Healing Herbs: Artichoke
| We are familiar with artichoke as a vegetable, but it is becoming popular as a healing plant also (although it's the leaves that are usually used for health purposes). The ancient Egyptians and romans used it as an aid to digestion. In parts of Europe, the leaves of the artichoke plant were used to aid the kidneys and as a diuretic and to stimulate bile flow from the liver and gall bladder. In the early twentieth century, French scientists studied artichoke and verified it's effectiveness for these traditional uses. It is also used to treat jaundice, hepatitis and arteriosclerosis. In the mid twentieth century, Italian scientists found that artichoke contains cynarin. From the 1950s through the 1980s, synthetic cynarin was used to treat liver and gall bladder problems and to reduce cholesterol. Later, it was replaced with new drugs, but people interested in natural health are using artichoke again, usually as artichoke extract capsules, to reduce cholesterol and high blood pressure. |
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Posted by Reverend Harold Boulette at 3/4/2010 5:13 AM 
Categories: Herbs, Healing
Tags: cholesterol artichoke health herbs blood pressure
Categories: Herbs, Healing
Tags: cholesterol artichoke health herbs blood pressure
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