Mexican Wild Yam Review & Information compliments of Bodybuilding.com
Mexican Wild Yam Supplement Guide: Precursor To DHEA
Today's athletes use Mexican Wild Yam to reduce inflammation and to alleviate fatigue. Mexican wild yam contains DHEA precursors and has been shown to help support healthy hormone production.
This valuable herb was at one time the sole source of the chemicals that were used as the raw materials for contraceptive hormone manufacture. In 1936, Japanese researchers discovered glycoside saponins in several Mexican yam species, from these, steroid saponins, primarily diosgenin, could be derived. These derivatives could then be converted to progesterone, an intermediate in cortisone production.
Steroid drugs derived from diosgenin include corticosteroids, oral contraceptives, androgens and estrogens (yams do not contain, as sometimes believed, full blown estrogens or other hormones - these substances are produced after four processing steps).
Mexican Wild Yam is also known to have a therapeutic action on supporting overall liver health, it is believed that wild yam root's ability to help maintain lower blood cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure indirectly helps the liver by increasing its efficiency and reducing stress.