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Posts Tagged ‘Medicinal Herb’

How to use green tea leaves for more than just drinking

September 1st, 2010

Green Tea is not just for sipping anymore. Its health benefits stretch out much further than just those that we receive when we sip it as a soothing hot cup of tea.

More and more individuals are consuming the green tea leaf in their foods rather than sipping it as a tea and discarding the leftover leaves. The Polyphenals that give green tea its many rich health benefits are active within the green tea leaf so long as we consume it. By combining the tea leaf into the foods that they are preparing they can acquire one hundred percent of the health benefits available from this medicinal herb. No part is wasted! Green Tea is loaded with antioxidants which are known to have proven anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-Alzheimer, anti-cancer properties. The catechin values within green tea are being touted for their ability to increase metabolism, and to increase fat loss in the belly area, where that all too hard to lose fat tends to congregate.

The texture of green tea leaves is similar to that of the parsley leaf, but green tea gives a subtle nutty or Herb flavoring, to foods that it is added to. A teaspoon of green tea leaves can be added to rice dishes, casseroles, meatloaf, beef stroganoff, lasagna, soups or stews as they are being prepared. The health benefits blends throughout the sauce as the meal cooks, just as they would within a tea infusion, and the cooked tea leaf becomes part of the meal itself. The green tea leaf can also be added to cold foods to create a zesty attractive and very healthy desert dish. Tea leaves can be sprinkled and mixed into vanilla ice cream to form a slightly chewy desert dish. Or a quarter to one half teaspoonful can be added to green Jell-O as it is being prepared. Their uses in cooking are only as limited as is your imagination. Use them just as you would any other herb or spice in your cupboard.

The health benefits of green tea don’t stop there. Create an anti-bacterial solution that can be used for a variety of uses. Remember that all of the health benefits of the polyphenals will be just as active when used externally on your body as they would be internally. Steep one cup green tea leaves in one quart of boiling water for fifteen minutes. Drain off the liquid and store this solution in a sterilized bottle within your refrigerator for later use. (Note: Don’t throw out those tea leaves! They are still beneficial and we’ll be getting to their future use pretty soon!)

The liquid green tea solution can be used as a mouth and throat

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Posted in Green tea

Tags: Antioxidants Beef Stroganoff Belly Area Benefits Of Green Tea Cancer Properties Cold Foods Cup Of Tea Cupboard Green Tea Health Benefits Of Green Tea Increase Metabolism Jell O Medicinal Herb Parsley Rice Dishes Soups Stews Tea Leaf Vanilla Ice Vanilla Ice Cream

Cranberry – Medicinal Uses, Interactions, Side Effects, Dosage

July 29th, 2010

Cranberry

The cranberry plant, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is native to North America. Other related plants in the Vaccinium genus Include blueberry and bilberry. The ripe fruit, which is extremely sour, is used both as food and as an herbal medicine.

Uses and Benefits:

Cranberry juice has a long tradition in American folklore of helping to treat or prevent urinary tract infections (UTls). Scientific studies have attempted to validate the empiric use of cranberry as a urologic antimicrobial agent and as a potential medicinal herb to help prevent UTls in susceptible individuals.

Pharmacology:

Cranberry juice was originally thought to inhibit urinary bacteria by acidifying the urine or by being excreted as tlippuric acid, an antibacterial chemical. More recent investigations have failed to validate these mechanisms. Instead, it is now known that specific proanthocyanidins, condensed tannins from the cranberry fruit (also found in blueberries), can inhibit the adherence of uropathogenic E. coli and other bacteria to epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo.A similar constituent has been found to inhibit the coadhesion of dental plaque bacteria. Cranberry juice has recently been found to have some in vitro bactericidal activity as well.

Clinical Trials:

Initial claims that cranberry juice was effective in treating or preventing UTls were based on case reports or small uncontrolled studies. Only three double-blind, placebocontrolled trials have adequately investigated cranberry’s clinical effects; two of these trials found clinical benefits. All three studies were conducted in the U.S., but the two positive studies have methodologic weaknesses (e.g., unstated or quasi-randomization procedures, high drop-out rates, no intention-to-treat analysis) that reduce the reliability of the results. 8 Cranberry has not been studied for the treatment of acute symptomatic UTls.

In one randomized controlled trial (RCT), investigators gave 300 ml/day of cranberry juice cocktail or a placebo beverage to 192 elderly female nursing home residents over a 6-month period. ‘ ° Pyuria with bacteriuria was significantly reduced in the cranberry group (15%) as compared to the placebo group (28.1 %) (P = 0.004). Antibiotics for UTls were prescribed eight times in the cranberry group by subjects’ own physicians, and 16 times in the placebo group. Criticisms of this study included important differences in baseline characteristics of the treatment and placebo groups, and a 20% drop-out rate.

In a small RCT using a 6-month crossover-design, investigators gave a daily cranberry extract capsule or placebo to sexually active women (median age 37) with recurrent UTls; only 10 subjects could be evaluated. incidents of UTls, 6 occurred while taking the cranberry product, and occurred while taking placebo, a statistically significant difference (P < 0.005).

Lastly, no benefits were found in a 6-month crossover study of 15 high-risk children with neurogenic bladder requiring clean intermittent catheterization q.i.d. Subjects drank ounces daily of a cranberry concentrate juice (equivalent to 300 ml of cranberry cocktail) or a placebo, and weekly catheterized urine specimens were obtained at home visits. Cranberry juice, compared to placebo, failed to reduce the frequency of bacteriuria (75% in each group), isolation of E. coli (43% vs. 48%, respectively), or symptomatic UTls (three in each group). No reduction in bacteriuria was found, but the power to detect a difference in the number of clinical UTls was small due to the low number of UTls in the children.

Adverse Effects:

There are no documented adverse effects with cranberry products.

Side Effects and Interactions:

There are no recognized drug interactions.

Cautions:

Cranberry juice contains moderately high levels of oxalate, which may increase the risk of kidney stones in susceptible individuals. One man with a distant history of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis developed recurrent stones following self-administration of cranberry extract tablets for 6 months. A pilot study of an extract taken daily for 1 week in five healthy subjects confirmed an increase in urinary oxalate levels. However, substances known to both induce (e.g., sodium) and inhibit (e.g., magnesium, potassium) stone formation were also increased; the overall effect is still not clear. The large amounts of sugar in many beverage products may be relatively contraindicated for patients with diabetes. Individuals should not rely on cranberry preparations to cure an established, symptomatic UTI, and should not dday in obtaining necessary medical treatment.

Preparations & Doses:

Pure cranberry juice is very acidic ,and sour; the most commonly marketed drink, cranberry juice cocktail, is a mixture of cranberry juice (at least 25% by volume), sweeteners, and vitamin C.Preparations and doses used in the above clinical trials included 300 ml/day (10 oz) of a standard cranberry juice cocktail beverage or 2 oz of concentrate (both :,supplied by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.) in single or divided doses. A daily dietary supplement capsule containing 400 mg of cranberry extract (Solaray, Inc.) was also used in one trial. There are many other cranberry foods and supplements on the market that would be expected to have similar active constituents, but the optimal preparation and dose is unknown.

Summary Evaluation:

Cranberry’s anti-infective activity in the urinary tract is well docucmented. Primarily, it inhibits the adherence of bacteria to urinary pithelial cells. Limited controlled trials suggest that cranberry products may help prevent UTls in susceptible individuals; how(~ver, the available evidence is conflicting, and the studies all have methodologic flaws. Because cranberry is a safe and well-tolerdied herbal remedy, it is not unreasonable for individuals with recurrent UTls to try cranberry products for chronic preventive therapy. However, the potential beneficial effects, if clinically significant, are likely to be small.