The magical healing properties of chestnut. Horse chestnut flowers in folk medicine: medicinal properties, indications and contraindications for use, preparation of medicines

Many people are familiar with a beautiful flowering tree with a regular crown and large dissected leaves - horse chestnut. The use of its seeds, bark and flowers in folk medicine began several centuries ago. Healers and healers empirically came to the conclusion about the astringent and anti-inflammatory properties of the plant, and prescribed its decoctions and infusions for varicose veins and hemorrhoids. The study of the chemical composition and effects of drugs on the human body allowed specialists to systematize information about medical use this tree species.

Horse chestnut (Aesculus)

Rod Esculus by modern classification belongs to the Sapindaceae family. Almost all trees belonging to this systematic group have high decorative qualities. For example, the common horse chestnut is a tall deciduous tree that blooms in April - June. The flowers have irregular shape, They white, with red-pink stripes and spots. The pyramidal panicles of another popular species, the meat-red horse chestnut, are a beautiful pink or dark red color. Ripe fruits are round capsules the size of a large nut. They are covered with pointed soft spines. Inside there are large brown seeds (1-2 per box). Fruit ripening time is September-October.

Triumph of a woody plant in medicine

Of all the representatives of the genus Aesculus, the largest medicinal value has Aesculus hippocastanum. This is what the common horse chestnut is called in scientific publications. The use of this plant in veterinary practice has been mentioned since 1556, when the physician P. Andreas Mattioli advised horse owners to feed the fruits of the tree to animals suffering from shortness of breath.

Later it turned out that chestnut is good for human health - it treats diseases caused by various disorders of blood circulation in the body. Around 1866, horse chestnut tincture appeared in European pharmacies. The use of this remedy was recommended by doctors for the following diseases: varicose veins, hemorrhoids, chronic inflammation intestines, gout. Help with skin diseases and rheumatism flowers and leaves (horse chestnut grass). The use of the decoction is external and internal.

Main indications for using the plant

Scientific and practical medicine has finally recognized horse chestnut tincture effective medicine only at the very end of the 19th century, after publications in one of scientific journals France. The main indications for the use of decoctions, infusions and tinctures of horse chestnut have not changed much over 120 years:

• leg ulcers;
• varicose veins;
• chronic digestive disorders;
• muscle inflammation;
• neuralgia;
• haemorrhoids.

Preparation of medicinal raw materials

In folk and official medicine They use the bark, leaves, flowers and fruits of the horse chestnut plant. Use for medicinal purposes requires proper preparation of raw materials. The bark is removed from branches that have reached the age of 3-5 years during sap flow. Inflorescence panicles are cut off in May (during the flowering period). The raw materials are slightly dried in the sun, the main drying is carried out in the shade.

Leaves are collected in May - September. Early harvesting is preferable, because in summer the tree is attacked by the chestnut moth, the leaves turn yellow, turn brown and become unsuitable for treatment. The fruits are harvested when they are ripe, when the peel begins to turn yellow and crack, and the seeds fall to the ground. The bark, flowers and leaves are laid out in the shade to dry to ensure even drying and preservation. useful substances. Fruits are stored at temperatures up to 25 °C.

Chemical composition

Observed in all parts of the plant high content biologically active substances that have a variety of effects on the human body. Pharmacological activity has contributed to the growing popularity of the horse chestnut plant. Medicinal use is based on the rich chemical composition of flowers, leaves, bark and fruits. The plant contains: catechin tannins, triterpenoids, flavonoids, carotenoids, ascorbic acid and vitamins B1, B2, K, phenols and phenolcarboxylic acids, coumarins, saponins, tannins, aldehydes.
Horse chestnut glycosides:

• esculin, fraxin (coumarins);
• aescins, hypocaesculin (triterpene);
• quercitrin, quercetin and kaempferol (flavonoids).

Flowers are rich in glycosides, sugars, mucilage and pectin compounds. The seeds also contain phytosterols, sugars, saponins, bitter and protein compounds, and a lot of fatty oil. In addition to the compounds listed above, the leaves contain rutin, lutein, and violaxanthin. Content of some compounds (%):

• pectin, starch - about 50;
• proteins - 11;
• sugars - 9;
• fatty oil - up to 7;
• tannins - about 0.9.

Horse chestnut flowers: medicinal uses

Biologically active components are contained in flowers and other organs of horse chestnut. They help increase blood flow to the veins and increase their tone. All these properties are very important for the treatment of venous obstruction. A horse chestnut tincture rich in flavonoids and saponins is prepared from the flowers. Application:

• with varicose veins;
• for the treatment and prevention of thrombophlebitis;
• increasing the resistance of the vascular wall and venous tone.

Horse chestnut: use of bark

The glycosides esculin and fraxin present in the raw material are good anticoagulants. Therefore, the bark is used as a hemostatic agent; its decoction helps with hemorrhoidal and uterine bleeding. The drugs have anti-inflammatory, astringent and analgesic properties and are used to treat varicose veins, leg ulcers resulting from spasm. Baths with a decoction or infusion of the bark are useful for neuralgia; these procedures reduce inflammation in the muscle tissue. Take medications orally for chronic colitis, gastritis, diarrhea, chronic bronchitis.

Medicinal properties of horse chestnut fruits

The analgesic, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing properties of chestnut seeds are valued in official and alternative medicine. Prescribed decoctions of fruits and leaves for boils, ulcers and burns. It is used for ulcers as a powder obtained by drying and then grinding horse chestnut fruits. Use of the decoction:

• prepare 10 g of seed powder;
• pour the raw material with 1 glass of hot water;
• Boil for 30 minutes in a water bath, covered with a lid;
• strain while hot and bring boiled water volume to the original.

You should take 1 tbsp for two or three days. l. of this decoction once a day, then increase the frequency to 2-3 times a day. The duration of taking this medicine for venous insufficiency is 0.5-2 months. For hemorrhoids - no more than 1 month.

Types and forms of medicinal preparations from horse chestnut herb

Back in the mid-twentieth century, the German pharmaceutical industry began producing venotonic horse chestnut preparations. Then the production of oral solutions, ointments and creams with extracts of fruits, flowers and bark of this healing tree was established all over the world. Active substance drugs - glycoside escin. The names of medications often use the Latin term Aesculus.

The pharmaceutical industry produces fruit extract. Release form: oral solution and tablets. The name of the medicine is Escusan. It is produced on the basis of dry extract of the horse chestnut plant. The instructions for use contain a clarification that this is a herbal medicine. In fact, drops for oral administration are a pharmacy tincture of horse chestnut. Indications:

The main contraindication may be increased sensitivity to the main and auxiliary components: escin, thiamine chloride, ethyl alcohol(as part of drops).

Take the drug orally before meals, 10-15 drops diluted in liquid, or 2-3 tablets. Frequency and duration of administration: 3 times a day for 3 months.

Occasionally you can see horse chestnut oil on the shelves of pharmacies. Application - external - is based on venotonic and lymphatic drainage effects. Prescribed for varicose veins, edema, spider veins. Oil is prepared from fruits and flowers by extraction with other oils. As a result, the final product is enriched with escin, terpenoids, resins, flavonoids, and vitamins. The oil can be used to make home cosmetics, fight cellulite, wrinkles, improve the condition of the skin and blood vessels.

IN Soviet times chestnut trees were planted along city alleys and highways to absorb smog and carbon dioxide. Few people know that the common horse chestnut, medicinal properties and the contraindications of which will be discussed below, are used not only by traditional medicine healers. An extract from parts of the plant is included in some medicinal medicines.

Horse chestnut: medicinal and beneficial properties

The tree has a wide range of effects on the body. This effect is due to the constituent ingredients of horse chestnut.

It includes:

• Tannins – have a protective and astringent effect;
• Vitamin C – helps eliminate inflammation, strengthens defenses;
• Vitamin K – prevents hemorrhages, strengthens the walls of blood vessels;
• Coumarin - heals wounds, reduces blood clotting;
• Pectins – remove toxic substances, suppress pathogenic flora in the intestines;
• Carotene – protects the body from carcinogens, prevents cardiovascular diseases.

In addition, the plant contains many other healing elements, such as flavonoids, organic acids, lecithin globulin, fixed oils, B vitamins, minerals.

An extract from flowers, leaves, and fruits is used to cure many ailments.

The following properties of horse chestnut have been used in alternative and official medicine:

• Anti-inflammatory and analgesic;
• Decongestant and diaphoretic;
• Venotonic, antithrombotic;
• Antipyretic, bactericidal;
• Antitumor, antioxidant;
• Antisclerotic;
• Astringent, wound healing;
• Hemostatic.

Traditional healers prepare tinctures, ointments, and decoctions from horse chestnut. In order for the prepared medicine to be safe and effective, the procurement of raw materials cannot be carried out within the city or in radiation areas.

Leaves and flowers should not be damaged by insects; the bark should be selected without mold. It is necessary to dry parts of the plant in a well-ventilated area, avoiding direct sunlight, so as not to spoil the quality of the raw materials.

Benefits for various diseases

The beneficial properties of horse chestnut extend to: a large number of diseases. Wood is primarily valued for its ability to normalize protein formula blood, preventing thrombus formation. horse chestnut used for treatment high pressure, nosebleeds, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, diathesis of hemorrhagic nature.

Flowers

The tree begins to bloom in May. It is during this period after a long winter, when the body is most weakened, that with the help of chestnut flowers one can significantly increase immunity. Juice from fresh flowers has a general strengthening effect.

Almost every plant that is found in the vastness of our country has medicinal qualities. Herbs, flowers, shrubs, and even large trees can benefit our health. A variety of medicines are prepared from such plants, and many of them can be freely purchased at pharmacies. One of the famous medicinal crops is horse chestnut - a large deciduous tree that gives beautiful flowers. The topic of our conversation today will be chestnut flowers, the medicinal properties and contraindications of which we will discuss, and we will consider how to prepare using them. most useful tincture, let's discuss its application.

Medicinal properties of chestnut flowers

The beneficial qualities of horse chestnut flowers are due to their richness chemical composition. Such plant raw materials are a source of kaempferoglycoside and other flavone glycosides, represented by rutin and quercetin. Horse chestnut flowers also contain a triterpene saponin, escin. They are rich in choline, sugars and tannins. All these components determine medicinal qualities such raw materials, providing an active healing effect.

Medicinal properties of chestnut flower tincture

Chestnut flower tincture is most often used as a component complex treatment varicose veins veins, as well as spider veins on skin. In addition, it is customary to use it for blood purification and for its effective liquefaction.

Tincture of leather chestnut flowers has a persistent venotropic effect. It heals veins and blood vessels, and also has a positive effect on the condition of capillaries. Rutin, found in horse chestnut flowers, remarkably strengthens the walls of all blood vessels, eliminating their fragility and fragility. In addition, a tincture based on them cleanses the blood and helps restore its protein structure, while simultaneously reducing clotting.

Among other things, tincture of horse chestnut flowers can be used for therapy various forms leukemia, as well as radiation sickness. It is also used in therapy fibrocystic mastopathy, tumor lesions of the brain and cardiovascular diseases. Chestnut flowers have a positive effect on the state of lymph.

Alcohol tincture based on such plant materials will be especially useful for patients with cancer who have undergone chemotherapy and radiation procedures. In this case, it is used as a blood and lymph cleanser. This medicine will also help patients who have had surgery about breast cancer. It prevents the occurrence of lymphostasis well.

Chestnut flower tincture copes well with arthritic and rheumatic pain. It is used for rubbing into the affected areas and taken orally.

Also, this drug can be used for the treatment of endarteritis, hemorrhoids, leg ulcers and vein lesions caused by various injuries. Preparations based on chestnut flowers also help cope with prostate adenoma and prostatitis.

Chestnut flowers (tincture): use for treatment

For achievement therapeutic effect you need to take thirty to forty drops of alcohol tincture based on chestnut flowers, dissolving them in fifty to one hundred milliliters of water. This medicine It is recommended to drink three times a day shortly before meals. The duration of such therapy is two months. Then take a break for two weeks and repeat taking the tincture again.
Depending on the complexity and degree of neglect of the disease, several courses of treatment may be carried out in a row.

Does a tincture based on chestnut flowers have any contraindications for use?

A tincture based on horse chestnut flowers cannot be used to treat patients who are pregnant and carrying out breast-feeding. This medicine is also contraindicated in severe hypotension and reduced blood viscosity. Among other things, its use can cause reactions of individual intolerance (allergy), which makes the use of tincture based on horse chestnut flowers impossible.

How to prepare a tincture based on chestnut flowers?

To prepare such a medicine, you need to prepare one hundred grams of dried chestnut flowers. Fill them with a liter of alcohol and leave to infuse for one and a half to two weeks. It is best to prepare such a product in a fairly dark and at the same time dry place. Strain the finished tincture through cheesecloth and squeeze out the plant material.

How else can horse chestnut flowers be used?

You can also prepare an infusion based on horse chestnut flowers. For this purpose, you need to prepare a tablespoon of dried plant material. Brew it with two hundred milliliters of water and bring to a boil. Set the broth aside and leave for six to eight hours. Strain the finished medicine and drink in small sips throughout the day. You can take one to one and a half liters of this drink per day.

Patients with different types For varicose veins, you can also use juice obtained from chestnut flowers. To prepare such a remedy, you only need to grind the flowers themselves (without the candle columns) using a meat grinder. Squeeze the juice from the resulting mass and combine with alcohol, maintaining an equal ratio. Take a teaspoon three times a day immediately before meals.

Other medicines based on chestnut flowers have all the same contraindications as the tincture.

A tall deciduous tree or shrub plant, the height of which in meters reaches 20-25 m. Even the wild species looks very attractive and has large, complex, palmate opposite leaves on elongated petioles, without stipules. The foliage forms a fairly dense and spectacular crown. The buds and buds are often whitish or pink in color.

The shape of the flowers is bell-shaped. The flowers are collected in large, pyramidal in shape, very erect racemes. The plant blooms massively between May and June. Several forms are grown, some of which have a double flower. After flowering, fruits are formed, represented by a tricuspid spiny capsule with an opening sash part.

IN natural conditions the plant is found in southern Europe, northern India and East Asia, as well as in North America. In our country, horse chestnut plantings grow very well, and about thirteen species have been cultivated. Any variety is a very good honey plant, highly decorative throughout the growing season.

origin of name

Horse or horse chestnut has been known since ancient times. Currently, a large number of explanations for the name of this plant are known. Most often it is referred to as the petioles of fallen leaves. A falling leaf leaves a scar on the branches, which appearance resemble a horse's horseshoe. In the second case, it is generally accepted that after over-ripening they acquire the very characteristic color of a bay horse. According to a third opinion, the name is associated with dark brown fruits with a light spot reminiscent of a horse's hoof mark.

Many domestic experts also believe that the name was given to the plant solely in order to be able to distinguish inedible fruits from the harvest of edible plants.

Useful and medicinal properties of horse chestnut

Horse chestnut is very useful for many diseases. WITH therapeutic purpose folk healers and the pharmaceutical industry produces foliage, flowers, bark from branches, seed material, and seed peels. It is best to collect tree and branch bark in May-June, flowers - at the flowering stage, fruits and berries - in August-September. Foliage can be harvested throughout the season.

Chernobrivtsy in the garden, folk medicine, cosmetology and other areas

Medicinal properties of chestnut (video)

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Fruits (seeds) of horse chestnut

The fruits are a real treasure useful components and microelements. They contain a small amount of fat and a large amount of carbohydrates and proteins. The fruits also contain about 60% starch, fiber, approximately 15% sugar, B vitamins and minerals such as iron, sodium, potassium, copper and phosphorus.

Horse chestnut leaves

Like any healing herb,foliage has a number of medicinal properties, which allows the use of drugs based on it in the treatment of various vascular diseases, including varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, increased capillary fragility and various inflammatory processes veins

Plant bark

Decoctions based on the bark, widely used if there is a history of chronic colitis and enterocolitis, as well as difficult to treat diarrhea and gastritis with increased performance acidity gastric juice. T This remedy also helps get rid of spleen diseases, treats bronchitis and various bleedings.

Chestnut flowers

Flowers are used to prepare decoctions, infusions or alcohol tinctures, which are excellent for treating heart disease, liver problems, pulmonary tuberculosis, shortness of breath, anemia and rheumatism. Alcohol tincture is excellent for the treatment of arthrosis and relief from gouty pain.

Industrial applications of horse chestnut

Durable and high-quality horse chestnut wood is very similar in its basic characteristics to linden wood. The wood of this plant is not currently widely used commercially, but is often used in the manufacture of door panels or various furniture elements.

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Besides everything else, on an industrial scale, the culture is used in modern cosmetology, which is explained by the presence in the composition large quantity tannins. In the cosmetic industry, plant raw materials are used to prepare products that have a tonic, increase microcirculation, strengthen vascular walls properties. Such drugs allow you to fight cellulite and natural aging skin.

Preparations in the pharmacy based on chestnut

Pharmacy products can be in the form of an extract, tincture or cream, and preparations are also available in tablets and Escusan drops, which help reduce capillary permeability and increase venous tone.

Such drugs have very high, proven effectiveness in combating the formation of blood clots and reduce inflammatory processes. The manufacturer's instructions recommend using the drops three times a day, fifteen or twenty drops. A very popular tablet form is available under the name "Esflazid" and is effective analogue drops "Eskuzan».

How to make chestnut tincture (video)

Traditional medicine recipes with horse chestnut

It is not difficult to make your own products based on plant raw materials - it is enough to strictly follow the established proportions, and also use a high-quality, correctly assembled and prepared base.

Tinctures

For different etiologies of venous problems, you need to pour about 50 g of flowers into a clean glass container, then pour in half a liter of vodka. The tincture is infused for a couple of weeks, but the liquid needs to be shaken periodically. After two weeks, the resulting tincture is carefully filtered. This medication must be taken daily, thirty drops before meals. The standard course of treatment is four weeks, after which it is necessary to take a mandatory break.

European zyuznik: medicinal properties and use of herbs in folk medicine

Decoctions and infusions

Such types medicines most in demand for external use. Foliage, flowers, and crushed fruits are suitable for preparation. Half of an ordinary enamel bucket is filled with plant mass, after which boiling water is poured into the container. Under the cover like this healing solution should infuse for about twelve hours, after which it is filtered. Infusion and decoction are perfect not only for lotions and irrigations, but also widely used as a highly effective herbal bath.

Ointment

For self-cooking healing ointment you need to chop five chestnuts or five tablespoons of flowers, then pour half a liter of any vegetable oil and boil in a water bath for about an hour. The resulting composition is cooled at room temperature and filtered. This product lubricates the face and sore spots.

Oil

At home healing oils based herbal ingredients quite often made using cream, low-fat bio-yogurt or olive oil. All components of the medicinal oil are mixed in arbitrary proportions. The resulting mixture can be stored for several weeks in a regular household refrigerator.

Consumption of horse chestnut during pregnancy and for the treatment of children

It should be remembered that at the moment there is scientific evidence about negative impact active ingredients horse chestnut on the body of a pregnant woman and fetus are completely absent. However, experts recommend refusing to use such folk remedies And pharmacological drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy, as well as in the treatment of preschool children.

Today we will talk about treatment with chestnut flowers, especially since in the south the horse chestnut is already in full bloom, and in central Russia it is already beginning to bloom. And since it is available in large quantities medicinal raw materials, given to us by Nature itself, then it would be a sin not to use it.

Horse chestnut - medicinal properties

Horse chestnut treatment is accessible to everyone traditional treatment. Used as medicinal raw materials chestnut flowers, seeds, leaves, bark. The most popular fruits are, they are even quite often used in official medicine; more than one medicine is made from them for and. Moreover, both internal and external use. And this is not surprising, chestnut - potent remedy, an excellent blood thinner that effectively prevents blood clots.

When taken orally (by mouth), it has antispasmodic, analgesic and anti-sclerotic effects.

An infusion of seeds, flowers, and bark has an antipyretic and astringent effect. This means it is good for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, bronchitis, cholecystitis, chronic disorder digestion.

And of course, the most important effect of horse chestnut - treatment of all kinds vascular diseases, because chestnut helps reduce permeability, increase vascular tone, and helps to dissolve already formed blood clots.

Well, now let’s move on to the “main course”, which is why this article was started.

Chestnut flowers - use in folk medicine

Every spring I drink it in a course of 2-3 weeks (in fact, while the chestnut tree is blooming, since I prefer to use fresh raw materials). infusion of chestnut flowers and I recommend it to everyone, because this infusion has a rejuvenating effect. It greatly improves immunity, has anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, absorbable and calming effects. Flower infusion cleanses the human body of salts heavy metals and radionuclides. And of course, it is wonderful.

So many qualities, but in one infusion, it’s wonderful.

Of course, chestnut blossom can be dried and stored for future use; traditional medicine advises drinking this remedy a couple of times a year. So it turns out, in the spring from fresh flowers (May), and in the fall (November) from dry raw materials.

Treatment with infusion of horse chestnut flowers

A decoction of chestnut flowers is prepared as follows: 50 grams of flowers, pour boiling water (250 grams), infuse for 2-3 hours, drink half a glass in the morning and evening. (50 grams of this fresh raw material, approximately, is to pick flowers from half a brush of a medium-sized flowering chestnut; as for already dried flowers, they are lighter and need to be taken in smaller quantities - 1 - 1.5 tablespoons of crushed chestnut flowers per glass).

Sometimes flowers are infused in a water bath, that is, the same amount of chestnut color after pouring boiling water over low heat is kept in a water bath for 20 minutes. And then they insist. The solution turns out to be more concentrated, and you need to drink it in a third of a glass.

Chestnut flower tincture

Chestnut flowers are also used to prepare tincture. It is used in the treatment of varicose veins lower limbs, hemorrhoids, thrombophlebitis, thrombosis.

For 100 grams of dried flowers, take a liter of alcohol or good vodka. Infuse for 10-14 days in a dark, dry place. Take 25 drops (a little less than a teaspoon) three times a day before meals for a month. In advanced cases, drink the tincture for 2 months, then take a break for a month and repeat the course again.

The tincture also helps with arthritic and rheumatic pain.

Chestnut flowers are still squeezed juice , grinding only the flowers themselves without the “candle columns” in a meat grinder, they also mix with alcohol (as if medicinal raw materials are preserved in this way). Used mainly for varicose veins in all its manifestations.

Contraindications to the use of chestnut

Treatment with chestnut is contraindicated if there is a tendency to bleeding or thrombocytopenia.

Chestnut honey

By the way, I want to say that it is in May, in addition to the well-known “May”, that bees make dark brown chestnut, collecting pollen from flowering chestnuts. This honey has a tart, slightly bitter taste and rich aroma, and is highly valued by connoisseurs. healthy image life.

Of the many varieties it is chestnut honey the most bactericidal, antiseptic. It is used for ulcers, including stomach ulcers, open wounds. Has a pronounced antioxidant property, used for the prevention of cancer.

And of course, the venotonic properties of the chestnut itself transferred to the honey from its flowers.

Honey is very expensive, since the chestnut tree quickly fades and does not grow everywhere. But, if you are lucky enough to buy a real one, then your body will say more than one “thank you”.

Chestnut tree - one of the most unique, besides healing properties almost all its parts, it also absorbs exhaust gases that poison the air big cities, neutralizes the effects of radiation, which in the atomic age is not at all superfluous. But this is its property and warns that collecting medicinal raw materials, the same flowers, should be kept away from roadways.