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“All the flowers have withered, and only wormwood-grass is bitter,” Maya Kristalinskaya, a Soviet pop star, once sang. And this is absolutely true. Wormwood is indeed considered the most bitter among all plants in Russia.
According to one legend, this plant was given to people by the goddess of hunting Artemis. It was believed that she gave courage and strength to the soldiers. In Russia, wormwood was called wormwood, wild pepper, and even God’s tree, royal grass. With its help, they got rid of worms and fleas, relieved toothache, and also treated wounds and stomach diseases.
Wormwood has been widely used in the modern alcohol industry. It is one of the main components of absinthe and vermouth, as well as some other alcohol tinctures. By the way, “vermouth” is one of the names of wormwood. In rare cases, wormwood is also used in cooking, mainly as a seasoning for roast goose.
It was also used in household chemicals. Plant-based preparations are used to control agricultural pests, cockroaches, moths and fleas. The above ground part of the plant can also be used as green fabric dye.
What is wormwood
In botany, wormwood is described as a perennial plant up to 1,5 – 2 m high with a characteristic odor. This grass is unpretentious, and, being a weed, grows along roads and highways, in wastelands, meadows and vegetable gardens throughout the European part of Russia up to the Kola Peninsula and Western Siberia. The plant propagates by seeds and is resistant to frost. In nature, there are more than 200 species of wormwood, but in folk medicine, wormwood has gained the greatest popularity due to its healing, cleansing and cosmetic properties.
Wormwood grass in crushed form can be bought at a pharmacy or prepared independently. You need to collect it before the start or during the flowering period in mid-summer. For medicinal purposes, the lower stem leaves and the tops of the stems are used. Before drying, the inflorescences baked by the sun are removed. Dry the grass in a room with good ventilation for a week. Ready raw materials are stored in bales or bags for no more than 2 years.
Medicinal properties of wormwood
Wormwood has pronounced antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and soothing properties. This is due to the presence in its composition of essential oils, active and tannins, phytoncides, alkaloids, ascorbic, malic, salicylic and succinic acids, provitamin A and carotene.
Phytoncides kill and inhibit the growth and development of bacteria, microscopic fungi and protozoa. Absinthine has anti-inflammatory properties and stimulates natural immunity. In the roots of the plant there is a natural prebiotic – inulin. That is why the healing properties of wormwood are recognized not only by traditional medicine, but also by official ones.
In the pharmacy you can buy:
- crushed herb wormwood in packs;
- alcohol tincture of wormwood;
- wormwood extract;
- essential oil from wormwood.
Wormwood contraindications
Wormwood is a poisonous medicinal plant and has a number of serious contraindications and strict dosage requirements.
The plant contains such dangerous substances as thujone, which is a hallucinogen and in large doses affects a person in a similar way to marijuana.
– Abuse of wormwood preparations and even their use in normal doses, but for a long time, can lead to severe excitation of the nervous system, symptoms of poisoning, which are accompanied by severe nervous disorders, up to convulsions, hallucinations, with nausea, vomiting and anemia. Therefore, do not exceed the dosage and apply wormwood for more than 2 weeks or a maximum of a month. Between courses of admission, it is necessary to take breaks of at least 2 weeks. In cases where longer treatment is required, they take a break for a month, and then start taking wormwood preparations again, emphasizes Candidate of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Phytotherapy of the Institute of Internal Medicine of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Head of the Educational and Health Center at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Elena Korsun.
Caution should be taken when treating with wormwood preparations for people with cholelithiasis and urolithiasis, as well as gastritis against the background of increased acidity of the stomach and cardio patients.
Wormwood is categorically contraindicated during pregnancy, lactation, enterocolitis, bleeding, anemia, low acidity of the stomach and allergies to this plant.
Long-term use of absinthe can also lead to serious health problems and severe nervous disease up to wormwood epilepsy.
– Wormwood is also an anti-atherosclerotic drug, but the stomach of patients with cardiac diseases, due to the daily intake of ulcerogenic drugs that form erosion and ulcers, is not always able to tolerate bitter wormwood, – explains candidate of medical sciences, cardiologist of the highest category, phytotherapist Svetlana Barnaulova.
The use of wormwood
In official medicine, preparations based on wormwood are prescribed for atrophic gastritis without pronounced inflammation and other disorders of the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. The bitterness of the herb, along with its general tonic effect, has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and improves digestion. Therefore, wormwood preparations are taken before meals.
Traditional medicine assigns wormwood a wider range of applications. Healing infusions, decoctions and compresses from the stems, roots and inflorescences of wormwood are used to treat a variety of conditions and diseases, ranging from problematic childbirth to headaches. Decoctions of wormwood reduce high temperature and even stop bleeding. Phytotherapeutists recommend not to abuse the treatment with wormwood and use it in strictly indicated dosages.
With cystitis
For example
Steam a handful of herbs with 2 cups of hot milk, cover and leave to cool.
The broth must be poured into a plastic bucket and sit on it, tied with a downy scarf. Milk can be replaced with water, but the effectiveness of treatment will then decrease.
For gastritis and stomach ulcers
Chew a pinch of fresh or dry wormwood herb and swallow the resulting saliva.
Tea
A pinch or one sprig of wormwood is brewed with a glass of boiling water. Insist 20 minutes.
Drink half a glass 2 times a day.
For excessive sweating
Baths with decoction
Mix half a glass of chopped wormwood twigs with a glass of oak bark, pour 1 liter of boiling water and cook for about half an hour.
Strain the finished broth and pour into a bath of warm water.
With headache
There are two use cases here:
- apply wormwood to the temples and forehead;
- fumigate the room with wormwood cigars, like incense.
To normalize sugar in diabetes of any type
Bread ball with wormwood
Grind the wormwood herb into powder with a blender. Roll a ball of black bread crumb and make a small indentation in it. Then fill the grass there and roll the ball again.
Bread flavored with wormwood can be eaten with meals, but not more than 2 weeks.
With worms
Phytoncides, alkaloids and thujone, as part of wormwood, affect the growth and development of parasites, removing their waste products.
Before using bitter wormwood to prepare the gastrointestinal tract, doctors advise drinking a course of sorbent preparations or flax oil. Wormwood from worms is taken, both in its pure form and with other herbs before meals.
decoction
Pour 1 teaspoon of dried herb with a glass of drinking water and bring to a boil. Leave for about 30 minutes.
Take 100 – 150 g 3 times a day for a month.
Infusion universal
Dilute 10 g of chopped grass with 200 ml of water.
The infusion is stored in a cool place for no more than two days and take 2 tbsp. spoons before meals.
For healing wounds and abrasions
In this case, you can apply mashed fresh leaves of the plant to damaged areas.
For Children
Infusions from this plant are often recommended for babies with poor appetite, anemia and worms. This herb is also included in some cough preparations. At the same time, pediatricians recommend giving preparations based on wormwood to children with caution. When preparing medicinal infusions, decoctions and teas for kindergarten children, a third of the adult dose is used, and for schoolchildren – half. In this case, only glass or enamelware with intact enamel is used.
Reviews of doctors about wormwood
Svetlana Barnaulova, candidate of medical sciences, cardiologist of the highest category, phytotherapist:
– Frankly speaking, in my practice as a cardiologist, I rarely had to use wormwood. The plant has a pronounced bitterness and is an anti-infective and anti-parasitic agent. This herb stimulates appetite and improves digestion, so it is recommended for anorexic people.
Elena Korsun, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Phytotherapy, ICM RUDN University, Head of the Educational and Health Center at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:
– The value of wormwood has increased with the discovery of such slow but sure destroyers of the human body as toxoplasma, chlamydia, trichomonads, gonococci, yeast fungi, viruses, mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, gardnerella and other microorganisms. In addition, wormwood is an excellent remedy for parasites.