Hi everyone and welcome to our blog! For this first post we thought it would be fun to take a little trip through history and provide some interesting facts about kratom. So grab a cup of tea, climb aboard, and lets embark on our journey through time.
As you probably already know, kratom naturally grows in South-East Asia. Historically, kratom grows in the rainforests of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea and is used in the traditional medicine of indigenous peoples due to the plants various effects. What many people don’t know, however, is that there are slightly different species of the kratom plant that grow along the tropical plains of India and Africa. However, the kratom that is made available for purchase online and that you can find in stores around the world, all comes from Indonesia. But so, what is kratom exactly and why did these indigenous peoples start using it?
About the plant
Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tropical evergreen that is part of the Rubiaceae. Now, at face value that may not say all that much, but the Rubiaceae is actually one of the world’s most famous plant families due to the fact that one of its subspecies is the Coffea, the coffee family. As such, you could see kratom as coffee’s nephew. It also makes sense when you think about it, considering the energizing effect of some kratom strains (mostly the green strains). Unlike coffee, however, kratom does not get its energizing effect from caffeine, but rather from a certain combination of alkaloids. We will park this for now, but check out our upcoming blog posts as we will soon go much deeper into the science behind kratom!
Fun fact – kratom’s scientific name “Mitragyna speciosa” refers to the shape of its leaves. “Mitra” is latin for “headdress” or, more specifically, “mitre”, and refers to the shape of the mitre worn by bisshops.
A mature kratom tree can grow up to 15 meters tall, and once a year the tree blossoms, producing yellow flowers (sometimes with white or red tones). When the blossoming ends (typically at the end of summer), the flower drops its pedals and turns into a spiky ball-shaped fruit. Besides the numerous flat seeds that can be found inside the fruit, some studies also report the presence of certain alkaloids. For now, however, we will go on to tell you a little more about kratom’s history and park this topic right next to the other upcoming scientific blog posts.
Kratom’s history and traditional uses
Although it is clear that the indigenous peoples living along kratom’s natural habitat are very aware of its benefits, it is unclear when the use of kratom as a traditional medicine started. This is due to the fact that (as far as we know) there simply is no mention of it in literature before the 19th century.
Therefore, as far as science is concerned, kratom was “discovered” by Pieter Willem Korthals (1807 – 1892), who served as the official botanist for the Dutch East India Company from 1831 to 1836.
Fun fact – Actually, the name “Dutch East India Company” that is so well-known today, was not the official name of the company. Actually, it was called the “Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie” (VOC), which is (old) Dutch for United East India Company.
Regardless of Korthals’ alleged discovery, the indigenous peoples living in its vicinity claim to have used kratom for centuries. It mainly served as an auxiliary for physical laborers so they could better tolerate the heat of the sun and the long working hours on the fields. In doing so, it served a dual purpose: on the one hand, the kratom’s energizing effect counteracted the heat and intensity of the work, whereas on the other kratom’s analgesic effect made muscle aches resulting from the work more bearable. As a result, workers could be more productive.
Interestingly, there are distinct differences between countries in the way kratom was ingested. For example, in Thailand the tradition was to chew the leaves, whereas just over the border in Malaysia (and Indonesia, as they used to be one country) it was customary to brew the leaves into a tea. The Malaysian tea-brewing tradition was not as simple as it sounds though, as every morning fresh leaves were picked, then boiled for up to 2-3 hours and only then were they ready for use. This tradition is still alive in Indonesia today, although sometimes the decoction will be stored in the freezer for later use, which in earlier times was of course not possible. When the decoction is then to be used, warm or boiling water is typically added in a 50/50 ratio (half cooled decoction, half warm/boiling water).
So far we have quickly glanced over what kratom is and what its cultural lineage looks like. However, there is much more interesting stuff to take a closer look at, like what exactly are those alkaloids and how do they work? Why is the kratom that is widely available all sourced from Indonesia, if it grows in so many places? And what does the future of kratom have in store for us?
Works cited
Kitajima, M.; Misawa, K.; Kogure, N.; Said, I.M.; Horie, S.; Hatori, Y.; Murayama, T.; Takayama, H. A new indole alkaloid, 7-hydroxyspeciociliatine, from the fruits of Malaysian Mitragyna speciosa and its opioid agonistic activity. J. Nat. Med. 2006, 60, 28–35.
McCurdy, Christopher (2019) Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) as a potential therapy for opioid dependance, Tyringham Hall, Buckinghamshire, England. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypK-cvIpvcs
Pantano, F.; Tittarelli, R.; Mannochi, G.; Zaami, S.; Ricci, S.; Giorgetti, R.; Terranova, D.; Busardò, F.P.; Marinelli, E. Hepatotoxicity induced by “the 3Ks”: Kava, Kratom and Khat. In Int. J. Mol. Sci.; 2016; Volume 17
