Nature provides many opportunities to enhance health. A variety of existing vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and other things will help each person find for themselves the missing beneficial substances. In addition, some fruits are used in the culinary and pharmaceutical industries. One of those plants that are widely used in many areas is juniper.
Culinary purpose of berries
In several states, this product is traditional. For example, Finland is famous for its juniper brewing. The fruits of this shrub are also used by the British to make vodka, known as gin. Often, the plant is used as a specific and aromatic spice for baking fish or meat gourmet dishes or as a fragrant kind of additive to the dough.
But the juniper fruits deserve special attention, the properties of which we will try to describe.
To begin with, it is worth noting that this shrub plant is referred to as cypress. Evergreen junipers abound variety, but on the territory of Russia the greatest advantage belongs to ordinary juniper. Veres (as it was popularly called) is grown not only for the purpose of decorating landscape plots, because the plant has a magnificent appearance.
Most often, you can see many juniper bushes (fruits are the main value) where it is known about its medicinal advantages.
Chemical elements in juniper
It turns out that the secret lies in the chemical composition of plant berries. They contain essential oil, the most valuable organic acids, among which are formic, acetic and malic, resins and fast carbohydrates. Moreover, almost half of the total mass is represented by the latter substances. Meanwhile, this is not a complete list of valuable elements present in juniper products. Its fruits are enriched with manganese, copper, and iron. As for the vitamin components, here the priority belongs to vitamin C. Chemical analyzes have confirmed that 100 grams of shrubs have reserves of an element that is enough for a day for three people at once.
In the school botany course, the fruits of juniper are called cone berries. Meanwhile, the needles of the plant and its bark are saturated. They contain ascorbic acid, resins, and more.
How does the plant heal?
The pharmacy assortment is often represented by a variety of preparations based on juniper. Fruits, contraindications for the use of which are also available, and the needles of the bush contain special chemical compounds called volatile, which can boast a whole complex of priceless qualities. At the same time, they owe their well-deserved trust in the pharmaceutical field to their antibacterial, fungicidal and antiprotozoal properties.
It follows that the juniper plant is capable of producing an uncounted amount of such substances that differ in biological activity. Laboratory chemical studies indicate that a hectare of growing junipers releases over 25 kg of phytoncides into the atmosphere for 24 hours.
Therefore, where juniper is planted, there is a special, clean air that promotes healing and maintaining the state of the respiratory system of the body at the proper level.
Possible harm and contraindications
Asking the question of how useful the fruits of juniper are, one cannot but mention the possible contraindications and side effects of its use. Firstly, long-term use of drugs and products prepared according to folk recipes based on shishkogod is not recommended. Doctors warn that if it is necessary to undergo a long treatment course, patients need to pause the use of such drugs. It is better that the break is about a month. It is a well-known fact that in small doses almost everything is considered useful, and in excessive doses it can be quite detrimental to health.
With excessive use of such drugs, the active substances contained in juniper can have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system and kidneys, which threatens the occurrence of arterial hypertension and acute pyelonephritis. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to use medicines from the fruits of shrubs during pregnancy. In addition, the fruits of juniper can cause allergies. It is advisable not to neglect the advice of a doctor and follow his instructions when undergoing a therapeutic course.
Juniper diseases
It turns out that since ancient times, mankind has known about the healing properties of juniper plants. In modern medicine, they also do not forget about the use of juniper, the fruits of which have an amazing effect in the treatment of a variety of diseases. The main ailments with which cones help to cope are:
- problems associated with the respiratory system;
- liver disease (common use of juniper fruits in combination with milk thistle);
- all kinds of gastrointestinal disorders;
- inflammatory processes of the genitourinary system in both women and men.
When choosing drugs or products of diuretic action, juniper is often given priority, its advantage in this case is the ability to minimize the washing out of electrolytes with maximum excretion of the liquid. Eating fruits is often recommended for patients with anorexia, as they contribute to the intensive production of gastric juice. It is also known that cone juice is credited with an effective antiseptic property.
Forms of use of juniper berries
Despite the positive characteristics of non-sterile parts of the plant, they are less in demand in the treatment and manufacture of medicines. The beneficial properties of juniper fruits are not comparable neither with the advantages of needles, nor with the healing qualities of the bark, therefore, they significantly prevail over them. Moreover, shrubs serve as the basis for medicines of various forms: from tablets and vitamins to suspensions and tinctures.
In folk medicine, as a rule, juniper decoctions are used, which help patients cope with pulmonary diseases, speed up the healing process for arthritis, osteochondrosis, and remove kidney stones. To maintain appetite, a decoction from the fruits of this shrub is simply indispensable.
Traditional healers say that coniferous juniper infusion is effective and, if necessary, cleanse the liver and outflow of excess bile from the body. The decoction of this plant promotes a natural, gradual cleansing of the intestines.
In the field of gynecology, special syringes are sometimes prescribed to patients with the addition of juniper decoction, and tincture from its own fruits is an excellent tool in the fight against cystitis and dropsy.
How to cook a decoction and ointment?
Preparing such a decoction at home is not difficult, because the recipe is quite simple: 2 tablespoons of dried juniper per 500 ml of water. Boil for no more than 15 minutes over low heat. It is best to pick the berries of the bush in the fall - by this time they must have completely ripened. It is important to dry them naturally, there is no need to use an oven or oven.
In the case of the acquisition of wounds, frostbite, burns, an ointment prepared from cones of berries of the plant will do just fine. It acts on damage, has a healing effect on wounds, contributing to the acceleration of purulent outflow from affected tissues and the regeneration of diseased skin areas.
Juniper as a part of medicines
In the production process of medications for scabies, malaria, lichen, edema, periodontal disease and many other ailments, juniper fruit is not the last. Instructions for the use of medicinal products created on their basis require careful reading and strict adherence to avoid side effects.