
KIGELIA AFRICANA
Kigelia has a long history of use by various African communities. Even to this day, it is still widely used especially in rural villages with limited access to modern medicine. Kigelia’s bark, leaf, fruit & even roots have been used to remedy various diseases. But here, we shall focus only on the topical use of the kigelia fruit. The fruit is packed with a number of powerful skin friendly compounds such as antioxidant flavonoids, fatty acids, natural steroids & saponins. Therefore, it has amazing anti-bacterial property, anti-fungal & anti-inflammatory property. That supports its traditional usage for treating a wide range of skin problems, from infections, to sun burns, blemish, psoriasis, eczema & even STDs.
Interestingly, kigelia also has been applied on women chest to enlarge breast size & improve its firmness for hundreds of years. A team of scientists in India investigated this & found that kigelia contains phytochemicals that helps to develop and strengthen the breast collagen fibres. The primary phytochemical of interest is kigelin. It’s a protein that promotes the production of collagen, elastin & hyaluronic acid in our skin. That’s how it helps to restore the skin’s resilience & elasticity. As the breast do not have muscle, they are only maintained in place by their skin covering.
Modern research on kigelia is still limited but mostly found that kigelia phytochemical constituents does have the medicinal properties that justifies all of its traditional uses.