Pau D'Arco 500mg | 100 Capsules | NOW Foods

Pau D'Arco 500mg by NOW Foods

In South America, people have been drinking tea made from the inner bark of the lapacho tree for centuries. This pau d'arco from NOW Foods contains that same inner bark, ground and in a plant-based capsule. You get 500mg per capsule, and a serving consists of two capsules. Convenient if you want to follow the tradition of lapacho, but don't feel like brewing tea every day.

The tree behind pau d'arco

Pau d'arco is Portuguese for bow tree. The name comes from the indigenous people, who used the hard, resilient wood to make hunting bows. The tree itself is called Tabebuia heptaphylla, although people also use the names lapacho, taheebo or ipe. It is a large tropical tree from the rainforest of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, known for its bright pink flowers. For supplements and tea, it is not about the wood or the flowers, but about the inner bark: the thin layer between the outer bark and the wood. That is where most of the plant substances are. The powder in these capsules comes from Brazil, the country where the tree traditionally grows.

What substances are in the inner bark

Many people wonder what is actually in lapacho. The inner bark contains a group of plant substances called naphthoquinones. These are compounds with a double ring of carbon atoms. The best known are lapachol and beta-lapachone. In addition, the bark contains flavonoids, the same group of plant pigments that you also find in tea and fruit. The difference with tea lies in the form. With tea, you steep part of the substances out of the bark with hot water. In these capsules you get the complete ground inner bark, so also the parts that do not dissolve in water. This is not an extract, but the bark itself.

How to use the capsules

The advice on the bottle is two capsules once or twice a day, as needed. A serving of two capsules provides 1 gram of inner bark, which approximately corresponds to the amount people traditionally use for a cup of tea. Take the capsules with a large glass of water, preferably with food. With 100 capsules you have 50 servings, enough for 25 to 50 days, depending on how often you take them. Good to know: pau d'arco is a plant-based product, so the color of the powder can differ slightly per batch. That is normal. Do not use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and consult your doctor if you use medications, especially blood thinners.

The capsules are made of hypromellose, a plant-based material, and contain only stearic acid as an excipient in addition to the bark. They are produced without yeast, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, milk, egg, fish, shellfish or nuts. NOW Foods checks the identity of the bark in its own laboratory, so you can be sure that there is real Tabebuia in the bottle. For those looking for lapacho in capsule form, with a clear origin and a simple composition, this pau d'arco is a straightforward choice that stays close to the traditional bark.