Horsetail
Traditionally, horsetail has been used as a medicinal herb to treat osteoporosis, tuberculosis, and kidney problems.
Usage
Supports bone health
Can be helpful with osteoporosis because it contains silicon, which helps strengthen bone.
Promotes wound healing
Ointments horsetail extract appears to promote wound healing.
Hair growth
Research suggest that horsetail may help hear growth.
Ancient Herbal Therapy
Ancient people used horsetail for various purposes, and since it was abrasive, the Indians polished arrows with it, and for centuries it was used for polishing tin dishes.
Traditional use in medicine was to treat heart disease, kidney failure, and tuberculosis.
Often, the herb was consumed through tea or tinctures, which were believed to be especially beneficial in treating chronic cough, bronchitis, but also diarrhea, leg edema, and jaundice.
Another application was homemade cream, which was used for heavy sweating, eczema or acne, dandruff, and alopecia. According to old recipes, you can simply rinse your mouth with horsetail tea and thus solve stomatitis or other inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity.
How to use horsetail?
Make a Tea
Tea has a like strong taste, similar to black or green tea.
Supplement
Comes in the form of a liquid extract, capsule, and powder.
Supplement
Cream with horsetail extract is applied for wounds and burns, hair loss, nasal bleeding, and swelling.
Horsetail was the most dominant plant of the Paleozoic era.
It typically grows 6 meters tall, and can reaching 15 meters in height.
It has been used since ancient Greek and Roman times.
Only the green fern-like part of the plant is used for medicinal purposes.
About
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is an herb in the Equisetaceae family of plants, which have been used since ancient Greek and Roman times. Traditionally, horsetail has been used as a medicinal herb to treat osteoporosis, tuberculosis, and kidney problems. Only the green fern-like part of the plant is used for medicinal purposes.
Science
Horsetail is used as a home remedy, therapeutic drug, but also as an economic tool. Older generations, especially in rural areas, used the tea to boost immunity and improve the general condition of the body after a long winter.
It was also used as a diuretic (for relief of fluid retention) and to stop bleeding and heal wounds. However, there are very few reliable research studies available to solidify the claims that horsetail is safe or effective for use as a medicinal herb.
The chemicals in horsetail are thought to have the following beneficial effects: antibacterial, anticlastic, diuretic, wound-healing, antispasmolytic, antiviral, immune response boosting.
Horsetail contains silicon, mineral compounds needed for healthy bone, and connective tissue production.1 An animal study published in the Indian Journal of Pharmacology found calcium, vitamin D, zinc -lysine, L-proline, L-arginine, and L-ascorbic acid (N) accelerate the mineralization of bone matrix and bone formation, and adding a horsetail extract was beneficial for bone formation. More clinical trials are needed to prove the efficacy of horsetail in the treatment of osteoporosis.
Safety
Contraindications to the use of horsetail: nephritis, nephrosis, internal bleeding, pregnancy, lactation, children and infants, allergies. The products should not be used for more than three months. Thiaminase, an enzyme that is found in horsetail, breaks down vitamin B1.
Together with a pronounced diuretic effect, horsetail can cause potassium deficiency.
Horsetail and lithium preparations should never be combined, as horsetail inhibits lithium normal elimination from the human body, which can provoke side effects.
Fun Facts
Horsetail is used in phytomining (producing metal by growing plants): about a kilogram of gold can be extracted from one ton of fresh roots.
-
Carneiro, D. M., Jardim, T. V., Araújo, Y. C. L., Arantes, A. C., de Sousa, A. C., Barroso, W. K. S., ... & Jardim, P. C. B. V. (2019). Equisetum arvense: New Evidences Supports Medical use in Daily Clinic. Pharmacognosy Reviews, 13(26), 51.
Boeing, T., Tafarelo Moreno, K. G., Gasparotto Junior, A., Mota da Silva, L., & de Souza, P. (2021). Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of the Genus Equisetum (Equisetaceae): A Narrative Review of the Species with Therapeutic Potential for Kidney Diseases. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2021.
Recipes
