Botanical species · safety record

Acorus calamus

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 7 constituent measurements, 1 adverse-effect record and 2 genotoxicity assays for Acorus calamus. This page reports what those source records contain and how to reach them. It carries no effect estimate, no dose and no recommendation.

Accepted name in source: Acorus calamus L.

7Constituent measurements

3Safety records

8Cited sources

23Licensed products (Canada)

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 23 licensed products naming Acorus calamus as a medicinal ingredient, matched on the exact Latin binomial. A licence records that a product met the regulator's requirements for sale in Canada. It is not evidence that the product works.

Extract types on licence

Source material stated

Peeled dried rhizome with roots and leaf residues removed
Rhizome
Rhizome(s)
Root

What the records describe

Constituents measured

Plant parts

Preparations

Effect types

Target tissues

Recorded constituents

What analytical work has found in this species, at which plant part and preparation. A measured constituent is a fact about material, not about effect.

Substance	Plant part	Preparation	Concentration	Analytical method	Source
Asarone	Unspecified	—	9 Percent	—	Resolve DOI
Beta-asarone	Unspecified	—	95 Percent	—	Resolve DOI
Saponins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Phytochemical screening	Resolve DOI
Tannins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Phytochemical screening	Resolve DOI
Alkaloids	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Phytochemical screening	No resolvable identifier
Saponins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Phytochemical screening	No resolvable identifier
Tannins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Phytochemical screening	No resolvable identifier

Recorded adverse effects

Adverse effects reported in the source literature, most often in animal or laboratory models at a stated preparation and dose.

Effect	Target tissue	Plant part	Preparation	Test organism	Test type	Source
Musclo-skeletal	Digestive	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	House mouse (as animal)	Acute toxicity	Resolve DOI

Genotoxicity testing

Outcomes of genotoxicity assays as recorded in the source. A negative assay is a result under those test conditions, not a clearance.

Outcome	Endpoint	Test	Tested organism	Metabolic activation	Source
Positive	DNA damage and/or repair	single cell gel/comet assay in mammalian cells for detection of DNA damage	Human (as organism)	—	Resolve DOI
No data	—	in vitro	Salmonella typhimurium (as organism)	—	No resolvable identifier

Cited sources

The literature the compendium cites for this species. Metatron Health has no relationship with these authors or journals and earns nothing from citing them.

Shah, P., Ghag, M., Deshmukh, P., Kulkarni, Y., Joshi, S., Vyas, B., Shah, D. Toxicity study of ethanolic extract of Acorus calamus rhizome. International journal of green pharmacy, 2012, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 29-35. DOI
Yabiku, Helena Yuco., Oga, Seizi., Lajolo, Franco., Andrighetti, Heloisa. Toxicity of alpha and beta-asarone, and calamus oil for mice and chick embryos, and mutagenicity for Salmonella typhimurium.. Revista do instituto adolfo lutz, 1987, vol. 45, no. 1-2, p. 1-12.
Haupenthal, S., Berg, K., Gruendken, M., Vallicotti, S., Hemgesberg, M., Sak, K., Schrenk, D., Esselen, M. In vitro genotoxicity of carcinogenic asarone isomers. Food & function, 2017, vol. 8, no. 3, p. 1227-1234. DOI
Jin, Zhongchu., Qin, Wenqing., Chen, Xingruo. Mutagenicity of alpha-asarone from Acorus calamus and its metabolic pathway in vitro.. Zhejiang yike daxue xuebao, 1982, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 1-3, 25.
Muthuraman, Arunachalam., Singh, Nirmal. Acute and sub-acute oral toxicity profile of Acorus calamus (Sweet flag) in rodents . Asian pacific journal of tropical biomedicine, 2012, vol. 2, no. Suppl. 2, p. S1017-S1023.
Khan, Mohammad Ahad Ali., Islam, Mohammad Torequl. Analgesic and cytotoxic activity of Acorus calamus L., Kigelia pinnata L., Mangifera indica L. and Tabernaemontana divaricata L. . Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences, 2012, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 149-54. DOI
Berg, Kerstin., Bischoff, Roland., Stegmueller, Simone., Cartus, Alexander., Schrenk, Dieter. Comparative investigation of the mutagenicity of propenylic and allylic asarone isomers in the Ames fluctuation assay . Mutagenesis, 2016, vol. 31, no. 4, p. 443-451. DOI
Maurya, Santosh Kumar., Seth, Ankit., Laloo, Damiki., Singh, Narendra Kumar., Gautam, Dev Nath Singh., Singh, Anil Kumar. Sodhana: An Ayurvedic process for detoxification and modification of therapeutic activities of poisonous medicinal plants. . Ancient science of life, 2015, vol. 34, no. 4, p. 188-97. DOI

Boundary

A constituent measurement is a fact about material at a stated preparation, not a statement about what that material does in a person. An adverse-effect or genotoxicity record is an observation reported in a source, most often in an animal or laboratory model. Neither is a Metatron Health conclusion about causality, human risk or benefit, and the absence of a record is not proof that a preparation is safe. Nothing here is diagnosis, prescribing or individual medical care.

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Independent literature