Red Rowan: Benefits And Harm

Red rowan is widely used in traditional and folk medicine. What are its benefits and harms?

Red rowan is widely used in traditional and folk medicine. What are its benefits and harms?

Red rowan is well known as an ornamental plant. Its fresh fruits serve as fodder for poultry and livestock, and processed berries are used as raw materials for the confectionery industry, for the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Red (ordinary) rowan has long been used in folk medicine, but in some diseases it can only harm.

Composition of red rowan

The benefits and harms of fruits are due to their rich composition. Berries contain sugar, malic, tartaric, citric, succinic acids, tannic and pectin substances, sorbitol, sorbose, amino acids, ascorbic acid, sorbic acid, flavonoids, triterpene compounds, carotene, dietary fibers. Rowan is rich in vitamins A, B, C, E and PP, micro- and macroelements.

Thanks to this composition, red rowan can be used as a means that promotes the digestion process, stimulates metabolism, improves the elasticity of blood vessels, has antibacterial, astringent, diuretic and choleretic effects.

Useful properties

Rowan berries are used for medicinal purposes. In fresh form, the fruits are practically not eaten because of their bitterness. Infusions, paste, fresh juice, powder are prepared from them, they are part of vitamin collections. In traditional medicine, fruit infusions and teas are indicated for vitamin deficiency and are used as diuretics and hemostatic drugs.

In folk medicine, mountain ash has long been used as a choleretic agent. These properties are explained by the content of sorbic acid and sorbitol in it. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses are "afraid" of sorbic acid. Experiments on animals have shown that sorbitol reduces the content of fat in the liver and cholesterol in the blood. In addition, thanks to sorbitol, rowan is effective in chronic constipation, which accompanies diseases of the biliary tract. Sorbitol causes a laxative effect within several hours.

Amygdalin, contained in rowan fruits, increases the body's resistance to oxygen starvation and justifies the experience of using rowan in folk medicine for atherosclerosis.

Juice from fresh berries is recommended to be consumed one teaspoon before meals with reduced acidity of gastric juice. Fresh juice is also used for hypertension, inflammation of the kidneys, and bladder diseases.

Rowan berries in the form of ointments, tinctures, compresses are used in traditional medicine in the treatment of hemorrhoids. This is explained by the anti-inflammatory and hemostatic properties of the plant.

Rowan fruit powder is added to the diet of people suffering from diabetes and obesity. Thanks to the content of pectin, this tool binds part of the carbohydrates in the intestines. In addition, organic acids contained in mountain ash prevent excessive gas formation in the intestines.

An external infusion of rowan berries is used as a wound healing agent, and the decoction is used for gargling in scurvy. For example, for the treatment of purulent abscesses, an ointment is prepared. To do this, wash the bunch of rowanberries well with running water, remove the berries and crush them with a wooden mortar. This "ointment" promotes healing of wounds and bruises. A diaphoretic and diuretic tea made from fresh or dried rowan berries is useful for colds accompanied by high fever.

An antifungal agent for external use can be prepared from fresh mountain ash leaves. To do this, they are rubbed well, applied to the affected areas of the skin and bandaged. The bandage must be changed every day.

In the food industry, rowan berries are used to prepare healthy jams, jams, marmalades, as well as liqueurs, tinctures, and wines.

Red rowan is a good honey plant. The honey obtained from it has a reddish tint, a pleasant strong aroma and also has medicinal properties.

To whom rowan is contraindicated

Red rowan can harm people who have high acidity of gastric juice. In addition, infusions, juice, decoctions from it cannot be used with increased blood coagulation, those who have suffered a heart attack or stroke, suffer from coronary heart disease.