Rosehip is not only a shrub of the Rosaceae family, captivating by the aroma of flowers and appearance, but also a useful medicinal plant. For medicinal purposes, use flowers, leaves, fruits and roots of the plant. Today we’ll talk about its fruits.
Harvesting rose hips for medical purposes
Rose hips ripen in August - September. For medical purposes, both fresh and dried berries are used, the last of which is used to prepare decoctions, syrups, infusions, juices, tea, extracts, etc. The fruits are harvested before frost, because even the slightest freezing will destroy the medicinal properties of rose hips. The fruits are dried at home in a dryer or oven at 90-100 degrees, making sure that they do not burn. Properly dried, they have a brownish-red or yellow color. They should be stored in closed bags or jars for 2 years.
The chemical composition of rose hips
Rosehip - a whole pantry of vitamins and other substances useful for our body. This is a healing herbal remedy with a predominant content of vitamin C, which is about 20 times more in rose hips than in the notorious lemons! Also, it contains vitamins of group B, vitamins P, K, A and E, carotene. In addition, flavonol glycosides (quercetin and kempferol), sugars, pectins, tannins, lycopene, organic acids, essential oil, rubixanthin, many salts of potassium, magnesium, iron, molybdenum, manganese, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium were found in the fruits. , chrome, phosphorus, cobalt, copper.
Rose hips: properties and applications in traditional medicine
Rosehip is a common medicinal plant of alternative medicine. Over the centuries, its berries have been used as a general strengthening agent for maintaining health and immunity, for treating all kinds of diseases.
Rose hips have a strong bactericidal, phytoncide, antimicrobial, restorative, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, choleretic and many other properties.
Rosehip berries are used:
- in the treatment of cough, flu, colds;
- to suppress diarrhea and inflammatory processes;
- to relieve menstrual and headaches;
- to strengthen the nervous system;
- in the treatment of toothache and gum inflammation;
- as a bile and diuretic;
- to strengthen and tone the whole body;
- as an aid in the treatment and prevention of kidney and bladder diseases;
- to lower blood cholesterol;
- in the treatment of sclerotic diseases, atherosclerosis, anemia, gastritis, stomach ulcers, colitis, malaria, scurvy;
- to increase immunity;
- to get rid of digestive problems and bleeding;
- in the presence of slowly protracted wounds or poorly fused bones;
- for the prevention of diseases of blood vessels and heart, gastrointestinal tract and liver, as well as female organs.
Rosehips for colds and coughs
Due to the content of vitamin C, rosehip berries are an indispensable healing agent in the winter, when increased fatigue appears due to a deficiency of vitamins, and immunity is weakened.
Freshly brewed rosehip tea will help you cope faster with a cough and a cold. It is especially useful for tearing dry coughs, because it is not only able to calm the throat mucosa irritated by coughing, but also relieve the feeling of sore throat. Such tea turns a cough into a productive one, i.e. helps expectorate sputum. In order to enhance the action, honey can be added, which also softens the throat and helps to suppress a painful cough faster. Regularly using such a drink, you can not only cure a cold, but also prevent such diseases - from sore throats to flu, as it will strengthen the immune system.
Spike ovine from diseases of the bladder and kidneys
Rose hips have a diuretic property. For this reason, wild rose is a safe natural diuretic, often recommended as the main tool in folk medicine for diseases of the bladder and kidneys.
And especially berries are useful for diseases of the urinary tract (including acute cystitis with sharp pain during urination). The beneficial substances contained in the fruits not only strengthen and stimulate the immune system, helping to quickly destroy the bacteria that caused infection of the urinary tract, but also help to accelerate the elimination of fluid from the body. This is why rosehip tea is considered an effective way to prevent bladder and urinary tract infections. And so that the unpleasant symptoms of chronic cystitis return much less often, it is enough to drink a cup of tea with rosehips per day.
Rosehips Against Heart Diseases
Rosehip berries contain substances with an anti-inflammatory effect, such as phytosterols, carotenoids, anthocyanins, catechins, which help in the prevention of vascular and heart diseases. In addition, the infusions from the fruits will help with pressure disorders: with high blood pressure, an infusion of water is recommended, with a low - alcoholic infusion of berries.
Contraindications
Although rosehips are considered an excellent tool in the treatment of certain heart diseases, it is precisely from our cardiovascular system that there are most contraindications to their use. Firstly, infusions and teas are not recommended for thrombophlebitis or high risk of blood clots. Particularly carefully taken berries are necessary for some other pathologies of the cardiovascular system, for example, with endocarditis. Doctors do not recommend consuming rose hips for ulcers or gastritis with high acidity, dermatological diseases, and frequent constipation.