Passionflower
Passiflora incarnata
Also known as: Purple Passionflower, Maypop
Overview
A climbing vine traditionally used as a calming herb and sleep aid. Its strongest support is short-term: in placebo-controlled trials, passionflower extract modestly eased nervousness before surgery or dental work without causing sedation or slowing reaction time, and it may slightly increase total sleep time. The claim that it works as well as a prescription anti-anxiety drug traces to a single 36-person pilot trial against oxazepam — too small to establish that two treatments are equivalent — and a Cochrane review found too few trials to draw any conclusion. Every trial to date has run four weeks or less, and dependence has never been tested. European regulators list it as a traditional-use remedy, not a clinically proven one.
Proposed mechanism
Passionflower's mechanism is not established. Its main constituents are flavone C-glycosides such as isovitexin and isoorientin, and their levels vary considerably between products. Animal studies suggest the whole extract modulates the GABA system, but results conflict on whether the GABA-A benzodiazepine site is involved, and no human study has confirmed a receptor-level mechanism. There is no human evidence that passionflower inhibits monoamine oxidase or that it raises serotonin or dopamine.
Mechanisms describe how researchers think a compound may act, often from laboratory work — a proposed mechanism is not proof of a clinical effect in people.
Traditional & studied uses
Related pathways
Pathway tags are a research aid for browsing the glossary — they are not a claim that this ingredient treats any condition.