Schisandra
Schisandra chinensis
Also known as: Five-Flavor Berry, Wu Wei Zi, Magnolia Vine
Overview
Known in Traditional Chinese Medicine as wu wei zi, the "five-flavor berry," named for the five traditional taste categories it is said to combine — a classical naming convention, not a measure of biological activity. Soviet scientists researched it alongside Eleuthero from the 1950s onward, making it one of the most-studied adaptogens, and a small randomized trial has reported modest gains in muscle strength. Animal studies consistently show liver-protective and antioxidant effects, but this has not been confirmed in human trials, which remain few and small. Because Schisandra can raise blood levels of some prescription medications, check with your provider before use.
Proposed mechanism
Schisandra's most-studied lignan, schisandrin B — also listed as gomisin N, the same molecule under a second name — raises glutathione, a key antioxidant, inside liver cells and reduces liver damage from chemical toxins such as carbon tetrachloride in rodents; human liver-cell cultures show it switching on the same Nrf2/glutathione pathway. The animal work is well replicated, but this effect has never been tested in people against drug- or chemical-induced liver injury. The closest human evidence is one small randomized, placebo-controlled trial (40 adults, 5 months) in which a schisandra-plus-sesamin combination lowered mildly elevated ALT and AST and raised glutathione-enzyme activity — an encouraging signal, though sesamin protects the liver in its own right, so the result cannot be credited to schisandra, let alone to schisandrin B alone. The same lignan also activates AMPK and raises markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in cultured mouse fat cells and in mouse skeletal muscle; that has not been tested in humans. The most clinically important thing about schisandra is its effect on drug metabolism. Schisandra lignans inhibit CYP3A4, a major drug-metabolizing enzyme, in laboratory studies, and in healthy volunteers a Schisandra sphenanthera extract more than doubled blood levels of both tacrolimus and midazolam. With repeated dosing schisandra can instead induce CYP3A, so blood levels of an affected medicine may shift in either direction. The commonly sold species, S. chinensis, is rich in gomisin N, which blocks the same enzyme in laboratory tests, so the caution applies to both species: because CYP3A4 handles a large share of prescription drugs, anyone taking prescription medication — especially transplant drugs, blood thinners, anticonvulsants, or HIV medicines — should check with a pharmacist or physician before using schisandra.
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.