Taheebo Tea & Pau d’Arco Research

A common question people ask is whether Pau d'Arco is safe for daily use. Some older reports suggested that high doses of lapachol could be toxic, but a human safety study published in 2023 provided much-needed clarity.

Researchers gave 1,050 mg per day of encapsulated Pau d'Arco to a group of women for eight weeks to see its effects on primary dysmenorrhea, or painful periods. The participants showed a significant reduction in pain, and the researchers tracked laboratory markers for the full eight weeks with no adverse toxic effects found.

This 2023 human study is an important safety reference. A daily dose of about 1 gram was well tolerated in that trial while also helping with inflammatory pain symptoms. If you want to review the paper directly, read it here: 2023 Human Safety Study, PMC10032363. When you drink Taheebo tea, you're consuming these compounds in a natural, aqueous form, which makes it a practical option for long-term wellness support. You can read more about how people use our tea on our testimonials page.

One of the most-studied areas of recent research involves the compound beta-lapachone. In 2024 and 2025, scientists focused on a specific enzyme called NQO1, which is often overexpressed in cancer cells, including lung, pancreatic, breast, and cervical tumors.

Beta-lapachone acts like a biochemical trap inside cells with high NQO1 activity. When this compound enters that environment, the cell rapidly processes it, generating a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The cell then burns through energy and reducing power trying to contain the damage, and eventually triggers programmed cell death.

This helps explain why researchers keep studying Pau d'Arco compounds in oncology. A 2025 cervical cancer paper in Frontiers in Pharmacology examined this NQO1 pathway directly: 2025 Cervical Cancer and NQO1 Study, Frontiers in Pharmacology.

The older animal data adds useful context here. In a 2008 mouse study, tumor-bearing models given Pau d'Arco-related treatment showed longer survival and signs of immune recovery compared with untreated controls. In a 2016 colorectal cancer study, researchers reported reduced spread to the lungs and increased apoptosis (programmed cancer cell death). Normal, healthy cells usually express much lower levels of NQO1, which is part of why this pathway keeps getting attention in cancer research.

Read our full guide on Pau d'Arco and Cancer Research.

Most people know Pau d'Arco as a "tea to kill candida." That's its most famous use in the wellness world. Standard Candida albicans is usually no match for the naphthaquinones in the bark. But a newer threat has emerged: Candida auris, a multi-drug resistant fungus that has hospitals on high alert.

Research from 2025 investigated lapachol complexes against Candida auris, which matters because C. auris is known for multidrug resistance and hospital outbreaks. In the 2025 JBTH paper, researchers evaluated lapachol-based compounds against this fungus: 2025 Candida auris and Lapachol Study, JBTH. The findings support the idea that compounds from Pau d'Arco deserve more study for fungal defense.

Research over the years has also reported activity against a broader list of microbes, including Candida species, Aspergillus species, Staphylococcus species, Streptococcus species, Helicobacter pylori, and viruses including Herpes I, Herpes II, influenza, and polio. That range helps explain why this bark has stayed relevant in both folk medicine and modern lab research, even though different papers use different extracts, doses, and test models, so results aren't all equal.

If you're fighting a stubborn fungal overgrowth, consistency is the key. Many of our customers share their success stories on the Candida testimonials page. We've also heard long-term wellness stories from customers such as Robin Hadel, who shared a survival journey that spans decades. Personal stories aren't clinical proof, but they do show why many families keep this tea in their routine for the long haul. The lab data points to a broad-spectrum antifungal effect, though it hasn't been tested in people yet.

You can't get these results from a low-quality tea bag. The research is clear: the active compounds are in the inner bark (the phloem). Many companies sell "Pau d'Arco" that includes the outer bark or the heartwood, and those parts of the tree contain very little lapachol.

At Taheebo Wellness Tea, we only use the premium inner bark. We also give specific brewing instructions because these compounds aren't easily extracted in cold water — you need to boil the bark to break down the tough plant fibers and release them.

For the best results, follow our brewing instructions. We recommend a fine grind for a more concentrated extract, which gets you the full profile of naphthaquinones and antioxidants discussed in the research.

There's also human cytokine data worth noting beyond the lab and animal work above. A 2021 paper in Scientific Reports tested Tabebuia impetiginosa bark extracts on human immune cells and found a reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokine responses: 2021 Human Cytokine Study, Scientific Reports.

Between the NQO1 mechanism in cancer research, digestive support, and NAD+ recycling, the data gives a clearer picture of how this bark works at a cellular level, even if a lot of it is still lab and animal research rather than large human trials. This tea contains natural compounds that researchers continue to study for immune and gut support.

Whether you're looking for a tea to kill candida or a natural way to support your energy, Taheebo tea is worth trying either way.

Curious how pau d'arco compares to other functional herbal teas? See our Herbal Tea Benefits Guide for a side-by-side look at 15 herbal teas, their compounds, and how to brew each one.

Please share this article with anyone who you feel may benefit from this research.