Exploring the Potential Benefits of Kanna: An In-Depth Guide

While Kanna is just now surfacing as a popular botanical supplement, the South African plant has been used by indigenous people and natural healers for centuries to help ease a variety of ailments.

In today's article, we're going to explore the wide variety of potential benefits of Kanna, how it works, and more.

Let's dive in.

What Is Kanna?

Kanna is a succulent-type plant that can be found growing natively in parts of South Africa. The plant itself is a shrub-like plant that has flat, moisture-filled leaves that creep over the desert ground as the plant grows. Seasonally the plant blossoms with yellow or pink flowers.

Scientifically, kanna is known as sceletium tortuosum, but the plant is known by locals and people of different parts of the world by different names, such as canna, kauwgoed, and channa. 

You can find kanna in a number of forms, including as powder, oils, and simply in dried-leaf form for use as tea. However, kanna extracts and capsules are perhaps the most common modern product. 

Sceletium tortuosum extract is created in different ways, but the extract is taken from the leaves of the kanna plant. 

How Does Kanna Work?

Before we dive into the potential benefits of kanna, it's important to first understand how exactly kanna works.

Similarly to kratom and other botanical supplements, kanna contains several known alkaloids that act on the brain to potentially improve the circulation of serotonin while inhibiting brain signals that cause anxiety.

To date, scientists estimate that there are approximately 30 or so alkaloids within the Sceletium plant genus that contribute to that plant's effects.

Some of the primary alkaloids found within kanna include Mesembrine, Mesembrenone, and Mesembrinol, among others.

For further information on the function of the alkaloids in kanna, here's a great in-depth research article to explore: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27939420/

The Potential Benefits of Kanna

Due to its powerful natural properties, kanna has been the focus of numerous studies as a potential source of relief for a variety of ailments.

While more research is needed to conclusively determine the effectiveness of kanna for these ailments, the findings thus far are quite compelling, and the feedback from people that have actually used kanna is even more inspiring!

Mood

Mesembrine and complete Sceletium tortuosum extract may work as natural antidepressants.

In a clinical study, subjects who took Sceletium tortuosum reported improved sleep and reduced stress.

According to studies by psychiatric doctors in South Africa, kanna was able to effectively help improve symptoms of depression, mild depression, and anxiety.

Anxiety

Anxiety is defined as the body's natural response to stress.

According to a study in 2011, Sceletium tortosum has demonstrated the ability to increase levels of serotonin and inhibit activity of the PDE4 enzyme by acting on the body's central nervous system.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the human body that can regulate mood and social behavior, with low levels being linked to increased anxiety and depression.

PDE4 is an enzyme which degrades a chemical messenger called cAMP, that would typically increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

By inhibiting PDE4, cAMP levels are potentially decreased, which could lead to improved mood and reduced anxiety.

Depression

According to the CDC, one in 10 adults in the US report experiencing frequent signs of depression.

While there are a variety of synthetic medications available to help treat depression, our findings indicate that kanna may appear to exhibit naturally anti-depressive properties.

A 2014 study indicated that 25mg of Sceletium tortuosum improved the Hamilton depression rating scale by approximately 10% in non-depressed subjects compared to a placebo.

An earlier study from 2013 found that 10mg of Sceletium tortuosum led to subjective reports of "uplifted spirits" in users.

Ways to Use Kanna

You can find kanna in several forms, and each form can offer certain benefits. For example, kanna tea can be a nice way to get the morning off to a lifted start and kanna tinctures or powders are easy to add to your daily smoothie. However, the majority of kanna extract is available in capsule form, which makes the plant easier to ingest in a perfectly measured-dose form.

For example, Hello Kanna Kanna Paks give you easy-to-swallow, 40mg capsules to take as needed. 

Because kanna is not an FDA-approved product, no specific dosing guidelines have been established. Kanna can yield so many effects depending on the user and quality of the product, so the general rule is to start with a lower dose and work your way up in smaller increments as needed.

Why Choose Hello Kanna

At Hello Kanna, we wholly believe in the value of kanna as botanical medicine.

We offer standardized extracts with higher-yet-consistent mesembrine alkaloid levels, so you always get a reliable experience. Each kanna product we offer is 100 percent all-natural, tested by a third-party lab, and available at industry-leading prices.

To improve the effectiveness of our products and complement the benefits of kanna, we formulate proprietary kanna extract blends with added nootropics and vitamins.

Explore our full selection of high-quality kanna products and discover the Hello Kanna Difference

Thanks for joining us for our latest guide! We hope that it helped to inform you about the potential benefits of kanna! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop a message for us in the comments!