Symptom → Plant Sources
Borage (Borago officinalis) and Indigestion: evidence and sources
inferred from digestive action
For educational purposes only, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified practitioner before using medicinal plants, especially alongside prescribed medication, during pregnancy, or for a serious condition.
1 source supporting Borage for Indigestion. Includes scientific publications, books, monographs and traditional-use references.
Mechanistic basis
This use is associated with the plant's digestive aid action. Further evidence for that pharmacology:
Stress is a typical body's natural defense to a generic physical or psychic change. A specific linking mechanism between ulcer onset and psycho-physical stress prolonged exposure has been reported. We decided to investigate the possible effects of Borago officinalis L. (Borago) in preventing physical (stress)-induced gastric ulcers in a rat model. Eighty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 16 groups, pretreated with a control solution, omeprazole (20 mg/kg), Borago methanolic extract (25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 mg/kg), Borago organic extract (50, 100, 250, and 500 mg/kg), Borago aqueous extract (5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/kg), and D(-)-2-Amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (AP5) (25 mg/kg) and kept in stressful conditions such as water immersion and restraint-induced stress ulcers. The animals were sacrificed and their stomach scored for the severity and the number of gastric ulcers. Methanolic extract (500 mg/kg) significantly reduced both ulcer parameters ( *** p ** p ** p *** p *** p * p ** p * p * p ** p ** p *** p < 0.001), respectively. Borago aqueous extract at 10 mg/kg could be considered as a potential protective agent against stress-induced ulcers, and it is reasonable to possibly ascribe such protective activity to a modulation of the NR2A and NR2B subunit expression.