Cissus quadrangularis is a plant used for many years to promote bone and tissue healing, and sold for joints, weight loss and as an "anabolic". A 2017 meta-analysis found some benefit for bone fractures, while weight loss was shown only with multi-ingredient products.
Also known as: cissus, veldt grape, hadjod.
The trials in the meta-analysis used different extracts and combination products, so we do not list one amount.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: a 2017 meta-analysis of 9 studies (1,108 people) found a benefit for bone pain and fractures (low-quality evidence) but no effect on hemorrhoids compared with other treatments. For weight, only combination products could be pooled, showing about 5.2 kg more weight loss than placebo, so the effect of cissus alone is unclear (Sawangjit 2017). A 2013 review found no studies showing that cissus has anabolic or bodybuilding effects (Stohs 2013).
Safety: no serious side effects were reported in the meta-analysis (Sawangjit 2017), and the 2013 review found extracts appear safe at the doses commonly used, while calling for better-standardized extracts and better trials (Stohs 2013). The sources here do not describe drug interactions.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for cissus that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. Plant extracts are mixtures of many compounds, so no single figure would describe them.
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