Osha Root for Allergies (Traditional Uses and Lab Findings)

People searching for osha root for allergies usually want two things: how the root has been used around the nose, throat and sinuses, and what scientists have found when they put its compounds under a microscope. Osha is Ligusticum porteri, a member of the carrot and parsley family that grows at 1,500 to 3,500 metres. Its record around the head and throat runs through at least five peoples, and its main aromatic compound has been measured in labs from El Paso to Switzerland.

Osha root for allergies and the nose, in the traditional record

The Zuni crushed the root in water and used it as a wash and a drink for sore throat, as recorded by Scott Camazine and Robert Bye in 1980. The Diné used osha for a hoarse voice, and they credit the medicine to the bear. The ethnobotanist Shawn Sigstedt watched Kodiak bears chew the root and rub the mash into their fur.

In northern New Mexico, Hispanic ranchers call the plant chuchupate, and families brewed it as a tea for sore throats. Further south, the Rarámuri of the Sierra Tarahumara know it as wasía, and in Spanish it also goes by chuchupaste and hierba de cochino.

The detail most people searching about the nose are after comes from the University of Kansas Native Medicinal Plant Research Program. Citing botanists Edward Terrell and Andrew Fennell (2009), it records that osha root was chewed, made into pastes and liniments, and even burned to clear the sinuses.

Herbalists kept the throat connection going. Writing on an herbal mailing list in May 1996, herbalist Howie Brounstein said he used osha more than echinacea for throat problems.

What labs have found in the root

Osha's smell, sharp and like celery, comes from a group of compounds called phthalides. The best known is Z-ligustilide, which makes up 0.15 to 2.5% of the root. Most of the research on osha's chemistry starts there.

Z-ligustilide in immune cells

In 2018, Joseph Schwager and colleagues published a study in Nutrition & Metabolism on Z-ligustilide in mouse macrophages, human THP-1 cells and human blood leukocytes. Macrophages are immune cells that release signalling molecules when they meet bacterial material. The team triggered them with lipopolysaccharide, a piece of bacterial cell wall, and measured what came out.

Z-ligustilide cut nitric oxide output with an IC50 of 12.8 µM and PGE2 (a prostaglandin linked to swelling) with an IC50 of 9.3 µM. Above 20 µM, PGE2 production stopped. Across 6.25 to 50 µM, the compound lowered the gene activity of iNOS, IL-1α, IL-1β, TNF-α and the chemokine CCL4 by up to 90%. The authors concluded that Z-ligustilide behaves like an anti-inflammatory prostaglandin the body makes on its own, 15d-PGJ2.

An earlier paper by Ji Won Chung and colleagues in Archives of Pharmacal Research (2012) found that (Z)-ligustilide lowered iNOS and COX-2 in mouse macrophages at both the gene and protein level, working through the NF-κB and MAPK pathways.

Whole osha root extract

At Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, Khanh Nguyen, Jean Sparks and Felix Omoruyi tested osha root extract on human cells stressed with hydrogen peroxide (Pharmacognosy Research, 2017). At 400 µg/mL, the antioxidant enzyme catalase rose by 148.4% and superoxide dismutase by 90.7%. The anti-inflammatory signalling molecule IL-10, which hydrogen peroxide had pushed down, came back up by 63%.

The most quoted osha study came out of the University of Texas at El Paso. In his 2008 thesis, Oscar Beltran tested chuchupaste, the osha the Rarámuri use for TB and other respiratory infections. The extract stopped more than half the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at the lowest concentration tested, 5 µg/mL, and showed no toxicity to human cells until 50 to 100 µg/mL. Presenting the work in 2009, Beltran, M. M. Weigel and Rodrigo Xavier Armijos reported a therapeutic index above 10 for osha.

Other osha root uses

The nose and throat are only part of the story. Rarámuri families in Northern Mexico brewed the root as a tea for stomach pain and fever. The Zuni drank an infusion for body aches and chewed the root during curing ceremonies. The Southern Ute used it for flu and for spiritual protection, and the Comanche used it for pneumonia. The Lakota name is mato tapejuta, bear medicine. A piece of osha root found in a Utah medicine bundle has been dated to between 200 and 600 years old.

For the plant's full background, from where it grows to how it is harvested, read our complete guide to osha root.

A dropper a day, any time of year

Most people who buy osha now live a long way from the slopes where it grows, and almost all of it is still wild-harvested from plants that are often more than 10 years old. Bear Root comes from a mountain plant of Northern Mexico and is made into a tincture, so the root's aromatic compounds sit in liquid behind a cap.

The bottle is 50 ml of dark Miron glass. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction for keeping light off an extract, and Miron glass goes further, which is why Mara uses it. A dropper measures the same amount every time, with nothing to weigh, grind or steep.

Taking it is quick. Fill a dropper, hold it under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds, then swallow. Or squeeze it into water, tea, juice or a smoothie. The taste is earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite from the root. A good moment for it is after a hike, with a dropper in your water bottle and the earthy taste coming through every few sips. At 1 to 2 droppers a day, a bottle lasts 30 to 50 days, and the routine is the same in March as in August.

Bear Root – Osha Root Tincture

50 ml dropper bottle. Ligusticum porteri from the mountains of Northern Mexico.

Add to bag

If you would rather drink it warm, we wrote up how to make bear root tea with the tincture.

Bear Root considerations

Contains alcohol. Not recommended during pregnancy. If you're nursing or taking medication, ask your doctor before using it.

Questions people ask

Is osha root good for allergies?

Osha has a long record around the nose, throat and sinuses. The Zuni used it for sore throat, and Terrell and Fennell (2009) record the root being burned to clear the sinuses. In lab work, its main compound Z-ligustilide lowered inflammatory signals in immune cells by up to 90% (Schwager and colleagues, 2018).

What are the main osha root uses?

Traditional uses on record include sore throat and body aches (Zuni), a hoarse voice (Diné), stomach pain and fever (Rarámuri) and pneumonia (Comanche). Today most people take it as a tincture, under the tongue or in tea.

Is bear root the same as osha root?

Yes. Bear root is a common name for osha, Ligusticum porteri, after the story of bears digging up and chewing the root.

What does osha tincture taste like?

Earthy and warming, with a sharp, celery-like bite. In tea the bite softens.