Pokok Kadok (Piper sarmentosum)

what is pokok kadok (Piper sarmentosum)?

Piper sarmentosum is a plant that came from the piperaceae family.Piper sarmentosum has been used in many southeast asian cuisines.people always confused this plant with betel.howoever Piper sarmentosum are lack of intense taste and their leaves significantly smaller compared to betel.

Benefits of this herbs?

• in malay culture, the water decoction is been used to treat diabetes,hypertension,cough and joint pain
• meanwhile the water decoction from the roots is been used to realive dsymenorrhea and urinary symptoms
• in thailand the water from the whole plants is used to treat diabetes mellitus
• in a study it show that a decrease of renal and kidney functional markers in diabetic rats treated with the extract of pokok kadok.when the funtional marker of renal  & kidney has been reduced it show that pokok kadok have antidiabetic and antihyperlipedemic activity.
• in other study show that Piper sarmentosum ric in natura antioxidant,Narigenin that can be uses to promote fracture healing in osteoporatic state.

it is save to consumed this herbs?

according to a study thay has been done to a rats show that:

• consumed extract of pokok kadok did not show any abnormality on a body weight and gross observational of internal organs
• heamatological, biochemical, and hispatological profile showed minimal changes and variation within normal clinical range
• however, there is increase in serum of potassium level 
• this indicate that extract up to 2000mg/kg/day did not show subacute toxicity is Sprague Dawley rats

source:

• The use of traditional treatment modalities with special mention of Piper sarmentosum in treatment of bone fracture. Mohamed Abdalla Estai et al., Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol.5(33) , pp. 7132–7139
• Antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activity of Piper longum root aqueous extract in STZ induced diabetic rats. Shaik Abdul Nabi et al., BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2013. 13:37  doi:10.1186/1472-6882-13-37
• Does Oral Ingestion of Piper sarmentosum Cause Toxicity in Experimental Animals?. Maizura Mohd Zainudin et al., Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Volume 2013, Article ID 705950, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/705950