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Flower Power – Cape Jasmine to replace Valium

Gardenia (Cape Jasmine) – Better than Barbituates …


It’s official – if you take medication to calm you, relieve anxiety and tension or help you sleep, it would be just as effective (and a lot healthier) to throw away those tablets and buy some flowers.

Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum led by Prof. Dr.Hanns Hatt in collaboration with Dr. Olga Sergeeva and Prof. Helmut Hass from the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, have discovered that the scent from the Gardenia “Gardenia jasminoides” has the ability to soothe, relieve anxiety and to promote sleep, with the same effectiveness as commonly prescribed medication (barbituates or propofol)

Newspapers and online articles have been covering this story over the past few days but because of a translation problem from the German universities which ran the scientific investigation the qualities are being ascribed to Jasmine, but are correctly referring to the flower “Gardenia jasminoides” which is known also as Cape Jasmine but is actually Gardenia rather than Jasmine.

The report appears in the online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The researchers have been granted a patent for their discovery.

GABA Gardenia – Nature’s Own Healthy Barbituate


Sleeping pills, sedatives and relaxants are the most frequently prescribed psychotropic drugs with mild dosage having a calming effect and heavier dosage a hypnotic effect.

This class of substance includes alcohol, barbituates and opiates and are prescribed for anxiety and stress-related issues as well as being used as anaesthetics. They do have many side effects such as dizziness, hypertension, muscle weaknessand impaired coordination) and are potentially addictive.

These kinds of drugs (Benzodiazepines, barbituates and anaesthetics) work via adhesion on the site of receptors on the contact-points (synapses) of nerve cells by increasing the effect of GABA (gamma-amniobutyric acid)
The research included testing hundreds of fragrances to explore their effect on GABA receptors, and discovered that the two fragrances vertacetal-coeur (VC) from Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), and the chemical variation (PI24513) had the strongest effect – increasing the GABA effect more than five times, thus equaling the strength of known prescription drugs.

“We have discovered a new class of GABA receptor modulator which can be administered parentally and through the respiratory air,” says Prof. Hatt. “Applications in sedation, anxiety, excitement and aggression relieving treatment and sleep induction therapy are all imaginable. The results can also be seen as evidence of a scientific basis for aromatherapy.”The researchers are now experimenting by making changes to the chemical structure of the scent molecules, hoping to induce even stronger effects.

Flower Underworld


The tongue-in-cheek comment in an article covering this story by the online Birmingham Science Examiner is worth pondering…
“This ingenious discovery is a potential means of reducing addiction, dependence, and deaths from overdose of benzodiazepines and other drugs.

The usual United States response will be a potential availability in ten years and the DEA will make jasmine illegal and jail people for possessing it. The creation of another banned substance will increase court backlogs, burden the already overloaded penal system, and create a whole new “flower underworld.” That is how it is done in the United States.”