The Steroid Plant
It's used to make testosterone and other drugs, but you should probably be eating it too. Here's why.
If you're using testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), hormone replacement therapy (HRT), steroids, or certain oral contraceptives, you can thank yams. Yes, yams, the tubers often confused with sweet potatoes. These underground stems contain something called diosgenin, a bioactive compound classified as a steroidal saponin.
Pharmaceutical companies use diosgenin from yams (and sometimes fenugreek seeds) to make all sorts of drugs. It provides the "scaffolding" for creating synthetic derivatives with specific therapeutic effects, and it's a key precursor for the laboratory production of steroid hormones.
In traditional medicine, several cultures use yams to treat various ailments and boost libido. Of course, eating yams isn't the same thing as taking hormones. Diosgenin can't be converted directly into hormones by your body. That takes a science lab. However, its chemical similarity to cholesterol and steroid hormones allows diosgenin to influence lipid metabolism and hormonal pathways, and it has a host of health benefits.
So, Eat More Candied Yams?
Nope. Those are sweet potatoes, which belong to a completely different botanical family. It's easy to get confused because sweet potatoes are often labeled as yams. But real yams are huge, over a foot long, with tough bark-like skin and white, purple, or reddish flesh.
Quick history lesson: Yams are grown primarily in Africa and Asia. West African slaves in the South started calling potatoes "nyams" because they looked like the tubers from their homeland. When farmers later developed a sweeter, orange-fleshed potato in the 1930s, they adopted/stole the name.
The main thing you need to know? Sweet potatoes do not contain diosgenin.
What Do Yams and Diosgenin Do for Me?
The active compounds, nutrients, and diosgenin in yams...
- Supports hormonal balance in men and women. In females, it's been used to help regulate menstrual cycles and alleviate symptoms of menopause.
- Quells inflammation, which helps prevent chronic inflammation-linked diseases like heart disease and diabetes. It also helps reduce joint pain.
- Promotes gut health by supporting the growth of good gut bacteria, aids in digestion, and reduces bloating.
- Improves insulin sensitivity.
- Combats oxidative stress.
- Enhances memory and brain health.
- Lowers LDL and increases HDL, improves blood pressure regulation.
Where Do I Get Diosgenin?
Yams, of course, if you can find the real ones. Otherwise, the supplemental form is available. Given diosgenin's health benefits, we added 75 mg of whole-food yam extract to Biotest Superfood (Buy at Amazon).
Along with yam, Superfood contains 17 other freeze-dried extracts of berries, fruits, and vegetables. The freeze-drying process retains all of the bioactive compounds. Just have one scoop per day. More info here.
