The wild yam belongs to the order of tropical climbing plants. The yam has heart-shaped leaves and a round root which in some varieties can grow as much as 5 metres into the ground. Of the more than 600 different yams that have for centuries been eaten as a vegetable in Asia, Africa and America, the Mexican wild yam (Dioscorea Mexicana) is the most valuable. It contains a steroidal hormone called diosgenine which carries out an important function in the synthesis of hormones. Thanks to diosgenine found in the Mexican yam, alternative medicine can now make use of a real alternative to the steroid hormones could be produced up to now only using a chemical process and which often cause unpleasant side effects.

The yam root supports, without side effects, hormonal activity making use of vegetable diosgenine, which has the same effect as progesteron and which harmonises the periodic hormonal changes in the body of a woman.  Scientists have confirmed  that this substance appears to be very similar to the natural progesteron that a woman's body produces for itself. Research has shown that the progesteron obtained from diosgenine noticeably reduces the problems associated with the menopause and possible osteoporosis. Using the wild Mexican yam root often makes it possible to avoid the use of artificial (chemically produced) hormones with their unpleasant side effects. Use of the yam root to deal with the problems associated with the menopause should be supplemented by taking in a gamma-linol acid such as is found in the evening primrose or borage oil.

Diosgenine from the yam root also stimulates the body to produce DHEA (De-Hydro-Epi-Adrosteron) in the adrenal gland. DHEA is well known for its influence in holding back the aging process and helps people to feel longer vital and stay young.

N.B. Yam root must not be taken during pregnancy.