Nature provides many opportunities to improve he alth. A variety of existing vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and other things will help each person find the missing nutrients for themselves. In addition, some fruits are used in both the culinary and pharmaceutical industries. One of those plants that have become widespread in many areas is the juniper.
Culinary purpose of berries
This product is traditional in several states. For example, Finland is famous for its own juniper brewing. The fruits of this shrub are also used by the British to make vodka, known as gin. Often, the plant is used as a specific and fragrant spice when baking fish or meat gourmet dishes or as a fragrant original additive to the dough.
But juniper fruits deserve special attention, the properties of which we will try to describe.
To begin with, it is worth noting that this shrub plant is classified as a cypress. There is ample variety of evergreen junipers, but on the territory of Russia the greatest advantage belongs to the common juniper. Veres (as it was called by the people) is grown not only for the purpose of decorating landscape areas, because the plant has a luxurious look.
Most often you can see a lot of juniper bushes (the fruits are the main value) where you know about its medicinal virtues.
Chemical elements in juniper
It turns out that the secret lies in the chemical composition of the plant's berries. They contain essential oil, the most valuable organic acids, among which are formic, acetic and malic, resins and fast carbohydrates. Moreover, almost half of the entire mass is represented by the latter substances. Meanwhile, this is not a complete list of valuable elements present in juniper products. Its fruits are enriched with manganese, copper, iron. As for the vitamin components, here the primacy belongs to vitamin C. Chemical analyzes confirmed that 100 grams of shrub berries have reserves of the element, which is enough for a day for three people at once.
In the course of school botany, juniper fruits are called cone berries. Meanwhile, both the needles of the plant and its bark are saturated with benefits. They contain ascorbic acid, resins and more.
How does the plant heal?
Pharmacy assortmentoften represented by a variety of preparations based on juniper. Fruits, contraindications for the use of which are also available, and shrub needles contain special chemical compounds called phytoncides, which can boast a whole range of invaluable qualities. At the same time, they owe their well-deserved trust in the field of pharmaceuticals to their antibacterial, fungicidal and antiprotozoal properties.
From this it follows that the juniper plant is capable of producing an uncountable number of such substances that differ in biological activity. Laboratory chemical studies show that a hectare of growing junipers emits more than 25 kg of phytoncides into the atmosphere for 24 hours.
Therefore, where the juniper is planted, there is a special, clean air that promotes healing and maintaining the state of the respiratory system of the body at the proper level.
Possible harm and contraindications for use
When asking the question about the benefits of juniper fruits, one cannot fail to mention possible contraindications and side effects from its use. Firstly, long-term use of drugs and products prepared according to folk recipes based on cones is not recommended. Doctors warn that if it is necessary to undergo a long course of treatment, patients need to pause in the use of such drugs. It is better that the break is about a month. It is a well-known fact that in small doses almost everything is considered beneficial, and inexcessive can be quite detrimental to he alth.
With excessive use of such drugs, the active substances contained in juniper can have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system and kidneys, which threatens to cause arterial hypertension and acute pyelonephritis. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to use medicines from the fruits of the shrub during pregnancy. In addition, juniper fruits can cause allergies. It is advisable not to neglect the advice of a doctor and follow his instructions when undergoing a therapeutic course.
Diseases from which juniper will save
It turns out that since ancient times mankind has known about the healing properties of the juniper plant. In modern medicine, they also do not forget about the use of juniper, the fruits of which have an amazing effect in the treatment of various diseases. The main ailments that pine berries help to cope with are:
- problems related to the organs of the respiratory system;
- liver disease (common use of juniper fruit in combination with milk thistle);
- all kinds of gastrointestinal disorders;
- inflammatory processes of the genitourinary system in both women and men.
When choosing drugs or diuretic products, priority is often given to juniper, its advantage in this case is the ability to minimize electrolyte leaching with maximum fluid excretion. Fruit consumption is often recommendedpatients with lack of appetite, as they contribute to the intensive production of gastric juice. It is also known that the juice of the coneberries is credited with an effective antiseptic property.
Uses of juniper berries
Despite the positive characteristics of non-fruit parts of the plant, they are less in demand in the treatment and manufacture of medicines. The beneficial properties of juniper fruits are not comparable either with the virtues of needles or with the healing qualities of the bark, therefore, they significantly prevail over them. Moreover, the berries of the bush serve as the basis for medicines of various forms: from tablets and vitamins to suspensions and tinctures.
In folk medicine, as a rule, juniper decoctions are used to help patients cope with lung diseases, speed up the healing process for arthritis, osteochondrosis, and remove stones from the kidneys. To maintain appetite, a decoction of the fruits of this shrub is simply irreplaceable.
Traditional healers say that juniper cone berry infusion is also effective in cleansing the liver and draining excess bile from the body. A decoction of this plant promotes a natural, gradual cleansing of the intestines.
In the field of gynecology, patients are sometimes prescribed special douches with the addition of juniper broth, and tincture from its fruits is an excellent remedy in the fight against cystitis and dropsy.
How to prepare a decoction and ointment?
Preparing such a decoction at home is not difficult, since the recipequite simple: 2 tablespoons of dried juniper per 500 ml of water. Boil for no more than 15 minutes over low heat. It is best to pick the berries of the shrub in the fall - by this period they are probably completely ripe. It is important to dry them naturally, there is no need to use an oven or oven.
In case of acquiring wounds, frostbite, burns, an ointment prepared from the plant's cone berries will come in handy. It acts on damage, has a healing effect on wounds, helping to accelerate the purulent outflow from the affected tissues and the regeneration of diseased skin areas.
Juniper in medicine
In the process of production of medicines for scabies, malaria, lichen, edema, periodontal disease and many other ailments, juniper berries occupy not the last place. Instructions for use of medicinal products created on their basis require careful reading and strict adherence to avoid side effects.
