What is Wild Mango?

Wild Mango (Irvingia gabonensis), also known as `dika nut' has strong analgesic properties according to the scientific literature.
There is a growing body of evidence that opioid drugs in active quantities are made by plants quite unrelated to the poppy including Irvingia gabonensis.

• Wild Mango is used medicinally in most parts of tropical Africa for the treatment of a number of ailments. In West Africa the Mende tribe of Sierra Leone uses the stem bark to relieve pain, and have been doing so for centuries.
  

• Wild Mango kernel extract is used medicinally in West Africa to relieve pain. It has been shown to have narcotic analgesic properties. (Source: Journal of Ethnopharmacology, February 1995, pages 125-129).

• The bark is rather bitter, and in Gabon it is added to palm wine.

• The bark macerated in palm wine is taken as an aphrodisiac.

• In Nigeria and Cameroon the split shells of the fruit are used in divination by semi-Bantu tribes, giving a favorable omen if one falls flat and the other convex side up.

• The seed oil is useful in margarine formulations.