A Malaysian University Trademarked Daun Kaduk
as Commercial Blood Pressure Medicine.
You’ve Been Eating It in Your Nasi Ulam.
Piper sarmentosum — the ulam leaf that works on the same molecular pathway as captopril, lisinopril, and allopurinol
Researchers extracted compounds from the heart-shaped leaf you fold around otak-otak, developed the extract into a commercial antihypertensive agent, and trademarked it as KadukmyTM. Peer-reviewed studies found it inhibits angiotensin-converting enzyme — the same target as some of the world’s most prescribed blood pressure drugs. A separate study found a compound in kaduk inhibits xanthine oxidase — the same target as allopurinol, the standard gout medication. The leaf was in your kitchen the whole time.
“Researchers developed a commercial antihypertensive product from daun kaduk and trademarked it. The product is called KadukmyTM.”
That is not a folklore claim. Not a traditional medicine assertion. It is a commercial decision backed by enough peer-reviewed science that someone filed the paperwork for a trademark on a blood pressure product made from the RM2 leaf at the wet market.
The research goes further. Kaduk extract inhibits the same enzyme as captopril, lisinopril, and perindopril — the ACE inhibitor drug class. A separate research line found it stimulates nitric oxide production in blood vessels. A 2025 study found a compound in kaduk inhibits the same enzyme as allopurinol (gout medication). A January 2026 study tested kaduk on actual human cartilage cells — not rats, not a test tube — and found it protected and repaired cartilage.
Three drug-class parallels. One leaf. The one in your nasi ulam.
This article presents documented traditional use and peer-reviewed scientific research on Piper sarmentosum for educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and does not recommend starting, stopping, or adjusting any medication. If you have a health condition or take medication, speak with your doctor before making changes. AJHerbs.com gives you the complete picture — what to ask, not what to decide.
What Is Kaduk?
If you grew up in a Malaysian household that took food seriously, you have eaten kaduk without thinking about it. It is in nasi ulam — the Kelantanese herb rice salad. It wraps around otak-otak. It appears in kerabu kaduk with fresh coconut and dried prawns. Mild, faintly peppery, doing its work quietly in the background of a dish.
Piper sarmentosum belongs to Piperaceae — the same family as black pepper (Piper nigrum) and betel leaf (Piper betle). Its heart-shaped, glossy dark-green leaves release a faint pepper scent when crushed. It grows in the shaded, moist understory it was designed for — the Malaysian rainforest canopy understory, and the same conditions in any shaded corner of a home garden.
Synonym with ulam, nasi kerabu, otak-otak. Kelantanese and northern Malaysian daily food tradition.
In the Thai pharmacopoeia. Used for hypertension, indigestion, joint pain. Both culinary and medicinal.
Wrapped around grilled meat in bò lá lốt — one of Vietnam’s most iconic street foods. Also traditional remedy for joint pain.
Documented in Indonesian traditional medicine. Used in Jamu preparations for digestive and anti-inflammatory applications.
Regional traditional medicine use consistent with Malaysian and Thai applications.
Family Piperaceae. Native to the humid forests of Southeast Asia. The sarmentine and sarmentosine alkaloids are unique to this species.
Five Countries. No Contact. Same Conclusions.
When traditional medicine systems across an entire region reach for the same plant for the same conditions without communicating with each other, pharmacology has learned to pay attention. The convergence is the signal. Kaduk earned that attention.
Rebusan Daun Kaduk — Kampung Kitchen Medicine
Boiled leaf water for cough, fever, and joint pain. Leaves applied topically for inflammatory skin conditions and rheumatic complaints. A fixture in traditional Malay medicine for as long as records exist — and the preparation method (aqueous extraction) happens to be exactly what university researchers later used to develop KadukmyTM.
Cha Plu in the Thai Pharmacopoeia
Documented for hypertension, indigestion, toothache, and anorexia. Listed in the Thai pharmacopoeia. The Thai medical establishment formally acknowledged what the traditional cooks and healers had been observing — a rare institutional endorsement.
Daily Food Before Disease — Not Medicine During Illness
The forest communities of Peninsular Malaysia used kaduk hutan not as treatment during illness but as part of daily dietary practice. Food eaten before illness arrived. The distinction between prevention and treatment is one modern medicine has largely lost. The Orang Asli practised it without needing to name it.
Lá Lốt — Food and Medicine in the Same Leaf
Bò lá lốt (grilled meat wrapped in lá lốt leaves) is one of Vietnam’s most recognisable street foods. The same leaf simultaneously appears in traditional remedies for rheumatic joint pain and digestive complaints. Food and medicine are not separated in the Vietnamese traditional model any more than they are in the Malay ulam tradition.
Twelve Years of Peer-Reviewed Science and a Trademark
2010–2026: a growing body of pharmacological research from Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, and international research groups. A 2024 systematic review in Phytochemistry Reviews covering twelve years of literature. A trademarked commercial antihypertensive product. A 2026 study on actual human cartilage cells. The traditional healers are being proved right, one mechanism at a time.
What Kaduk Actually Contains
The pepper scent when you crush kaduk comes from amide alkaloids — specifically sarmentine and sarmentosine, first isolated from Piper sarmentosum and unique to this species. These are not flavour compounds. They are pharmacologically active molecules that carry the plant’s biological signature.
But kaduk is not a one-compound plant. It carries a broad biological vocabulary:
Sarmentine & Sarmentosine
Unique to Piper sarmentosum. Amide alkaloids responsible for the pepper scent and documented antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity. First isolated from this species — the plant’s biochemical identity.
Naringenin & Quercetin
Flavanone and flavonoid. Naringenin stimulates eNOS and nitric oxide production in endothelial cells. Quercetin improves endothelial function and reduces ACE activity. The two compounds most directly associated with the antihypertensive mechanisms.
Chrysin
Flavone identified in the 2025 metabolomics study as the lead compound for xanthine oxidase inhibition. Same enzymatic target as allopurinol. The molecular basis of kaduk’s traditional use for joint pain and gout.
Vitexin, Rutin & Sesamin
Flavone glycoside, flavonoid, and lignan. Vascular protective, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activity. Part of the layered cardiovascular compound profile confirmed in the antihypertensive research.
Piperlonguminine
Amide alkaloid shared with related Piper species. Anti-inflammatory and potential anticancer activity documented. Contributes to the broad anti-inflammatory profile of the plant’s alkaloid fraction.
Polyphenols, Vitamins C & E
Layered antioxidant system across multiple oxidative pathways simultaneously. DPPH scavenging assays confirm significant free radical neutralisation capacity. The daily food argument — consistent low-dose antioxidant input over years.
Five Research Areas — What the Evidence Actually Shows
The ACE Inhibitor Finding and the Trademark That Followed
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is central to blood pressure regulation. When overactive, it converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II — a potent vasoconstrictor. The entire ACE inhibitor drug class — captopril, lisinopril, perindopril — is built around blocking this enzyme. These are among the most prescribed drugs in cardiovascular medicine globally.
A 2024 study in PMC examined aqueous extract of Piper sarmentosum (AEPS) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and found it significantly inhibited ACE activity. Parallel research found the same extract stimulates nitric oxide production via the eNOS pathway — the signalling molecule that relaxes blood vessel walls. Two independent mechanisms. Both reducing blood pressure.
The commercial significance was recognised early. Malaysian researchers developed the aqueous extract into a commercial antihypertensive product — trademarked as KadukmyTM. Studies at the National University of Malaysia using KadukmyTM in spontaneously hypertensive rat models consistently found significant reductions across systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure over 28-day treatment periods. A meta-analysis of three published animal studies found mean systolic reduction of 39.84 mmHg, diastolic of 26.68 mmHg versus no treatment.
Those are animal studies. No human clinical trial has been completed. That gap is named here — not buried at the end. What exists: consistent direction across independent research groups, two distinct molecular mechanisms, and a commercial trademark. That is not nothing. It is also not a prescription.
Sources: Hashim Fauzy et al. (2019), Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · Ugusman et al. (2010, 2019, 2024) · Md. Salleh et al. (2021), Frontiers in Pharmacology · Meta-analysis PMC (2022) · Zainudin et al. (2015), BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Chrysin, Xanthine Oxidase, and Human Cartilage Cells
Gout is caused by excess uric acid crystallising in joints. Allopurinol — the standard pharmaceutical treatment — works by inhibiting xanthine oxidase, the enzyme that produces uric acid. A 2025 metabolomics study on Piper sarmentosum extracts identified potent xanthine oxidase inhibition. The lead compound: chrysin, a flavone naturally present in kaduk leaves. Same enzymatic target. Different source.
In January 2026, a study published in Biomedicines tested kaduk’s aqueous extract on actual human osteoarthritic chondrocytes — human cartilage cells, not animal tissue. The extract enhanced anabolic cartilage-building activity while suppressing the nitric oxide-driven catabolism responsible for cartilage breakdown in osteoarthritis. Dual action. In human cells.
Traditional medicine systems in Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam all documented kaduk for joint pain independently. The 2025 and 2026 studies are building the molecular explanation for what they were observing. Both findings are early-stage. The lab-to-clinic distance is significant. The direction is consistent with the traditional record.
Sources: Metabolomics study, ScienceDirect (2025) · Nizam Zahary et al. (2026), Biomedicines 14(1):128
Consistent Signal Across Independent Studies
Multiple independent research groups examining Piper sarmentosum and blood glucose have found the same direction. Studies in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat models showed aqueous leaf extract reduced blood glucose and provided protective effects on heart and vascular tissue typically damaged by chronic hyperglycaemia. A 2022 study in the Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science found ethanolic extract showed antihyperglycaemic activity in both normal and diabetic rat models.
The 2024 Phytochemistry Reviews systematic review specifically named antidiabetic activity as one of the consistently documented properties across its twelve-year review period. Multiple countries, multiple methodologies, same direction. No human clinical trial exists yet. The convergence is meaningful evidence of something worth explaining — not a clinical claim.
Sources: Suwannasom et al. (2022), Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science · Phytochemistry Reviews systematic review (2024)
Multiple Pathways, Broad Modulation
One of the earliest rigorous papers — Zakaria et al. (2010) in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology — confirmed significant in vivo anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity from the aqueous leaf extract. It established the scientific foundation for what Malay and Thai traditional practice had been observing for generations.
The mechanism is not a single-target effect. Sarmentine and sarmentosine contribute directly. Naringenin inhibits multiple pro-inflammatory signalling molecules and reduces diabetic vascular inflammation. Quercetin modulates inflammatory pathways and improves endothelial function. Kaduk works across a broad range of the inflammatory environment simultaneously — less predictable on any single target than a pharmaceutical, but more relevant to the chronic, diffuse, low-grade inflammation underlying most conditions Malaysians develop in midlife.
Sources: Zakaria et al. (2010), Journal of Ethnopharmacology · Phytochemistry Reviews systematic review (2024)
The Daily Food Argument
Antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and oral bacteria has been confirmed across multiple study groups. The amide alkaloids and essential oil fraction carry most of this activity — the same compounds responsible for the pepper scent when you tear the leaf.
The antioxidant profile is layered. Quercetin, naringenin, vitexin, polyphenols, and vitamins C and E create a multi-mechanism antioxidant system — different compounds working across different oxidative pathways simultaneously. The relevance is not that eating kaduk in nasi ulam cures an infection in isolation. It is that consistent daily antioxidant intake from real food maintains the conditions in which disease finds it harder to establish. This is the model the ulam tradition has always operated on — daily, dietary, before disease needs a name.
Sources: Yusof et al. (2019), J. Sains Kesihatan Malaysia · Phytochemistry Reviews (2024)
What the Evidence Shows
Commercial antihypertensive product developed and trademarked from daun kaduk aqueous extract by Malaysian university researchers.
Mean systolic blood pressure reduction in meta-analysis of 3 animal studies vs no treatment. Animal data — no human trial completed.
ACE inhibitor pathway · xanthine oxidase (allopurinol) target · eNOS/nitric oxide stimulation. Three independent mechanisms from one leaf.
January 2026 study in Biomedicines — kaduk tested on actual human osteoarthritic chondrocytes. Cartilage repair supported. Inflammatory breakdown suppressed.
Documented across the 2024 Phytochemistry Reviews systematic review: 12 years of literature, 8+ biological activity categories.
The honest gap. Named upfront — not at the end. All evidence to date is animal models and cell line research.
The Ulam That Deserved More Than Being Treated as Ordinary Food
Kaduk is available fresh at most wet markets for RM2 — particularly in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis, where it is part of daily ulam culture. It grows easily in a shaded pot at home. The Ministry of Agriculture notes it as a natural ground cover that reduces soil erosion and maintains soil moisture.
The wrong default in Malaysian urban food culture is to look at kaduk in nasi ulam and think: ordinary vegetable, nice flavour, nothing special. A Malaysian university looked at it closely enough to file a trademark. Twelve years of peer-reviewed research looked at it and found ACE inhibition, xanthine oxidase inhibition, nitric oxide stimulation, and cartilage protection.
The leaf was never ordinary. We just stopped paying attention to what was in our food.
Six Claims. Six Verdicts. Cutting Both Ways.
“Kaduk is just a vegetable — it has no real medicinal properties.”
A Malaysian university trademarked it as a commercial antihypertensive product. Twelve years of peer-reviewed pharmacological literature document consistent biological activity across at least eight areas. “Just a vegetable” ignores the science, the trademark, and fifty centuries of converging traditional observation across five countries.
“Eating kaduk will lower my blood pressure.”
The antihypertensive mechanisms are real, peer-reviewed, independently replicated, and commercially significant enough to warrant a trademark. The ACE inhibition and eNOS/nitric oxide findings are solid pharmacology. But every study to date is in animals or cell lines. No human clinical trial has been completed. The mechanism is credible — the human dosage evidence does not exist. Consistent dietary inclusion over years is what the traditional pattern and preliminary science support. Eating kaduk this week will not drop your BP reading on Friday.
“Kaduk can replace my blood pressure medication.”
No. This is the most important line in the article. If you are on antihypertensive medication, do not stop taking it based on anything written here without your doctor’s direct guidance. The ACE inhibition research is preliminary, animal-based, and uses concentrated extracts — not food portions. Stopping antihypertensives abruptly can cause dangerous blood pressure spikes. Kaduk’s role, if any, is as part of a long-term food pattern that may support cardiovascular health — not as an emergency substitute for medication managing an acute condition.
“The xanthine oxidase finding means I should use kaduk instead of allopurinol for gout.”
The chrysin/xanthine oxidase finding is scientifically significant and worth watching. But a metabolomics study identifying enzyme inhibition is not a clinical study in gout patients. Allopurinol has decades of human trial data, established dosing, and known safety profiles. Interesting mechanism does not equal clinical evidence — and is certainly not a reason to stop a medication that is managing a painful condition without medical guidance.
“Since it works on drug pathways, I should take it as a high-dose supplement.”
The safety data covers normal dietary use and doses used in animal studies. Kaduk has documented ACE-inhibitory and vasodilatory activity — which means high-dose concentrated extracts taken alongside cardiovascular medications carry real interaction potential. The traditional model is consistent dietary inclusion, not megadosing. Normal dietary use is what both the safety data and the traditional record support.
“Kaduk is rare and hard to find in Malaysia.”
RM2 at the wet market, particularly in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis. Grows easily in a shaded home garden pot. The Ministry of Agriculture notes it as a natural ground cover. The difficulty is not availability — it is that urban supermarket culture has trained us to overlook what is already there.
Six Ways Malaysians Have Always Used Kaduk
These preparation methods reflect documented traditional practice. They are not dosage recommendations.
Finely shredded fresh kaduk with rice, toasted coconut, dried prawns, turmeric, and other herbs. The Kelantanese flagship. Delivers the full bioactive profile raw and unheated — the closest dietary equivalent to the aqueous extracts tested in research. The traditional preparation was pharmacologically correct.
Raw leaves dressed with fresh coconut, dried prawns, chilli, lime, and fish sauce. Full compound profile undiminished by heat. If the antihypertensive mechanisms require the water-soluble fraction — this is the closest daily food preparation to what was tested.
Leaves simmered in water, liquid consumed as tea. This is the exact preparation method — aqueous extraction — used in the published antihypertensive research and in the development of KadukmyTM. The traditional preparation and the pharmacological method are the same.
Wrapped around fish, prawn paste, or minced meat before grilling — otak-otak, bò lá lốt. Heat reduces some water-soluble bioactives but the alkaloid fraction and aroma compounds remain active. A daily culinary habit that delivers consistent, low-dose exposure.
Shaded corner, moist soil, minimal care. The Ministry of Agriculture notes kaduk as a natural ground cover that prevents soil erosion and maintains moisture. Your garden and your table simultaneously. No wet market trip required.
Added whole or torn into coconut milk-based gravies with fish or chicken. Common in Negeri Sembilan and parts of Pahang. Daily food in the Minangkabau-influenced cooking tradition — consistent exposure in the form the body was designed to receive it.
What to Bring to Your Doctor
AJHerbs.com does not prescribe. It gives you better questions. Here are the ones worth raising:
For people managing blood pressure:
- “I’ve read that Piper sarmentosum has documented ACE-inhibitory properties and that a commercial product called KadukmyTM was developed from it. Is there any reason I should be cautious about including it regularly as food alongside my current medication?”
- “Are there known herb-drug interactions between my current antihypertensives and dietary consumption of Piper sarmentosum?”
- “Is there anything in my current management where dietary additions — not replacements — could be worth discussing?”
For people managing gout or joint pain:
- “A 2025 study identified chrysin in Piper sarmentosum as a xanthine oxidase inhibitor — the same target as allopurinol. Is this relevant to my situation?”
- “A 2026 study tested kaduk on human cartilage cells and found protective effects. Are there anti-inflammatory dietary additions you’d consider appropriate alongside my current treatment?”
No human clinical trials: All antihypertensive, antidiabetic, and anti-gout findings to date are from animal models and cell line studies. The mechanism is documented. The human clinical evidence base does not exist. This is named upfront throughout the article — not qualified only at the end.
Concentrated extract vs food portion: KadukmyTM and the published research use aqueous extracts at pharmacological concentrations. The amounts present in a portion of nasi ulam or rebusan are not equivalent. The traditional dietary use is supported — the assumption that eating any amount will produce drug-equivalent effects is not.
Interaction potential: Kaduk has documented ACE-inhibitory and vasodilatory activity. Anyone on cardiovascular medication should discuss dietary kaduk with their doctor before making it a significant part of the diet — not because it is dangerous, but because a physician should know what their patient is consuming.
What the traditional record tells us: Consistent dietary use across five independent food cultures over centuries. The traditional evidence is the longest clinical observation available for any natural compound. It is not a clinical trial. It is also not nothing.
References & Sources ↓
- Hashim Fauzy et al. (2019). Piper sarmentosum Leaves Aqueous Extract Attenuates Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
- Ugusman A, Zakaria Z et al. (2010). Piper sarmentosum increases nitric oxide production in oxidative stress. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 65(7):709-14.
- Ugusman et al. (2019). Piper sarmentosum Promotes Endothelial Nitric Oxide Production by Reducing ADMA in TNF-α-Induced HUVECs. Frontiers in Pharmacology.
- Piper sarmentosum Roxb. Inhibits ACE Activity in PMA-Induced Endothelial Cells (2024). PMC / Nutrients.
- Md. Salleh et al. (2021). Piper sarmentosum Roxb. Attenuates Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Nicotine-Induced Rats. Frontiers in Pharmacology.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of Piper sarmentosum on hypertension and diabetes mellitus (2022). PMC.
- Zainudin et al. (2015). KadukmyTM as antihypertensive agent in spontaneous hypertensive rats. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
- Metabolomics study — chrysin and xanthine oxidase inhibition in Piper sarmentosum (2025). ScienceDirect.
- Nizam Zahary et al. (2026). Bioactive-Rich Piper sarmentosum Aqueous Extract Mitigates Osteoarthritic Pathology in Human Chondrocytes. Biomedicines 14(1):128.
- Suwannasom et al. (2022). Antihyperglycaemic activity of Piper sarmentosum ethanolic extract. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science.
- Phytochemistry Reviews — The metabolites of Piper sarmentosum and their biological properties: a recent update (2024). Systematic review 2012–2023.
- Zakaria ZA et al. (2010). In vivo anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of aqueous extract of Piper sarmentosum. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 128(1):42–48.
- Jabatan Pertanian Malaysia. Kaduk (Piper sarmentosum) — Herba Tradisional Kaya Khasiat dan Potensi Masa Depan (infographic, 2024).