Hawthorn is a tall bush of Rosaceae family, the healing properties of fruits and leaves are actively used in folk medicine. There are several varieties of hawthorn, each of which is indispensable in the treatment of diseases and the recovery period after them.
What benefit can be derived from this plant? What contraindications is it characterized? What are the recipes to follow in order to reveal exclusively the positive properties of hawthorn?
Scientific name: Crataegus
Family: Rosaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Higher classification: Malinae
Rank: Genus
Useful properties of hawthorn
With its medicinal properties, hawthorn is fully obliged to the chemical composition donated by nature:
- 4-11% of sugars, in particular fructose, which allows using it in the diet and therapy of diabetes mellitus;
- organic acids - oleanoic, ursolic and cryptic acids, tartaric and citric acids;
- biologically active substances - choline and acetylcholine, quercetin, tannins, phytosterols;
- pectin - necessary for excretion of toxins, salts of heavy metals and other harmful substances from the body;
- vitamins - in particular A, C, P
- C is 31-108 mg in 100 ml,
- P - 330-680 mg in 100 ml,
- A - 2-4 mg in 100 ml.
The fruits of hawthorn are a source of substances that affect the heart rhythm. The extract of this plant is low-toxic, but with sufficient stimulating effect on the heart.
[caption id="attachment_706" align="alignleft" width="353"]
hawthorn[/caption]Most of all, the properties of hawthorn are valued in the therapy of cardiovascular diseases. In ancient times, when pharmaceuticals were not as developed as they are today, hawthorn was the first treatment for heart muscle and blood flow diseases. For example, a decoction of its leaves improves coronary circulation, increases the contraction of the heart muscle.
With special attention to the use of hawthorn, elderly people need to be treated, only not within the framework of self-medication. Persons who, with age or due to individual characteristics of the body, have cardiac disturbances, can discuss preparations based on hawthorn with their doctor in charge.
Hawthorn is also useful for young people - after all, many of them have a heart that is exposed to stress due to illnesses and stresses.
Preparations based on hawthorn contribute to the normalization of pressure due to the fact that the intensity of heartbeats will increase. This is also useful in the recovery period after heart attacks and other heart diseases.
Properties of hawthorn are not limited to benefits for the heart. This plant has pronounced astringent properties, which can be skillfully used in the treatment of diseases of the bile duct and liver.
The healing properties of hawthorn, in particular, its berries, have a positive effect on the excretory system of man.
Regular, but moderate consumption of hawthorn can normalize the functions of the thyroid gland and overcome the phenomenon of dyspnoea.
Hawthorn in addition to everything else and an excellent antiseptic - it disinfects well and destroys the pathogenic microflora. This allows the use of funds based on it, for example, for the treatment of diseases of the skin and mucous membranes.
In the opinion of some folk healers, the properties of hawthorn are also antitumoral, but it is not necessary to follow this statement unselfishly.
Self-use of hawthorn is recommended at best for disease prevention. In medical purposes, the prospect of using it is better discussed with the attending physician. Probably, hawthorn will be an excellent addition to the main course of therapy.
Contraindications to the use of hawthorn
The first category of persons who should be cautious about the properties of hawthorn are pregnant and breastfeeding women. Being a source of a large number of biologically active components, hawthorn can at least provoke an allergic reaction. At the same time, in small concentrations, as well as in the composition of herbal preparations, hawthorn for pregnant women is useful - it perfectly relieves stress, fatigue, promotes a good sleep. Anyway, but the prospect of using hawthorn with this category of individuals , like any other medicines and folk recipes, should be an occasion for medical advice.
The second category of persons, which hawthorn is undesirable, is hypotonic. Although it was said that this plant normalizes the pressure, but it is more about lowering it than increasing it. In hypotonic patients, the portion of hawthorn, on the contrary, can lead to deterioration of well-being. At the same time, low blood pressure is often found in vegeto-vascular dystonia, and it is considered an indication for the use of hawthorn. As a result, it would be correct to again go to a consultation with a cardiologist. The doctor will understand the essence of the disease in a particular case, establish its etiology and determine whether it helps or hurts the hawthorn in therapy.
Decoction and infusion of hawthorn cannot be drunk on an empty stomach. Otherwise, there may be an intestinal spasm, vomiting, or vasospasm.
Another extreme in the use of hawthorn is uncontrolled, and therefore often excessive use. Hawthorn, like many other herbs, it is better to take repeated courses with interruptions.
If, on the background of hawthorn treatment, you feel a deterioration of well-being, discontinue such therapy and seek the advice of a specialized specialist.
Recipes for hawthorn
Fruits, leaves and flowers of hawthorn can be purchased at the nearest pharmacy kiosk, or you can prepare yourself. If you are a follower of the second approach in the preparation of a medicine, and prefer not just to brew raw materials, but also to prepare it directly, here are some tips:
- grows hawthorn in thin dry more often deciduous forests, on the fringes, near rivers; sometimes a few shrubs at a time can be found in the open field;
- for harvesting flowers you need to choose dry sunny weather - in late spring or early summer;
- collected and transferred flowers must be dried naturally (without using electric dryers and ovens), but not in the open sun, but in the shade;
- the fruits of hawthorn ripen in the autumn, then they are harvested - when the foliage falls and the fruits are clearly visible on the branches;
- fruits are scattered on a tin tray by a thin layer and put in a warm, but non-frying oven; from time to time the fruits are stirred, removing burnt, and the dried are poured into tissue or paper bags;
- properly harvested raw materials can be stored for up to eight years, it will not lose medicinal properties.
From dried hawthorn, as well as from freshly picked berries, several preparations are being prepared for therapeutic use - alcohol tinctures, infusions and decoctions.
To prepare an alcoholic tincture of hawthorn, it is necessary:
- 25 grams of fruit insist in 100 ml of medical alcohol (you can use a simple vodka, but the tincture will turn out to be less strong) for one week in a dark place
- 1 part of the flowers pour 2 parts of alcohol, insist two weeks; take the tincture in diluted with an equal amount of water;
The properties of hawthorn, in this case, will positively affect the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system. With its regular use, the manifestations of vegetative-vascular disorders will decrease, blood pressure will be normalized, irritability, anxiety will pass, a person will better fall asleep.
Ready tincture of hawthorn can be bought at the pharmacy.
With the use of boiling water, and not alcohol, you can prepare an infusion or a decoction of hawthorn :
- 3 tbsp. spoons of dried berries pour 3 glasses of steep boiling water, insist for half an hour, filter and take 1 glass 3 times a day;
- 20 grams of dried berries pour a glass of boiling water and boil over low heat for up to 15 minutes; then filter, squeeze and bring the volume to the original boiled water; take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day.
Infusion and broth of hawthorn is not prepared for future use. Prepared home medicine should be consumed during the first day, then prepare a new, fresh. Properties of hawthorn in the stale infusion or decoction are gradually lost. To remove from the berries the maximum of their properties before brewing them are crushed, and the resulting drink is initially prepared or then poured into a thermos, where it is best kept, but not more than one day.
It is interesting that hawthorn can be used not only in folk medicine, but also in cooking. It is an excellent aromatic and still useful raw material for compotes, morses, jams and jams, sauces and jellies, pie fillings, gravy for desserts.