Even people who are skeptical of traditional medicine sometimes use methods of treatment familiar from childhood - tea with raspberries, warm milk with honey, black radish for coughing, viburnum with honey … All these remedies were used by our mothers and grandmothers when treated us for flu and colds. But today we want to talk about the unique properties of viburnum, which is used to treat many diseases.
In the pharmacy today you will be able to offer a lot of medicines created on the basis of this amazing berry. Does viburnum help with a cold? How to cook berries to get rid of a cough? Is it possible to use preparations based on it for the treatment of children? We will try to answer these questions in this article.
Useful properties
The beautiful scarlet berry contains many vitamins and minerals that help fight viruses and bacteria in the body:
- Vitamin C - strengthensimmunity.
- Vitamins A, K, E, P give elasticity to blood vessels.
- Anthocyanin is a natural antioxidant that removes toxins and harmful substances from the body.
- Zinc and iodine, iron and manganese prevent anemia, support the immune system.
Healing properties
For colds, viburnum is used due to its medicinal properties:
- Antitussive and expectorant - helps to cope with dry cough.
- Antipyretic - without the use of medicines viburnum reduces the temperature.
- Anti-inflammatory - relieves inflammation in bronchitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, SARS and laryngitis.
- Sedative - calms the nervous system, gives a sound and restful sleep.
Indications for use
Despite the many useful substances and vitamins contained in the plant, preparations based on viburnum for colds, as well as for many other diseases, must be used with caution. Red berries are recommended for:
- laryngitis;
- angina;
- cough;
- sore throat.
Preparations based on viburnum are recommended to be used for prevention to strengthen the body and increase tone. Quite often, it is recommended to use viburnum for pregnant women with a cold. For women who are carrying a child, even doctors try not to prescribe potent drugs. The use of berries during this period is especially relevant.
Procurement of raw materials
Today berriesViburnum can be purchased at a pharmacy or in the market. However, many gardeners and summer residents prefer to grow and harvest useful fruits themselves. However, not everyone knows how to do it right.
Pick only ripe red berries with stalks. It is advisable to do this after the first frost: the fruits will lose their bitterness and acquire a pleasant piquant taste. An unripe viburnum is not only very bitter, but can also cause poisoning.
How to save viburnum?
Plucked berries (with stalks) can be tied and hung in a cool room. If this is not possible, separate the stalks, and put the berries in a plastic bag and put in the freezer.
Viburnum bark is harvested in the spring, before the leaves appear. Then it is dried away from sunlight in a draft. Store raw materials in the dark in glass containers.
Kalina for colds and flu: a time-tested folk remedy
Two tablespoons (tablespoons) of viburnum berries, the same amount of bark and one spoon of crushed young twigs cut from a bush, pour boiling water and boil for five to seven minutes. Strain the slightly cooled broth and drink warm, ½ cup six times a day. Dried raspberries and honey can be added to the broth to taste.
How does viburnum cough?
Traditional healers and representatives of traditional medicine use scarlet berries to treat coughs and other unpleasant symptoms of a cold. Cough is sometimes prolonged, requiringprolonged treatment. Preparations based on viburnum, which has antimicrobial and antiphlogistic effects, will help speed up recovery.
Viburnum juice
Pass fresh berries through the juicer and take the juice, after diluting it with water in equal proportions. You can add it to tea, use it to make fruit drinks, jelly, jelly. For children with a cold, viburnum in the form of juice can be given by diluting it with warm water (1: 1) and adding honey or sugar syrup.
Viburnum with sugar
After sorting and thoroughly washing the berries, dry them and sprinkle with sugar in equal proportions. The mass is infused at room temperature for four days. Stir it occasionally. Discard the syrup released during this time and take with a dry cough a tablespoon four times a day.
Vitamin tea supplement
Sprinkle viburnum berries with sugar, wait for the juice to stand out. Then put the container on a slow fire, bring to a boil and boil for no more than five minutes. Arrange the vitamin mass in jars and tightly close the lids. Use viburnum prepared in this way for colds and coughs, adding to hot tea. From this composition, you can prepare infusions and fruit drinks.
Decoction of leaves, bark and flowers
How else can you cook viburnum? For colds and coughs, medicines are prepared not only from berries. The bark, leaves, flowers of the plant, like berries, have an expectorant and anti-inflammatory effect. To prepare a medicinal drink, grind the bark and twigs withleaves, add a handful of berries, pour the composition with water. With a slight boil, boil it for a quarter of an hour. Remove from heat, wrap the container well and let it brew for two hours. Take an infusion of viburnum for colds ½ cup 4-5 times a day after meals.
For coughing fits
This effective remedy can be used to relieve coughing fits in children. Thoroughly rub viburnum berries and pour boiling water over them (1:4). Heat the resulting puree in a water bath for a quarter of an hour, strain and dilute it with warm boiled water by half. Give a child over five years of age a third of a glass four times a day.
Viburnum with honey
Even a protracted debilitating cough will recede if you take viburnum with honey. Berry-honey compositions improve sputum discharge, soothe sore throats, and restore a hoarse voice. Such formulations used in the treatment and prevention of tracheitis and bronchitis, pharyngitis and laryngitis help to avoid the development of complications that usually cause a prolonged cough. Below we bring to your attention several recipes for effective medicines:
- Mix equal parts of honey and viburnum berries (previously washed and dried) and place the container in the refrigerator. After three days, the composition should be mixed and heated to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for three minutes. Cool and consume as a standalone teaspoon three times daily or as an addition to tea. This remedy has a pleasant taste and softens the cough. Itliked by children and can be used by pregnant women in moderate doses.
- Spoon (table) of dry viburnum fruits pour boiling water (250 ml) and let it brew for an hour. Strain the infusion and add 2 tablespoons (tablespoons) of honey to it. Take a third cup four times a day.
- Another great folk remedy for colds and flu. Scald viburnum (berries) with boiling water and wipe through a sieve, separating the peel and seeds from the pulp. Add natural honey (1:1) to the puree. The mixture must be kept in the refrigerator for a week. This composition perfectly helps in the treatment of prolonged cough. It is taken by a spoon (table) after a meal.
- Dilute 100 g of natural honey with a liter of warm water, add 100 g of viburnum juice. Mix and take ½ cup thrice daily after meals.
- Pour the leaves and inflorescences of viburnum in equal parts with boiling water at the rate of a liter of water per 50 g of raw materials. Boil the mixture over low heat for seven minutes. The decoction should be infused for at least half an hour. Add honey to it and take ½ cup up to three times a day.
- There are many ways to cook viburnum. For colds and flu, folk healers recommend making jam from berries and drinking it with hot tea from coltsfoot, rose hips and linden. To prepare it, rub the berries through a sieve. Sugar (1:1) is introduced into the resulting mass. Mix the mass thoroughly, put on low heat and boil for five minutes. Jam is stored in a dark and cool place in a glass container. Such a tasty medicine can be used as a treat.for the prevention of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza or taken with a cold from a cough. Children love it very much, but for them the dosage is no more than a tablespoon once a day. For adults, the intake can be increased up to two times.
Viburnum for flu and colds: recipes for adults
All aerial parts of the plant stimulate the defense mechanisms of both adults and children, providing antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and diaphoretic effects. Preparations based on it are widely used in the complex therapy of influenza and complicated acute respiratory viral infections. If desired, and after treatment, you can continue taking viburnum-based home remedies to maintain immunity.
Among the numerous traditional medicine recipes aimed at treating viburnum colds and flu, decoctions and alcohol infusions are especially effective. The latter funds should not be used to treat children, pregnant and lactating women. In severe colds, you can use a decoction of viburnum bark. The crushed raw materials are poured with boiling water (1:10) and boiled over low heat for no more than three minutes. Then the decoction is infused for two hours. Take the drug 30 ml before meals.
At the first signs of malaise - low-grade fever, headache, runny nose - viburnum tincture prepared on Cahors will help to stop the symptoms. For her, it is necessary to prepare 100 g of honey, Cahors, viburnum juice. Mix the ingredients and add ½ pod of pre-chopped hot pepper to them. Place the mixture in the pottery, cover with a lid and roast in the oven forfor three hours at a temperature of +170 °C. Then cool and take 50 ml morning and evening half an hour before meals.
Against the manifestations of influenza, aggravated by bouts of dry cough, alcohol tincture is no less effective. Pour berries and pieces of bark with alcohol (1: 1) and infuse for a week in a dark place, shaking the container periodically. Strain the tincture and take 20 drops before meals.
Contraindications for use
For colds, viburnum has a beneficial effect on the body. It can be used to treat the flu, as well as a lingering cough. However, drugs prepared according to folk recipes have some contraindications. Treatment should be abandoned in people suffering from chronic hypotension, thrombosis and thrombophilia. The high content of acids in the composition of the berries does not allow their use in patients with hyperacid gastritis and gout.
