Put away the condoms and birth control pills. According to Tuoi Tre, there is an ethnic minority group (Van Kieu) in the central highlands that uses a special leaf, anăng, in place of typical contraceptives. That's right! Now you can eliminate the hassles of taking pills and putting on condoms. With anăng, simply put a leaf of it in your pocket (who's wearing pants?!?) or lie on it and you’ll stay baby-free! Well, that’s the story anyway.

Anăng grows inside a deep forest in Huong Hoa District in Quang Tri Province bordering Laos – its specific location is known only to a handful of Van Kieu elders. For the tribe’s single members, the plant gives them the freedom to conduct ‘đi sim’:

“For Van Kieu people, single men and women have the freedom of ‘đi sim’ which is dating for pre-nuptial sex as their ancestors did in the forest generations before. But legend has it that no single Van Kieu girl became pregnant or had unexpected babies. It is thanks to their secret coming from this anăng plant. Van Kieu people said anăng is the miracle that God bestows on them. Withanăng, men and women can spend whole night long enjoying sensual pleasures without worrying about pregnancy.”

That last bit sounds pretty awesome…

After a relentless search for the plant which included, “getting high on liquor,” the Tuoi Tre journalists found a “medical doctor,” Duong Quat, who was given an anăng plant in exchange for a big pig, alcohol and 100kg of rice. The National Committee of Population and Family Planning granted Quat VND100 million to research anăng’s effects:

“Effective results were obtained from tests on white mice and tens of couples volunteering to try it, he said…But the research has remained half done due to the lack of expense and so, the story about anăng is left unfinished.”

Lack of funding for a natural, ‘100% effective’ contraceptive? Sounds like the first half of the research didn’t match the hype.

[Tuoi Tre]