What connects Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, besides outstanding talent in painting? All of them were addicted to absinthe, an alcoholic drink based on wormwood, anise and fennel.
In the USA, as in many other countries, absinthe is illegal, but in Europe it is freely available. You may have heard of wormwood thanks to this famous drink. But did you know that it can also help combat many serious health problems?
This is true. Wormwood effectively eliminates intestinal parasites, in particular pinworms and roundworms. Therefore, it is often recommended for cleansing the intestines.
What are the benefits of wormwood? It is loved because it is the source of the herbal drug artemisin, which is considered the most effective medicine against malaria.
But that's not all. Scientific experiments have shown that wormwood can even kill cancer cells. Tea with wormwood is useful for anorexia, insomnia, anemia, lack of appetite, flatulence, abdominal pain, jaundice and indigestion.
This medicinal herb is used to make alcoholic drinks, and the “star called wormwood” is even mentioned in the Bible. A very unusual plant, to say the least. But can it really kill parasites and cancer? Research says yes, and new positive healing properties continue to emerge.
Of course, you should be careful with some products containing wormwood (like absinthe, for example), but wormwood is not always harmful.
general information
The plant belongs to the Asteraceae or Compositae family.
Wormwood has erect stems with a woody base, the height of which varies from 60 cm to 1 m. The stem branches upward and is covered with alternate pinnately dissected leaves. The upper leaves of the plant are entire, pinnate or trifoliate. All leaves are arranged in tiers. Together with the stem, they are distinguished by a silvery-gray tint. The root of wormwood is taproot, highly developed, firmly embedded in the soil. The flowers are tubular in shape, collected in spherical baskets, they are distinguished by a yellowish color. The plant bears fruit with small brown achenes, the length of which is about 1 mm. The flowering period of wormwood is June-August. Preparation of raw materials The herb and leaves of wormwood are used as a medicine. Wormwood herb is harvested during the flowering period (July-August) for 10–15 days. If you are late in collecting, the grass will darken when dried, and the baskets will turn brown and crumble.
Stems with tips (without rough parts of the stem) are cut using a sickle or knife at a distance of 20–25 cm from the top. Spread the wormwood in a layer of 3–5 cm and dry it in the attic or under a canopy. The raw materials should be stirred periodically. It takes 5-7 days for it to dry completely, provided the weather is good.
It is allowed to use artificial drying at 45–50°C. If the temperature is higher, the essential oils contained in the plant will evaporate. Well-dried stems should break well when bent.
Leaves should be harvested before flowering begins (June-July). They are plucked by hand or cut with a knife without a petiole. Drying conditions are the same as for grass.
Raw materials are packaged in bags or paper bags and stored for about 2 years.
Usage
Wormwood can be easily purchased in pharmacies or online in the form of essential oils, capsules, tablets, ointments and liquid extract. It is also available in fresh and dry form for making decoction and tea.
It is best to use dry wormwood, as it contains virtually no thujone. To prepare the decoction, follow the instructions:
- Pour boiling water over 0.5-1 teaspoon of dry or fresh wormwood and let it brew for 15 minutes.
- Do not exceed the dosage as its leaves are very strong and bitter. Thus, if you let it sit longer, you will end up with a bitter and strong tea.
- For greater effect, tea should be drunk unsweetened. However, if you want to remove the bitterness, you can add peppermint or anise.
Tea with wormwood is very beneficial for digestion, especially before eating heavy food, which can cause gas and bloating. Scientists claim that this plant can even fight the symptoms of Crohn's disease.
The dosage of tea varies depending on the purpose of its use. It should be taken in small sips, as its strong, bitter taste is an important component of the therapeutic effect it has on the stomach. It can also act as an energy tonic.
For intestinal problems such as parasites and worms, wormwood is best taken in tablet form. However, it and other herbal preparations are also effective as homemade bitters. They are great for aiding digestion.
Products containing wormwood should be taken under the supervision of a physician in small quantities and for no longer than 4 weeks.
Side effects, allergies and interactions with other drugs
The course of using wormwood should not be long. Make sure you do not exceed the recommended dose as this can be very harmful. It is better to choose wormwood in dry form, it contains a small amount of thujone essential oil.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers wormwood unsafe for consumption precisely because of the toxic properties of thujone. However, it can still be taken orally in amounts found in food and drinks, including tinctures and vermouths, which do not contain thujone.
Taking wormwood for longer than 4 weeks or in doses greater than recommended may cause nausea, vomiting, restlessness, insomnia, dizziness, tremors and epilepsy.
Eating products that contain wormwood and thujone, such as absinthe, for example, can be hazardous to health. They can cause anxiety, sleep problems, nightmares, epilepsy, dizziness, tremors, kidney failure, vomiting, stomach cramps, urinary retention, thirst, numbness of the limbs, paralysis and death.
Wormwood is contraindicated during pregnancy and lactation. There have been recorded cases where this led to bleeding and loss of the child.
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If you are allergic to ragweed and other plants of the Asteraceae/Asteraceae family, then wormwood can also cause an allergic reaction.
For porphyria (a group of disorders that occur when natural chemical compounds that produce porphyrin accumulate in the body), thujone, which is present in artemisia, can increase porphyrin production and worsen the disease.
If you have epilepsy or seizures, be sure to consult your doctor before using this plant. Thujone can cause seizures, especially in people prone to them.
Wormwood is not recommended for those who suffer from kidney disease. Its oils can cause kidney failure, so be sure to consult a specialist before use.
It is also not recommended to use wormwood essential oil for aromatherapy, since it contains a high concentration of thujone, which can act as a convulsant and neurotoxin.
Consult your doctor before combining wormwood with any anticonvulsants or medications to treat seizures. Since both the herb and similar drugs have certain effects on the brain, wormwood can reduce the effectiveness of antiepileptic drugs.
Wormwood in the form of essential oil
Procurement of raw materials
The grass and leaves of wormwood are harvested during the flowering period. Collection time is no more than 15 days. The upper, more tender parts of the plant are suitable for harvesting raw materials. They are cut with a sharp knife or sickle at a distance of no more than 25 and no less than 20 cm from the top. The collected grass is laid out on a thin cloth or paper in an even layer of no more than 3-5 cm and left to dry in a ventilated room - in the attic or under a canopy with natural ventilation. To avoid spoilage of the raw material, it must be stirred periodically. In dry weather, the grass dries out in no more than 7 days. The degree of readiness is determined by the fragility of the raw materials.
The herb of the plant contains essential oils that can evaporate at high temperatures, so when artificially drying, the threshold of 45-50 ℃ should not be exceeded. The finished raw materials are poured into linen or paper bags; their shelf life is 2 years.
All about herbs and more
General information
Family: Сompositae Asteraceae Botanical name: Artemisia absinthium L. Pharmacy: wormwood herb - Absinthii herba (formerly: Herba Absinthii). Generic name: Artemisia (giving health) Folk names: pelyn, church. wormwood, wormwood, absinthe, Swiss tea, vermouth. Absinthium
Planet: - contains the powers of Saturn, Mars, Neptune, Sun Zodiac sign: - Element: - fire of the Divine: - dedicated to John the Baptist Language of flowers: - bitterness Main properties: - protection from damage and evil spirits, spiritual strength, love, calling spirits. Description: Wormwood is a perennial herbaceous plant up to 1 m high, silvery-grayish in color, with a strong, distinctive odor, with a branched rhizome that develops several tall flowering stems and short leafy stems, as well as basal leaves. The rhizome is short with a branched taproot. The basal and leaves of the sterile stems are long-petiolate, triangular-rounded, three times pinnately dissected; their lobules are lanceolate, entire-edged, blunt at the apex; The lower stem leaves of flowering shoots are short-petiolate, alternate, double-pinnate, the middle ones are tripartite, the bracts are three-lobed, and the upper ones are simple, lanceolate. The stems and leaves are silvery-grayish in color due to the abundance of silky appressed hairs. The flowers are small, yellow, all tubular, in spherical baskets up to 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter, collected on short branches in one-sided racemes, which, in turn, form a panicle of baskets. The fruit is a brownish achene up to 1 mm long, without a tuft. Blooms in July - August. The plant tastes bitter. Representatives of the genus Artemisia from the family. Asteraceae are widespread in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in its Asian part. Austrian wormwood (Artemisia austrica Jacq), Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Lemon wormwood (Artemisia cina Berg ex Poljak), Annual wormwood (Artemisia annua), Medicinal wormwood (Artimisia absoranum), Black or common wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris), Tarragon, also known as Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), Tauride wormwood – this is a far from complete list of various wormwoods. Since both the magical and medicinal properties of wormwood are different, when citing this or that property in brackets it will be indicated which specific wormwood it applies to, if we are not talking about wormwood. Places of growth: Grows in the European part of Russia, except for the northern regions, in the Caucasus, in Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, in Ukraine, near housing, near roads, in pastures, in vacant lots, in crops, in meadows, along forest edges in steppe, forest-steppe, less often in forest zones.
Parts used: Use grass (flowering tops - no more than 25 cm long) and wormwood leaves.
The grass is cut off during flowering, leaves and young leafy shoots are collected before flowering. The grass, i.e., the flowering tips of the stems no more than 25 cm long, is cut off during full flowering. Collection and preparation
Wormwood blooms in June - August, the fruits ripen in August - September. Dry the raw materials in attics, under sheds or in the air in the shade, laying them out in a thin layer of 5-7 cm on fabric or paper. Shelf life up to 2 years. For magical purposes: Collect during the third phase of the Moon, during the evening dew, after sunset.
Medicine:
Preparations of wormwood are used for gastritis that occurs with low acidity. They are also recommended to increase appetite after debilitating illnesses. Essential wormwood oil is similar to camphor in its stimulating effect on the central nervous system. Bitter chamazulene has the property of activating the reticuloendothelial system and phagocytic functions, also exhibiting an anti-inflammatory effect. It has found application in the treatment of bronchial asthma, rheumatism, eczema and x-ray burns. The herb has a phytoncidal effect. Wormwood is included in gastric drops, gastric tablets, appetizing and choleretic preparations. Active substances: Wormwood herb contains essential oil (0.5-2%), which includes 10-25% thujol, up to 10% thujone, pinene, cadinene, phellandrene, caryophyllene, selinene, bisabolene, guayanolides artabsin and arborescin, glycosides absinthine and anabsintin, the aglycone of which (artaboin) belongs to sesquiterpene lactones and, with appropriate processing, gives chamazulene.
In addition - organic acids (succinic, malic), tannins, ascorbic acid, carotene. Esters of thujol alcohol with acetic, isovaleric and palmitic acids; ketolactone A and B, oxylactone, flavonoid artemisetin. Traditional Medicine:
Since ancient times, wormwood has been used in the treatment of malaria.
Treatment methods are described in detail by many ancient medical scientists: Hippocrates in the 3rd century BC. and Ibn Sina (Avicena) in the 10th century AD. In Slavic literature, wormwood was mentioned as a cure for malaria in the 12th century. in the “Word of Daniel the Sharpener” and in Russian chronicles of the 14th century, in the book “Blagokohladny Vetrograd” in 1616, in the dictionary published in 1792 by the Russian Academy - all these sources mention wormwood. Chernobyl was used for nervous diseases as a sedative, the roots - for epilepsy, the leaves - as an analgesic and regulating the functional activity of the gastrointestinal tract. It is used as a choleretic, gastric, diuretic, analgesic, sedative and anthelmintic. It is also known to be used in perfumery: Queen Cleopatra used wormwood essential oil to produce eau de toilette. In Bankes's "Herbarium", published in the 18th century, oh, and in another medieval treatise, "Gardens of Health", it is reported that the smoke rising when burning this plant smells good and drives snakes out of the house. And in the monastery gardens of Western Europe, wormwood has been grown since the 9th century. It was its leaves that were used to prepare absinthe (Absinthe from Artemisia absinthium), a bitters popular in France (and not only there). Magic:
“Real wormwood, or vermouth.
Saturated with astral light of lower quality. Something like the hashish of the West. Suitable for some experiments, and you need to use the flowering tops of the plant and maintain the greatest purity when chemically processing them.” (Sed.) Wormwood has been used since ancient times as amulets against dark forces. It was added to potions that protected against witchcraft and lightning, and was used in medicinal potions for fever and weakening eyesight. There is a legend according to which it is necessary on the night before Midsummer to dig up the ground at the root of the wormwood, find a coal there and carry it with you. And this very coal will protect you from plague, lightning, malaria and burns. Moreover, information from different sources differs in the time of day for collecting the herb: some claim that it is necessary to collect at noon, others - at midnight... “In addition to church incense (an irreplaceable remedy against all evil spirits), a potion has also been found that is equivalent to the sacred willow and Holy Week candles, - wormwood is a cursed herb. They collected after Trinity Day until the first roosters. They only tore with their left hand.” Various sources offer different views on the role of wormwood in magic. But everyone agrees on one thing. This is the most effective remedy against mermaids and similar mythological characters of Slavic folklore. And most often, wormwood was used during Trinity Week - during the appearance of mermaids. Wormwood, “the accursed grass, without knees,” when fighting mermaids, was considered “a drug equivalent to the sacred willow and the candles of Holy Week,” as well as incense. In Russia, in Ukraine, in the Poltava province, in the Kharkov province, and in other cities and villages, wormwood and similar herbs were scattered around the house, placed on windows, thresholds, under the eaves of houses, in order to protect themselves “from mermaids coming out that night from their waters to land,” and if “on the holy greenery” they had to spend the night in the open air, they put it under their head. From the attack of the mermaids they carried wormwood with them; she was thrown into the water if she did happen to swim. To protect themselves from mavoks, Ukrainian girls wore wormwood in their bosoms; they wove it into their braids, believing that then the mermaid would not tickle them. Bulgarians and Serbs attributed to her the ability to “drive away Samodives, Karakonjuls and demons of disease.” Interestingly, it was not at all necessary to carry the plant itself with you; It was believed that even the name of wormwood was enough to make the mermaids run away. In many contexts, wormwood is found not alone, but together with some plant that is either synonymous with it in its diuretic function (dawn, lovage Levisticum officinalis L.), or, on the contrary, attracting mermaids (mint, parsley). And don’t forget about a simple spell when meeting mermaids. To the mermaid’s question, “What’s in your hands?” she was supposed to answer “wormwood” - then she would say: “tsur tobi, bake tobi!” get lost!” and will disappear. In Prussia, Bavaria and other Germanic lands, wormwood was used for the same purposes as rowan in Scotland - that is, to protect against witches. Prussian farmers stacked stacks of this grass at the entrances and around meadows where cows grazed to protect the animals and their milk from witches. In Japan, residents of a burglarized house, upon discovering the burglar's footprints, burn wormwood on them to sting his feet and prevent him from escaping from the police. There are also quite a few superstitions associated with wormwood that relate to eye care. It was believed that if you look at the flames of a bonfire lit in honor of the summer solstice through a bunch of wormwood, this will ensure good vision throughout the year. In Germany and Bohemia, young people wore wormwood hats through which they looked into the flames of the Midsummer bonfires in order to keep their eyes in order until the end of the year. Some sources mention wormwood as part of an anti-fatigue potion. Wormwood juice drunk from eggshells, or wormwood ointment prepared with pork lard, helped with general fatigue. Travelers were advised to put wormwood in their shoes in the morning in order to walk for many miles without fatigue. Wormwood bush is one of the symbols of love. Its popular names are “young lover”, “kiss me quickly”, “maiden ruin”. According to another interpretation, wormwood symbolizes old age. Hence another popular name for shrub wormwood - “old man”. It is also a sign of playfulness. Myths and Legends:
Generic name named after Artemisia, the wife of King Mausolus, or from the Greek “artemes” - healthy, unharmed, due to the medicinal properties of the plant;
absinthium is the Latinized Greek name for wormwood absinthion, from “a” - not and “psenthos” - pleasure, pleasure, i.e. a plant that does not give pleasure due to its bitter taste. Bitter as wormwood, “wormwood is a bitter herb” - these words can probably already be perceived as a cliche. The Latin name for wormwood - Artemisia - the herb of health - was given in honor of Artemis - the goddess of the hunt, the Moon, fertility, childbirth and healing. There is a legend according to which Artemis, being the patroness of women in labor, was the first to use wormwood as a birth aid. Wormwood is one of those mysterious herbs, mentions of which can also be found among the papyri of Ancient Egypt (1550 BC), they knew about it in Ancient Greece and China. The priests of Isis, the goddess of fertility and motherhood, wore wreaths of wormwood on their heads. The ancient Greeks, Arabs and Chinese knew about its beneficial properties. Descriptions of the healing properties of wormwood are found in the oldest written monuments. The Russian name “wormwood” comes from the Slavic “flight” - to burn, again due to the very bitter taste that makes the mouth burn. There is also a version that wormwood probably got its name - pelyn - because of the characteristic color of the plant. The Russian name wormwood is from the old Russian verb “fly” - to burn (remained in the word “burn”). If you chew a leaf, your mouth will feel as if it was scorched by something for a long time. Priest Scripture presents the wickedness and vices of men under the guise of wormwood, as extremely bitter in their consequences (Amos 5:7, 6:12), and depicts the severity of God's punishment, which befalls every sinful person in the following expression: “says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel ( about the Jews); behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and I will give them water with gall to drink (Jer 9:15), and in another place Jeremiah says: “Think about my suffering and my calamity, about wormwood and gall” (Lamentations 3 :19). A. N. Kupriyanov in his article tells the following legend: “Once upon a time, two brothers lived in the steppe - Khan Otrok and Khan Syrchan. The Russian prince defeated their army and separated the brothers for a long time. The ancient Volyn Chronicle tells about this, skillfully translated into poetry by Apollo Maykov. Khan Syrchan sends the singer to return his brother to his native steppe from the Caucasus mountains, where he lives in luxury and wealth, and gives the following order: Sing him our songs, When he doesn’t respond to the song, tie the steppe emshan in a bundle And give it to him - and he will return. The footnote to the poem provides an explanation: “Emshan is the name of a fragrant herb growing in our steppes, probably wormwood.” In the popular poem of the Middle Ages “On the Properties of Herbs,” wormwood is called the mother of numerous herbs and it is stated that “whoever has tasted this plant may not be at all afraid of any harmful potion, and not a single animal will dare to touch it.” . The miraculous properties of wormwood are most clearly described in Taoist Chinese mythology, according to which a version of the Taoist paradise is the island of immortals - Penglai. On this island, those who eat wonderful plants with a wonderful aroma become immortal. Interestingly, Penglai is a real area on the Shandong Peninsula in China, where the Lai people lived, and “pen” translated means wormwood - artemisia. Bukovinian herbalists revered it as “the grass above the grasses.” Obviously, such a high status is due to the magical properties that the plant was endowed with. Recipes, infusions, decoctions:
Infusion of wormwood herb. Place 10 g (2 tablespoons) of herbs in an enamel bowl, pour in 200 ml (1 glass) of hot water, cover with a lid and heat in boiled water (in a water bath) for 15 minutes.
Then cool for 45 minutes, filter and squeeze out the remaining mass. The prepared infusion is diluted with boiled water to the original volume of 200 ml. The infusion is stored in a cool place for no more than 2 days. Long-term use of wormwood can cause mild poisoning; in severe cases, poisoning may be accompanied by general toxic phenomena of a central nature with hallucinations and convulsions. Article by A. Kupriyanov about varieties of wormwood. Use in cooking:
Medicinal properties
Wormwood's medicinal properties ensure the effectiveness of using the plant's herb in reducing the acidity of gastric juice, as well as in insufficient bile production. The positive effect of taking the plant is enhanced if you combine it with other choleretic herbs, so wormwood is a component of numerous preparations for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Taking wormwood may be accompanied by stimulation of the nervous system, followed by its depression, so the herb is considered a moderate hypnotic. The plant also helps relieve pain, so it is often used during menstruation.
Natural medicines from Chernobyl
To improve appetite three times a day, half an hour before meals, it is useful to drink a teaspoon of wormwood wine. Medicinal wine is prepared from 3-5 tablespoons of chopped herbs and half a glass of 40% alcohol. The ingredients are mixed and left for 24 hours. Then add 1 liter of white wine and leave overnight. In the morning, strain and can be consumed.
Wormwood tincture retains all the healing properties of the herb. But most often this medicine is used for diseases of the digestive system. In particular, with diarrhea, abdominal pain, indigestion. Prepare the tincture as follows. Fill the bottle with young leaves of grass and add alcohol. Leave in a warm place for a week, then strain. The strength of the finished tincture can be reduced by adding water to it. For severe diarrhea, take this medicine one tablespoon every 3 hours. In other cases, it is enough to consume 1 tablespoon per day.
And here is another popular recipe for Chernobyl tincture, which herbalists advise drinking a tablespoon 2-3 times a day to cleanse the blood and for stomach upsets. In a vessel put 3 dry branches of wormwood, 5 St. John's wort inflorescences with leaves, 1 geranium leaf, 8 black pepper grains, 10 raisins, 10 g of green tea, 1 tablespoon of honey and a liter of vodka. Close the vessel, wrap it in cloth and place in a pan of hot water for 2 hours. Then the mixture is infused for a week, after which it is filtered through several layers of gauze.
Action and use of wormwood
Together with the ability to increase the secretory functions of wormwood, the medicinal properties make it possible to improve the overall functioning of the digestive system. Tinctures and decoctions are used before meals to stimulate appetite. At the same time, wormwood preparations are an effective remedy against parasites. Due to the choleretic effect of its use, wormwood promotes weight loss and cleanses the body of toxins. Antimicrobial and wound-healing properties make it possible to use plant decoctions externally to treat skin lesions. Wormwood compresses, its juice and crushed stems have an anti-edematous effect. Wormwood can also be useful for dental diseases - rinsing with it accelerates the healing of mucous membranes, removes unpleasant odors, and relieves inflammation.
Benefit for health
It doesn’t matter what you use, wormwood tea, extract, tincture or ointment, the benefits of this medicinal plant are very great.
Fighting malaria
Malaria is a serious disease caused by parasites that enter the human bloodstream through the bites of infected mosquitoes. In this case, artemisinin contained in the extract of Artisia annua, an annual wormwood, will help you.
Artemisinin is the most effective herbal antimalarial drug on the market. It is known that it can quickly reduce the number of parasites in a patient. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of artemisinin combination therapy for the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria.
Recent studies have shown that artemisinin's high potency is due to the fact that it reacts with iron found in parasites, producing free radicals. These radicals then destroy the parasite's cell walls from the inside.
Fighting cancer cells
According to recent research, artemisinin can fight iron-rich breast cancer cells in the same way that it fights malaria parasites. This means it could become a natural treatment for breast cancer in women.
Cancer cells contain large amounts of iron, probably because they absorb this element to stimulate their own division. In 2012, scientists analyzed samples of cancerous and healthy breast cells that were deliberately enriched with iron. The cells were exposed to a water-soluble form of artemisinin from wormwood extract.
The results were amazing. Healthy cells were largely unchanged. However, within 16 hours, almost all the cancer cells died, while only a few healthy ones died. Bioengineer Henry Lai believes that since breast cancer cells have 5-15 more receptors compared to healthy cells, they are more willing to absorb iron. As a result, they are more susceptible to the effects of artemisinin.
Getting rid of parasites
Wormwood is used to control intestinal parasites including pinworms, roundworms and tapeworms. In the United States, pinworm infection is the most common, as pinworm eggs are transmitted directly from person to person. Roundworms, or nematodes, also parasitize the human intestine. Tapeworms are long flatworms that live in both humans and animals.
A 2021 animal study published in the Journal of Herminthology found that mugwort causes torpor, death, and ultrastructural changes in parasites.
And one Swedish study concluded that a combination of wormwood, Chernobyl, chicory and tansy would be effective for deworming farm animals.
Main components contained in Wormwood
Treatment of Crohn's disease
In Germany, a double-blind study examined the effectiveness of 500 mg of wormwood extract three times daily for 10 weeks, compared with placebo, in 40 patients with Crohn's disease who were regularly taking steroids.
The initial dose of steroids was maintained until the second week. It then began to contract so that at the beginning of week 10, steroids were discontinued in all patients.
Scientists observed a consistent reduction in Crohn's disease symptoms in 18 patients (90%) who took wormwood despite drug withdrawal. After 8 weeks of consuming wormwood, almost absolute remission was observed in 13 (65%) of those observed in this group, while not a single case was recorded in the placebo group. This remission was maintained until the end of the observation period (another 12 weeks). Thus, the need for steroids was eliminated.
The results were impressive and suggest that wormwood may be able to reduce or even eliminate the need for steroids in Crohn's disease. In addition, a positive effect of wormwood on mood and quality of life has been noted. A similar effect was not achieved by any of the standard drugs taken for this disease.
Antimicrobial and antifungal action
In vitro studies have shown that aromatic oils from wormwood have an antimicrobial effect. And a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests great potential for using wormwood oil in the fight against strains of bacteria, including E. coli (Escherichia coli) and salmonella.
In the United States alone, salmonella causes 1 million foodborne illnesses, 19,000 hospitalizations, and 380 deaths each year. E. coli can also lead to a range of complications, from diarrhea and urinary tract infections to pneumonia and other illnesses.
Wormwood can cope not only with bacteria, but also with fungus. Analysis has shown that wormwood oil, distilled from the aerial parts of Artemisia absinthium, slows the growth of several species of fungi (11 to be exact). During the study, it also acted as an antioxidant.
Another study published in Planta Medica concluded that A. absinthium oil slows the growth of Candide albicans. This is the most common yeast infection and can develop in the mouth, intestinal tract and vagina, as well as affecting the skin and mucous membranes.
SIBO Treatment
Many people use traditional or alternative medicine when it comes to treating their gastrointestinal tract. And for good reason. Research suggests that herbal remedies like mugwort tea or capsules are just as effective in treating symptoms of bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
Today, treatment for SIBO is limited to taking oral antibiotics of varying degrees of effectiveness. In 2014, 104 patients diagnosed with SIBO took a high dose of rifaximin or received herbal medicine for 4 weeks.
46% of patients taking herbal remedies showed no symptoms of SIBO at follow-up, compared to 34% of people on rifaximin. However, the antibiotic caused side effects such as anaphylactic shock, urticaria, diarrhea and colitis caused by C. difficile. While in the herbal therapy group, only one case of diarrhea was recorded.
Experience has shown that herbal medicine is no less effective than refiximin in the treatment of SIBO. Moreover, it is no less effective than triple therapy in patients who are not sensitive to this drug.
Benefits of wormwood
By taking wormwood, the body's resistance to various infections and adverse environmental factors increases. The herb can be used as an auxiliary restorative after suffering from viral diseases. At the same time, wormwood has an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect, helping to accelerate the regeneration of damaged tissues. In folk medicine, wormwood is used to suppress sexual function with increased sexual excitability.
Wormwood has established itself as a good remedy for excess oily skin, as well as an effective medicine against seborrhea and dandruff.
Use in the food industry
Even in Ancient Egypt, wormwood was added as a seasoning to food, or rather to alcohol. Mainly for wines. The tradition of using Chernobyl in the preparation of alcoholic beverages continued in France in the 19th century. At that time, absinthe was popular, especially among bohemians. However, in those days, absinthe contained a lot of the toxic substance thujone, which has a detrimental effect on the central nervous system and causes addiction. Today, absinthe is safer.
Sometimes wormwood is added as a herb to fatty meat dishes, including goose, duck or lamb. It is believed that a small amount of this herb improves the taste of the finished dish. Fresh leaves are also added to some cocktails. In Morocco, for example, a small piece of Chernobyl leaf is traditionally added to a mixture of mint and green tea. This drink leaves an unusual bitter aftertaste. But in this matter, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the tea will become very bitter and have an unpleasant odor. Surprisingly, the bitter taste of wormwood tea remains even if it is diluted in a ratio of 1:800. But it was precisely because of its bitterness that this herb in microdoses was once so often added to various sauces. Today, wormwood is used primarily for the preparation of bitters, vermouths, liqueurs, and flavored vodka.
