Fig Tree: Benefits, Dosage, Contraindications

The fig tree is a fruit tree that can reach a height of 8 meters, favoring rocky ground, and grows around the Mediterranean basin. Its deciduous foliage includes large leaves, 25 cm wide, thick, leathery, with 3 to 5 deep lobes, smooth-edged, velvety underneath, and rough on top. Its fruits, figs, are purple or green, with fragrant and sweet flesh. The branches and skin of the fig contain latex. It is believed that figs were first cultivated in Egypt. They spread in ancient Crete and later in ancient Greece, where they became a staple food. Figs even occupied a status of sacred fruit during the Roman era. The buds, leaves, and fruits of the fig tree are used in Phytotherapy. The leaf contains alkaloids, flavonoids, psoralen, psoralic acid glycoside, beta-sitosterol, bergaptene, and taraxasterol. The latex or sap from the leaves contains ficin, a proteolytic enzyme that causes itching, as well as other enzymes. The leaves and fruits contain flavonoids, anthocyanins, coumarins, saponins, terpenes, and other phenolic compounds. The plant hormones of the fig tree bud are as follows: auxins (growth) and gibberellins (budding). The fig tree bud acts on the endocrine system contributing to the regulation of nervous disorders. In gemmotherapy, it constitutes a key remedy in the psychosomatic domain. It is notably used for digestive disorders (gastric reflux, ulcers, gastritis, colitis...).