In forests, along roadsides, in meadows and fringes, an inconspicuous-looking, but unique in its chemical composition grass cuff grows. The healing properties and contraindications of this natural doctor are unequal. There is so much usefulness in it that it is used without any fear even to treat children. In most cases, the cuff can only hurt with a strong overdose. Among the people, she has about two dozens of other names, among which are her breast, love spell, unhealthy grass, heartwort, creeper, goose foot, forest horseradish and many others. All of them are given on the basis of either the appearance of the plant or the diseases that the cuff helps. The healing properties and contraindications of preparations from this unique herb were known to the ancient priests and alchemists, who actively used them for treatment and magic rituals. Nowadays, even official medicine has recognized the usefulness of the cuff, so its dry fees are freely sold in pharmacies, and extracts from it are part of many drugs.
Biological description
The grass cuff, the medicinal properties and contraindications of which are known in Russia since ancient times, belongs to the pink family. Its official name is an ordinary cuff, or yellow-green. In Latin, it sounds like Alchemilla vulgaris. This plant can be bought at the pharmacy, or you can procure it yourself.
It is not difficult to recognize the cuff by the palmate-lobed leaflets, which really look like a wide goose foot. Leaves that grow in the basal zone are petiolate, relatively large, veins divided into 9-11 concave lobes. Leaves growing on stems are without stalks and smaller. Both those and others have an easy edge. The cuff has very characteristic inflorescences. The medicinal properties and contraindications of this herb, as studies have established, are maximum during the flowering period, that is, you need to know well how its flowers look. Outwardly, they are noteworthy, small, yellow-green, collected in numerous loose umbrellas. But each flower individually looks like a small star. The rhizome of the cuff is somewhat reminiscent of the horseradish root. It is quite thick, located horizontally underground, reaching several meters. As the rhizome grows, new buds form on it, from which stems grow, that is, this plant belongs to the so-called creeping. The cuff stalk barely reaches 40-45 cm in height. It, like the leaflets, is covered with a light edge. The cuff is a perennial. Its ground parts die off with frost, but in the spring, as soon as the sun begins to warm, they grow back.
Chemical composition
Although for several hundred years a weed cuff has been used to get rid of various ailments, the medicinal properties and contraindications of this plant are still being studied. To date, scientists have discovered the following chemical elements in the aerial parts and partly in the rhizome of the cuff:
- phytosterols (phytosterols);
- vitamin C;
- lignin;
- coumarins;
- tannin;
- tannins;
- fatty acid;
- flavonoids;
- leukoanthicides;
- resins;
- catechins;
- lipids;
- bitterness;
- trace elements.
Therapeutic effect
In both official and folk medicine, the cuff has found widespread use. The therapeutic properties and contraindications of many drugs based on it have passed clinical trials and are used internally for such diseases:
- the presence of "bad" cholesterol is higher than normal (actively reduces it);
- gastrointestinal diseases;
- colds and everything that accompanies it (runny nose, cough, weakness);
- asthma and other diseases caused by spasms;
- epilepsy;
- atherosclerosis;
- diseases of the heart and coronary vessels;
- diabetes;
- diseases of the genitourinary system;
- obesity;
- used as a drug that slows down aging and removes toxins from the body.
As an external agent, the cuff is used to treat:
- boils;
- purulent wounds and ulcers;
- with various injuries;
- dropsy;
- scrofula;
- herpes.
Cuff, medicinal properties and contraindications undergoing tests
Since the chemical composition of this herb contains several substances with antitumor properties (coumarins, phytosterols, leukoanthicides, catechins), scientists are actively exploring the possibility of treating cancers with a cuff. Such studies are currently underway in China, the USA and Japan. The possibilities of using this plant for the treatment are also specified:
- anemia;
- viral and infectious diseases;
- schizophrenia;
- to restore reproductive function.
Another aspect of the use of the cuff, which is still being tested, is its use as components in dietary supplements for sports nutrition, as experiments have shown that the cuff is able to increase muscle mass without changing the hormonal level.
Cuff for women
For women, the cuff is unusually widely used. The therapeutic properties and contraindications in the gynecology of drugs with this weed have long been studied and are not in doubt. The beneficial substances contained in the cuff help stabilize the hormonal background, normalize the work of all organs, relieve fatigue, and relieve headaches. All these actions help women to tolerate menopause well. For women in childbearing age, doctors advise using a cuff to treat infertility and with problems with menstruation. Pregnant women with a cuff are recommended to drink to speed up and facilitate childbirth, as well as if an incorrect location of the placenta is found. After birth, this herb is taken to improve lactation.
In addition to preparations for internal use, a cuff is also used in gynecology for external use. The therapeutic properties and contraindications for women with leucorrhoea, genital itching, inflammation, erosion are not antagonists, that is, the therapeutic effect is repeatedly confirmed in practice, and contraindications in this case apply only to those with drugs with a cuff that cause allergies. For women whose body tolerates the cuff well, traditional medicine advises doing syringing and bathing with decoctions of this herb. To prepare the solution, you need to take 3-4 tablespoons of dry raw materials, pour 200-300 ml of boiling water, insist, strain, cool to room temperature.
For men
The cuff helps not only the weaker, but also the stronger sex. The medicinal properties and contraindications for men of this herb are still being studied. So, there is a hypothesis that drugs with the addition of a cuff increase stamina during physical exertion, as well as contribute to muscle mass gain and at the same time remove fat. Folk healers are advised to treat prostatitis with a cuff. For this, the plant must be consumed inside regularly all year round. In summer, fresh leaves of the cuff should be added to salads, make tea with them, and cook soups. In winter, pickled leaves and stems of this herb are used.
Fermentation recipe: mulch the green mass of grass (leaves, stems, flowers), pour brine (5 teaspoons of salt per 500 ml of water), add spices to taste (dill, garlic, allspice, bay leaf), cover a slice of black bread, cover with gauze or a sheet of plantain and put in a warm place for 3-4 days, then put in the refrigerator. Take a fermented cuff for 30 days in a tablespoon.
With diabetes
Since ancient times, folk healers, and more recently, official medicine, use a cuff to treat a variety of diseases. The healing properties of diabetes are so high that they allow people suffering from this very unpleasant disease to significantly lower blood sugar without drugs. In the early stages of diabetes, the effect of cuff treatment is unique. With its help, not only sugar returns to normal, but also the skin condition improves, the work of the digestive tract and pancreas normalizes. The prescription is unusually simple: you just need to brew the cuff, like regular tea, and drink daily. You can also prepare a mixture of cuffs, buds of lilac, dandelion and licorice roots, lingonberry leaves and sage. The only thing diabetics should not forget is that drugs with a cuff negatively affect blood coagulation, so before you start drinking tea with this weed, you need to pass the appropriate tests.
Contraindications
Like any other medicine, the cuff also has healing properties and contraindications. Reviews of people who used it for various diseases are mostly positive. If the recommendations and dosages are correctly observed, patients can use this herb to cope with diabetes in the early stages of the disease, improve the general condition of the body, get rid of renal colic, runny nose, insomnia, headache, diarrhea, stomach ulcers, varicose veins and many other ailments . However, we must not forget about the contraindications of the cuff. It can not be used for:
- pregnancy (some healers, on the contrary, are advised to take a cuff, starting from the second trimester);
- increased blood coagulability;
- individual intolerance.
With an overdose of drugs with a cuff, diarrhea can begin.
It is also important to note that for medicinal purposes, this herb needs to be harvested only during the flowering period (from late May to September).
Cuff, medicinal properties and contraindications, recipes
Given the wide range of uses of this plant, it is impossible to cite all the recipes in which it is used. Here are just a few of them:
1. With infertility. Prepare a mixture of dried herbs cuffs, mint and motherboard, mix in a ratio of 1: 2: 1. Drink tea from this mixture several times a day, brewing a spoonful of raw materials in a glass of water.
2. With heavy painful periods. 1.5 dessert spoons of dry raw material of the cuff pour a glass of boiling water and then simmer for 2 hours. Strain. Drink 100 ml several times a day.
3. With diarrhea. Squeeze juice from fresh raw materials. Take a teaspoon every 2 hours.
4. With bronchitis. 30 gr dry raw materials pour 1000 ml of warmed wine and leave for 12 hours. Take 50 ml in the morning, afternoon and evening.
5. For the prevention of aging. Take half a glass of fresh raw herbs of the cuff (leaves), elecampane (roots), comfrey (roots), pour wine and cook for 15 minutes. Strain. Wipe the face and décolleté with the resulting product.
6. Cellulite. 40 gr fresh raw materials and 10 gr. dry pour 500 ml of boiling water, insist 4 hours, strain. Take the infusion of 50 ml up to 4 times a day. Put the cake on gauze and apply to the problem areas as a compress (for 30 minutes).
In addition to preparing decoctions and tinctures, the cuff is very useful to eat fresh, adding to salads and soups. This will be an excellent prevention of all the above diseases.