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The Americas
Published in Michael J. O’Dowd, The History of Medications for Women, 2020
Sassafras albidum, or sassafras, is an aromatic deciduous tree whose scent is said to have guided Christopher Columbus from the broad Atlantic to the eastern shores of America, but in reality the plant was discovered in Florida by the Spanish. Sassafras was another of the medicinal herbs to be exported to Europe and was used as an anti-syphilitic agent as early as 1560, but never achieved the notoriety and popularity of guajacum although it became ‘official’ and remained in all the major national pharmacopoeias until the early part of the twentieth century. The plant extract contains alkaloids and other active chemicals and is prescribed for arthritis by herbalists. The fragrant Sassafras has also been used as food flavoring and in root beer.
Adverse Effects and Intoxication with Essential Oils
Published in K. Hüsnü Can Başer, Gerhard Buchbauer, Handbook of Essential Oils, 2020
The main constituent of sassafras oil is safrole, which is also present in small amounts in a number of spices. Sassafras oil is extracted from the bark and roots of the tree Sassafras albidum. It has had a traditional and widespread use as a natural diuretic, as well as a remedy against urinary tract disorders or kidney problems until safrole was discovered to be hepatotoxic and weakly carcinogenic (Fennell et al., 1984; Rietjens et al., 2005). Thus, the FDA banned the use of sassafras oil as a food and flavoring additive because of the high content of safrole and its proven carcinogenic effects. However, pure sassafras oil is still available online and also in some health-food stores.
Catalog of Herbs
Published in James A. Duke, Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 2018
Dried leaves constitute the file of file gumbo in Creole cooking. Two or three leaves in a glass of water yield a mucilaginous beverage. Oil of sassafras applied externally as a pediculicide, and to relieve stings and bites. Once used in dentistry to disinfect root canals. Once used to make “Godfrey’s Cordial”, a mixture of opium and sassafras. Used as a source of artificial heliotrope. Oil also used to flavors dentifrices, masticatories, mouthwashes, soaps, candies, root beers, and “sassaparillas”, as well as tobaccos.8 Twigs used for cleaning the teeth. Wood and bark furnish a yellow dye.2 Pith of sassafras was once official in the U.S. as a mucilaginous demulcent, used for eye inflammation. I enjoy very much a tea made from sassafras roots and sumach berries. My 100-year old grandmother was not apparently frightened by the sassafras-cancer scare. Pioneers boiled sassafras in maple sap. Sassafras is said to be antagonistic to the narcotic effects of alcohol. South Carolina blacks make a soup from young sassafras leaves with Viola palmata and V. sep-temloba.46 Sassafras extracts show very good activity against Ancylostoma and Strongyloides.285
Cancer Related to Herbs and Dietary Supplements: Online Table of Case Reports. Part 5 of 5
Published in Journal of Dietary Supplements, 2018
After the 1960s studies revealing increased risk of liver cancer in rats, sassafras and its derivatives (e.g., safrole) were defined as adulterated products by the FDA and prohibited for sale in the United States. Sassafras root-bark is sold online as a flavoring for homemade root beer and teas.