BENEFITS & USAGE

Tablets and capsules of Sceletium / Kanna are being used successfully by a number of psychiatrists, psychologists and doctors with excellent results, both for anxiety states and mild to moderate depression – and they can also be purchased as supplements from health shops to elevate mood and to relieve stress and tension.

Depending on the type of Sceletium supplement taken, Sceletium can elevate the mood and increases energy levels – or it can have a very relaxing effect, decreasing anxiety, stress and tension. Kanna has also been used as an appetite suppressant by shepherds walking long distances in arid areas.

In intoxicating doses it can cause euphoria, initially with stimulation and later with sedation. Long-term use in the traditional context, then followed by abstinence, has not been reported to result in a withdrawal state. Kanna is not hallucinogenic, and no severe adverse effects have been documented.

Sceletium is also being used as a natural anti-depressant that is said to be safer than many pharmaceutical alternatives.

Individuals suffering from depression and anxiety can benefit from taking Sceletium.

The brain is made up of countless neurons, which transmit signals to each other only by those signals jumping the gap (synapse) to neighbouring neurons. The signal cannot, however, jump the synapse without assistance.

The message can only travel when the neuron releases a neurotransmitter to fill this gap and allow the signal to transit via this neurotransmitter.

The receiving neuron has many points on its surface that act as potential locks, each of which is known as a receptor and is effected by a particular type of neurotransmitter. When sufficient amounts of the neurotransmitter are received by the relevant receptor, a nerve impulse is started and the message continues to its ultimate destination. To permit recovery of the neuron to receive new messages, the brain takes away the neurotransmitter from the neuron receptors, permitting it to be sent back to the originating nerves – which is a process known as “re-uptake”.

In individuals suffering from depression, the neurotransmitter serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine – or 5-HT) is lacking. Mesembrine triggers the neurons to release more serotonin, whilst at the same time also slowing down the re-uptake process. This obviously makes it more probable there will be more serotonin in the relevant receptors, greatly increasing the possibility that there will be sufficient levels to set up the signal transfer of this neurotransmitter and all the associated benefits that that brings. Mesembrine allows the brain to function better, even with reduced levels of serotonin – which allows time for natural levels to build up, whereupon the mesembrine dosage can be reduced or eliminated.

A typical dose is between 15 – 50mg, once or twice day, usually taken after breakfast and after lunch. Less commonly this can be increased to 100mg twice a day, if necessary.  People’s threshold for experiencing Kanna’s effects, can vary considerably.   In drug rehabilitation programs, under a physicians or psychiatrists supervision, the dose needed may be as high as 200mg twice a day – although for all other purposes it is recommended not to exceed 250mg in a 24-hour period. 

Very few people experience side-effects. The reported side-effects include occasional episodes of:

There have been no confirmed reports of drug interactions – however, because of the neuro-receptor activities of Sceletium, there may be interactions with other pharmacokinetic drugs. People taking any psychiatric drug (including all anti-anxiety drugs, sedatives, hypnotics, antidepressants and anti-psychotics, as well as so-called designer or recreational drugs) or any cardiac medications, are advised not to take Sceletium-containing products.

As with most supplements and modern drugs, safety in pregnancy for Kanna has not been established.

Sceletium is used to rebalance the brain and nervous system and thereby relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety – and is sometimes combined with other well-known herbs to assist with this.  Provided it is used as directed, Kanna has been proven to be an extremely safe and effective herb. 

Twenty species from nine genera of the Mesembryanthemaceae family (Aptenia, Bergeranthus, Delosperma, Drosanthemum, Glottiphyllum, Lampranthus, Oscularia, Ruschia, and Sceletium) as well as the reportedly psychoactive preparation ‘kougoed’, prepared from fermenting’ Sceletium tortuosum, were screened for the presence of the mesembrine alkaloids. Using gas chromatography (GC) with a nitrogen-phosphorous detector (NPD) three putative alkaloids were detected in Sceletium tortuosum whose mass spectra corresponded to those of 4′-O-demethylmesembrenol, mesembrine and mesembrenone. All the Mesembryanthemaceae plants investigated were shown to have Dragendorff-positive compounds on thin layer chromatograms (TLC); those containing mesembrine alkloids, as shown by later GCMS analysis, exhibited similar Rf values to the Sceletium alkaloids. However, using the technique employed in this study which encompassed the use of column and gas chromatography, the only genus containing mesembrine alkaloids to any significant extent was Aptenia. Alkaloid levels were found to be extremely low in all other taxa investigated. When a modern technique for the preparation of the fermented sceletium product, ‘kougoed’, was carried out it was found that levels, as well as the ratios, of the three alkaloids changed markedly. Substantial increases in total alkaloid levels were observed when the Sceletium material was crushed and bruised prior to drying for alkaloid extraction whereas no such changes occurred when intact plants were oven dried at 80°C prior to alkaloid extraction.

It is speculated that of the many potentially usable Mesembryanthemaceae plants available to the indigenous peoples, Sceletium was selected because it is the only genus with alkaloid levels high enough to elicit a psychoactive response. The traditional preparation technique also appears to have evolved as a method of producing a dry, stable, and relatively palatable preparation of increased pharmacological activity.

Pharmaceutical Biology
1998, Vol.36, No.3, pp. 173-179
© Swets & Zeitlinger

The Distribution of Mesembrine Alkaloids in Selected Taxa of Kanna and their Modification in the Sceletium Derived `Kougoed’
Michael T. Smith , Courtney R. Field , Neil R. Crouch and Manton Hirst
Univ. Natal, Botany Dept., Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Natal Herbarium, Ethnobotany Programme, National Botanical Institute, Kaffrarian Museum, Kingwilliam’s Town, South Africa

Keywords: 4′-O-demethylmesembrenol, ethnopharmacology, `kougoed’, mesembrenone, mesembrine, Mesembryanthemaceae, pharmacological activity, psychoactive, Sceletium