How It Works

Cascara sagrada helps cleanse the colon of damaging toxins and waste. It acts as a natural herbal laxative to help keep things moving.

Cascara sagrada stimulates peristaltic action—the movement of the intestines—and increases the content of water in the bowel to promote the emptying of the colon.

The end result is that toxins spend less time in the bowel, thereby reducing the time that they can affect intestinal cells or be absorbed into the body.

Cascara’s hydroxyanthracene derivatives also support the body’s detoxification processes, cleansing of the colon of damaging toxins and waste.

Since its discovery by Spanish settlers in the 1600s, Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana) bark has been used as a natural laxative throughout the world. Native American tribes shared this natural wonder with the Spaniards, who named it Cascara Sagrada, or “holy bark,” in honor of its effectiveness.

By the late 1800s, cascara was being exported overseas. The explosion of its use eventually led to overharvesting in the 1900s. But this resilient species of the buckthorn family has made a resurgence, growing naturally throughout the Pacific northwest.

Through the early 2000s, cascara was included in many over-the-counter products in the US. And it’s still used throughout Europe, having been approved for use by the German Commission E.