Bitter Kola

Garcinia kola (Family Guttifereae) known as “bitter kola” is a highly valued ingredient in African traditional medicine. The plant is cultivated largely in West Africa for its edible fruit and seeds which has been employed in folk medicine as rejuvenating agent and general antidote. Bitter cola seeds have been shown to contain a complex mixture of biflavonoids, prenylated benzophenones and xanthones.

Many pharmacological effects have been demonstrated for Garcinia biflavonoids, among them are antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, bronchodilator, antihepatotoxic properties, other studies show that antimicrobial activity was due to polyisoprenylated benzophenone. Some proprietary dietary supplements containing Garcinia kola extractives already exist in US and African markets.