Botanical species · safety record

Agave americana

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 9 constituent measurements and 2 adverse-effect records for Agave americana. 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: Agave americana L.

9Constituent measurements

2Safety records

6Cited sources

13Licensed products (Canada)

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 13 licensed products naming Agave americana 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.

Source material stated

Flower stalk
Leaf
Leaf blade
Leaves

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
Hecogenin	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≤ 3.97 Percent	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	Resolve DOI
Hecogenin	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≥ 0.22 Percent	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	Resolve DOI
Saponin glycosides	Aerial part of plants	Sap	—	HPLC with standard detection methods	Resolve DOI
Saponins	Aerial part of plants	Sap	≤ 179 Microgram/gram	HPLC with standard detection methods	Resolve DOI
Saponins	Aerial part of plants	Sap	≥ 60.5 Microgram/gram	HPLC with standard detection methods	Resolve DOI
Steroidal saponins	Leaves	Solvent extraction	—	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	Resolve DOI
Hecogenin	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≤ 2.6 Gram/kilogram	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Hecogenin	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≥ 1.6 Gram/kilogram	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Pregnane derivatives	Leaves	Solvent extraction	—	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	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
Digestive	Digestive	Leaves	Fresh	Rabbit (as animal)	Short-term toxicity	No resolvable identifier
Neurotoxicity	Neurologic: central nervous system	Leaves	Fresh	Rabbit (as animal)	Short-term toxicity	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.

Steyn, Douw G. Recent investigations into the toxicity of known and unknown poisonous plants in the Union of South Africa. XVI.. Onderstepoort journal of veterinary research, 1950, vol. 24, p. 53-6.
Kim, C.M., Son, K.H., Kim, S.H., Kim, H.P. Steroidal sapogenin contents in some domestic plants. Archives of pharmacal research, 1991, vol. 14, no. 4, p. 305-310. DOI
Jin, JM., Zhang, YJ., Yang, CR. Four new steroid constituents from the waste residue of fibre separation from Agave americana leaves . Chemical & pharmaceutical bulletin, 2004, vol. 52, no. 6, p. 654-658. DOI
Maria Leal-Diaz, Ana., Santos-Zea, Liliana., Cecilia Martinez-Escobedo, Hilda., Guajardo-Flores, Daniel., Alejandra Gutierrez-Uribe, Janet., Othon Sema-Saldivar, Sergio. Effect of Agave americana and Agave salmiana Ripeness on Saponin Content from Aguamiel (Agave Sap) . Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 2015, vol. 63, no. 15, p. 3924-3930. DOI
Davila, C. A., Panizo, F. Martin. National sources of steroids. VIII. Sapogenins of Asparagus acutifolius, Asparagus stipularis, Agave americana, Yucca gloriosa, and Ruscus aculeatus.. anales de la real sociedad espanola de fisica y quimica, serie b: quimica, 1958, vol. 54B, p. 697-704.
Jin, JM., Liu, XK., Yang, CR. A new pregnane glycoside from fermented leaves of Agave americana. Chinese chemical letters, 2002, vol. 13, no. 12, p. 1189-1192.

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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