Biotechnology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Milen I. Georgiev and his team have long been trying to find effective anti-aging ingredients from natural plant extracts, so they set their sights on icariin.

Caption: Professor Milen Georgiev

Their research showed that different concentrations of icariin significantly extended the lifespan of common nematodes (N2 in the figure below), but failed to extend the lifespan of nematodes with the daf-2 gene knocked out (daf-2 in the figure below) [3].

The daf-2 pathway of nematodes corresponds to the human insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway (IIS, a pathway that is not conducive to longevity). Impaired IIS function activates a series of downstream longevity-related genes. Generally speaking, nematodes with impaired daf-2 function have a significantly longer lifespan than ordinary nematodes.

Caption: Purple represents three groups of experimental nematodes that took different concentrations of icariin, and gray represents the control group nematodes that did not take icariin. N2 is a (wild-type) common nematode, and daf-2 is a nematode with the daf-2 gene knocked out.

This result suggests that icariin is very likely to achieve its life-extending effect by inhibiting IIS. (For more details about this study, please see the recommended reading at the end of the article.)

Although there is currently limited direct evidence that icariin can extend lifespan, previous research results show that its anti-aging effect has long been evident.

Improve muscle

We know that as we age, the amount and function of human muscle will gradually decline, and modern research has found that icariin can restore muscle function in rats with sarcopenia by inhibiting the expression of FOXO3a and atrogin-1 (which are related to the degradation of muscle protein) [7].

It seems that Liu Zongyuan's use of icariin to cure muscle atrophy in his legs may be due to this mechanism.

Relieve inflammation

Another discovery is about inflammation. After aging rats ingested icariin, the expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β) in the body was significantly reduced[8]. As a member of the flavonoid family, icariin is indeed a traditional anti-inflammatory.

Caption: a represents the adult group, b represents the elderly group, c represents the elderly group that ingested a low dose of icariin, and d represents the elderly group that ingested a high dose of icariin

Cardiovascular protection

In a review, scholars systematically explained the cardiovascular protection ability of icariin. The related mechanisms include: reducing DNA damage, correcting endothelial cell dysfunction, inhibiting the proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells, etc.[9].

Improving ovarian aging

Although icariin is a male aphrodisiac, it has also made achievements in improving female ovarian aging. A study on mice showed that after icariin treatment, the proportion of tertiary follicles and mature follicles in aged mice increased significantly[10].

Figure caption: control represents the young group, aging represents the elderly group, and I 50, 100, and 200 represent the elderly group treated with different doses of icariin.

Improving metabolism

Other studies have shown that icariin improves metabolic syndrome induced by a high-sugar and high-salt diet by activating AMPK. The body weight and BMI of rats that ingested icariin returned to normal levels [11].

Figure caption: Mets represents metabolic syndrome, and ICA represents icariin

Promoting brain health

Do you think that's all? Don't worry, there are more experts below. Our model rat brothers are still the same. After ingesting icariin, aging-related neuronal degeneration has been significantly improved [12]!

Scholars have further discovered that icariin improves brain health by promoting neuronal autophagy. In the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, autophagy-related proteins (LC 3B, Beclin 1, and p-AMPK, etc.) are significantly upregulated.

Figure caption: a represents the adult group, b represents the elderly group, c represents the elderly group that took low-dose icariin, and d represents the elderly group that took high-dose icariin; cortex is the cerebral cortex, CA1 and CA3 represent different areas of the hippocampus, and the black arrows indicate damaged neurons

At this point, Paipai couldn't help but say "Wow! Wow!" Icariin has so many benefits? Do you have any surprises that I don't know about? Are you really just an aphrodisiac?

Maybe some readers with strong motivation have already started to be tempted, but don't rush.jpg. Although we have said so much about the benefits of icariin, there are also many reports about the side effects of icariin.

Some studies have reported that the side effects of icariin include abnormal liver function indicators, vomiting, rash, nausea and other symptoms [13]. In addition, there is a report that 30 cases of liver damage caused by the compound preparation of icariin, Zhuanggu Joint Pills [14].

Although there are also reports that the harmful components of epimedium are mainly magnolamine and epimedin C[15] rather than icariin, the current research on the side effects of icariin is not sufficient. Please be cautious and at least do not blindly cook epimedium for yourself.

If you must try such a "cutting-edge" anti-aging substance under the banner of treating **, Paipai's advice is: follow the doctor's advice! For example, when you try to tell the doctor that you have a friend who wants to pursue a happy sex life...

In fact, when Paipai was writing to the end, he accidentally saw a latest study that said that only 14 prescription drugs in the UK Biobank database were positively correlated with life expectancy, including sildenafil (the main ingredient of Viagra)[16]! Paipai couldn't help but sigh that these sex therapy drugs are really good at giving people surprises.

Although icariin has only been shown to prolong life in nematodes (the others are anti-aging), there is still a long way to go before it can be used as a true anti-aging drug. However, Paipai believes that many Chinese medicines, including icariin, have more benefits for longevity, but the secrets that are not yet known are waiting for scholars to discover. We can look forward to recasting the glory of Chinese medicine in the field of anti-aging!

References

[1] Zhang Hao, Wang Bailing, Tian Miao, et al. Research progress on the pharmacological effects of icariin [J]. International Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2018, 40(9): 893-897

[2] Todorova MN, Savova MS, Mihaylova L V., Georgiev MI. Icariin Improves Stress Resistance and Extends Lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans through hsf-1 and daf-2-Driven Hormesis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024; 25.

[3] Todorova MN, Savova MS, Mihaylova L V., Georgiev MI. Icariin Improves Stress Resistance and Extends Lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans through hsf-1 and daf-2-Driven Hormesis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024;25 [4]Yao J, Liu S, Yan T, Wang L, Li Y, Yang Q, Dou K. Effect and mechanism of icariin on vascular erectile dysfunction in rats. Academic Journal of Naval Medical University 2023; 44:1373–1377. [5]https://m.163.com/dy/article/I4BEJNVG05219MM0.html [6]https://wapbaike.baidu.com/tashuo/browse/content?id=9e811c14102c98312b92e580 [7]A Phytomolecule Icariin Protects from Sarcopenia Partially by Suppressing Myosin Heavy Chain Degradation in Orchiectomized Rats [8]Li Y, Liu J, Pongkorpsakol P, Xiong Z, Li L, Jiang X, Zhao H, Yuan D, Zhang C, Guo Y, Dun Y. Relief Effects of Icariin on Inflammation-Induced Decrease of Tight Junctions in Intestinal Epithelial Cells. Frontiers in Pharmacology 2022; 13:903762 [9]Zheng J, Hu S, Wang J, Zhang X, Yuan D, Zhang C, Liu C, Wang T, Zhou Z. Icariin improves brain function decline in aging rats by enhancing neuronal autophagy through the AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 pathway. Pharmaceutical Biology 2021; 59:183–191. [10]Fang J, Zhang Y. Icariin, an Anti-atherosclerotic Drug from Chinese Medicinal Herb Horny Goat Weed. Frontiers in Pharmacology 2017; 8:734. [12]Wang JL, Liu B, Zhang C, Wang XM, Zhen D, Huang XM, Chen W, Gao JM. Effects of icariin on ovarian function in D-galactose-induced aging mice. Theriogenology 2019; 125:157–167. [13]Aljehani AA, Albadr NA, Eid BG, Abdel-Naim AB. Icariin enhances AMP-activated protein kinase and prevents high fructose and high salt-induce