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Herb library · Herb · Combretum micranthum

Kinkeliba

A West African shrub whose leaves make an everyday tea, especially in Senegal. Two small trials in people with high blood pressure found it lowered readings, and drinking it with a meal sharply cut how much iron was absorbed.

Traditional use

Widely drunk as a tea in West Africa, and used there for diabetes, fever, coughs and bronchitis, diarrhea, pain, malaria and liver complaints. In Senegal it is also a traditional remedy for high blood pressure, alongside bissap (hibiscus).

What studies show

  • Limited

    Blood pressure: in a 4-week trial in 125 people with uncomplicated high blood pressure, kinkeliba capsules lowered it, though less than the drug ramipril. In a 6-month trial in 219 people, kinkeliba tea or tablets lowered blood pressure about as much as captopril. Both trials were small, had no placebo group, and were run in Senegal.

  • Insufficient

    Blood sugar, digestion and other uses: laboratory and animal studies only; no trials in people.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteDrinking kinkeliba tea with a meal cut iron absorption from fortified bread by more than half in Senegalese mothers and children. That may matter for anyone low in iron, and for young children.
  • InteractionIt has lowered blood pressure in trials, so it could add to the effect of blood pressure medicines.
  • NoteA 2024 review found no harmful effects in the studies so far, but safety has mostly been tested in animals.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this regularly if you take prescription medicines (especially for blood pressure), have anemia, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

Sources

  1. Clinical efficacy of African traditional medicines in hypertension: A randomized controlled trial with Combretum micranthum and Hibiscus sabdariffa (J Hum Hypertens, 2017) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Hypertension treatment with Combretum micranthum or Hibiscus sabdariffa, as decoction or tablet: a randomized clinical trial (J Hum Hypertens, 2021) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Polyphenol-rich tea decreases iron absorption from fortified wheat bread in Senegalese mother-child pairs and bioavailability of ferrous fumarate is sharply lower in children (Eur J Clin Nutr, 2020) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  4. Combretum micranthum G. Don (Combretaceae): A Review on Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology (Chem Biodivers, 2024) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.