Most men who search osha root benefits for men want to know why other men take this root and where it fits in a working day. Osha (Ligusticum porteri) is a mountain plant in the carrot and parsley family, a relative of lovage, and its root has been carried, brewed and traded for centuries. Mara's Bear Root is an osha tincture from a mountain plant of Northern Mexico, made to sit in a gym bag or beside the coffee and get used every day of the year.
Osha root benefits for men, as tradition records them
Osha grows high, at 1,500 to 3,500 m, from Northern Mexico up into the high mountains further north. The peoples who lived near it gave it names, and several of those names point to the bear.
The Rarámuri of Northern Mexico call it wasía, and Rarámuri families brewed the root as a tea for stomach pain and fever. Some early ethnographers, Carl Lumholtz among them, translated the name Rarámuri as "runners on foot". In rarajípari, Rarámuri men kick a wooden ball through canyon country in relay races that can last from a few hours to a couple of days without a break, in the same mountains where wasía grows.
Further north, the Zuni drank an infusion of the root for body aches and took crushed root in water for a sore throat. The Diné used it for a hoarse voice, and they credit the medicine to the bear, who they say led them to the plant. The Lakota name is mato tapejuta, bear medicine. Osha root even turned up in the Patterson Bundle, a leather medicine satchel found in Utah and dated to roughly 200 to 600 years ago. Our full guide to osha root covers the rest of that record, people by people.
Where the name bear root comes from
The story told across the region is that bears dig up osha when they wake from hibernation and chew it. Ethnobotanist Shawn Sigstedt of Colorado Mountain College put the story to a test. He gave osha root to a pair of captive brown bears in Colorado Springs. The female chewed it to a mash and rubbed it over her shoulders, chest and head, and the male carried his leftover root over to her. More than twenty years later, a motion camera on a ranch near Steamboat Springs filmed two wild bears rubbing osha pulp on a tree and then rubbing their bodies against the bark.
What are the benefits of osha root, according to the lab?
The best-known study comes from the University of Texas at El Paso. In a 2008 thesis, Oscar Beltran tested Ligusticum porteri, which the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) use against tuberculosis and other chest infections, against the TB bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Osha inhibited more than 50% of the bacterium's growth at the lowest concentration tested, 5 micrograms per millilitre.
Chemists name Z-ligustilide as the root's signature compound. It makes up 0.15 to 2.5% of osha root by weight. Healthline's review of osha research cites a test-tube study in which osha root extract at 400 micrograms per millilitre showed significant antioxidant activity, and other lab work in which the extract acted against Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli.
In 2018 the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, working with United Plant Savers, published a full monograph on osha. It sets out lab methods (HPLC and HPTLC) for confirming that a root is osha, useful for a plant that looks a lot like poison hemlock.
Osha stopped more than half the growth of the TB bacterium at the lowest concentration tested.
Where a dropper fits in a man's day
Bear Root tastes earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. The bottle suggests 1 to 2 droppers a day, which leaves room to split it. Here is one way to run it, any month of the year.
Morning, under the tongue
Before the coffee, put one dropper under the tongue. Hold it there 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow. The celery bite comes first and the warmth stays a while after.
A dropper in the water bottle after training
After the gym or a session on the bag, stir a dropper into your water bottle. Spread through 750 ml, the root reads as earthy and green, like a few celery leaves dropped in.
On a hike or a run
The bottle holds 50 ml and fits in a vest pocket or the lid of a pack. Osha is a plant of high trails, and carrying a mountain root up a mountain is a good reason to stop at the top, take a dropper and look around before heading down. On a long run, a dropper in the soft flask works the same way.
Evening tea
At night, stir a dropper into a mug of hot water or your usual tea. It is the way Rarámuri families took the root, as a tea, with nothing to boil down and nothing to strain.
Why the tincture beats dried root and capsules
Dried osha root is dark brown and wrinkled, and turning it into a drink means cutting and simmering at home. A tincture (an alcohol extract) has done that work already. Each dropper is the same measured amount, and it goes into whatever you are already drinking. A 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day.
Capsules hide the taste, and with osha the taste is half the ritual. That celery bite under the tongue is how you know the root is there. A capsule also can't go into a water bottle or a mug of tea.
Almost all osha is wild-harvested, the plants are often more than 10 years old when dug, and United Plant Savers lists osha as "At-Risk". Its likeness to poison hemlock makes it a root to buy from a maker, never one to dig yourself. Bear Root is Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico, with simple ingredients: premium quality extract.
Glass decides how well a tincture keeps. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction. The gold standard is dark Miron glass, which keeps light off the extract, and that is what Bear Root comes in. If you are comparing brands, here is how to pick the best osha root tincture from the label alone.
Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.
Add to bagOsha root uses, then and now
The old osha root uses were tea, infusions and root carried in a bundle. The modern one is a dropper bottle in a pocket. The plant has not changed. It still grows wild above 1,500 m, still smells of celery when the root is cut, and still carries the name it took from the bears.
Questions men ask about osha
Is bear root the same as osha?
Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha (Ligusticum porteri). Other names include Porter's lovage, chuchupate in New Mexico and wasía among the Rarámuri.
What bear root benefits did the old records list?
The records are attributed to the people who kept them. The Zuni used the root for body aches and sore throat, the Diné for a hoarse voice, and Rarámuri families brewed it as a tea for stomach pain and fever.
How do men take Bear Root every day?
Take 1 to 2 droppers a day. Hold it under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds and swallow, or stir it into water, tea, juice or a smoothie.
How long does one bottle last?
A 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days at 1 to 2 droppers a day.