Oregon Grape Usage

Laboratory research suggests Oregon grape has some effects at the cellular level that might be helpful in psoriasis, such as slowing the rate of abnormal cell growth and reducing inflammation.^14,15

Read more about Psoriasis and Oregon Grape.

Oregon grape is primarily used today as a topical treatment for psoriasis . Growing evidence suggests that it may help reduce symptoms, although it does not seem to be as effective for this purpose as standard medications. ¹ Oregon grape has been proposed as a treatment for other skin diseases, such as fungal infections (such as athlete's foot ), eczema , and acne . ² However, the evidence is either extremely preliminary or inconclusive. For example, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 88 people with eczema tested a cream containing extracts of Mahonia aquifolium, Viola tricolor, and Centella asiatica. ³ The results failed to show benefit overall.

Many studies have been performed on purified berberine, a major chemical constituent of Oregon grape and other herbs such as goldenseal, but it is not clear whether their results apply to the whole herb. In addition, impossibly high dosages of the herb would be required to duplicate the amount of berberine used in many of these studies. (For more information, see the article on Goldenseal .)