The herbaceous perennial plant, which has long been used in folk medicine under the popular name of tribulus creeping, or terrestrial tribulus, has in recent decades begun to attract the attention of pharmacists not only in countries where it grows, but also where it was known until recently time and did not hear. As a result of many pharmacological studies conducted in recent years, its many medicinal properties have been fully confirmed.
First meeting
Tribulus creeping is a plant with thin roots and several stems branched from the very base, which can reach a length of more than half a meter. The stems are recumbent, hairy, fibrous, depending on their length, they can have 5–8 paired branches located opposite each other, pubescent with opposing and also paired ones, naked above and lined with light fluff below.leaflets. The plant is considered poisonous to livestock.
It blooms from April to May with small yellow single flowers, and the fruits, which are irregularly shaped boxes with symmetrically arranged spikes and hooks, bring from June to July. Thanks to this shape, the tributary creeping is transported over long distances, clinging to animal hair, people's clothes and even car tires. This plant is widespread in all regions with a temperate and hot climate. It is a perennial plant and is called Tribulus terrestris in Latin.
An underestimated herb
Some healing properties of infusions, solutions and extracts of Tribulus terrestris are successfully used in their practice by traditional healers to this day. This is the ability to have a positive effect on the human vascular system, reduce the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood and lower blood pressure.
Recently, more and more pharmacologists began to pay special attention to this plant. And there are many reasons for this. The variety of medicinal properties of this plant is simply amazing. Thanks to the steroidal glycosides, alkaloids, flavonoids and tannins contained in the plant, the Tribulus terrestris extract is truly a multifunctional remedy for providing a healing effect on the entire human body.
By influencing important human systems and organs, such as the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinalintestinal tract, biliary tract, diuretic apparatus and others, as well as due to the immunomodulatory properties of the plant, the body receives a stimulating and healing and regenerative effect. Also, preparations based on this plant are used to treat impotence and infertility in men, to reduce the negative impact on the female body during the onset of menopause.
Having a wide range of effects on the body, and at the cellular level, Tribulus terrestris, reviews of the results of which can be found everywhere, is a truly effective and affordable remedy that has only two contraindications - personal intolerance and low blood pressure.
Antibiotic action
Recent studies in world-famous laboratories have proven the ability of some of the creeping elements isolated from Tribulus, such as steroidal saponins, to act on many pathogenic fungi, and therefore these properties can compete with the effects on fungi of some antibiotics. At the same time, a new degree of body protection becomes clear, in which the replacement of antibiotics with drugs produced using saponins from these plants will only benefit the patient.
It is worth noting that when testing three types of extract - water, ethanol and chloroform, made from the leaves, roots and fruits of the plant, different activity was noted on 11 pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi! A ethanolic Tribulus terrestris (herb)the extract is practically in no way inferior to common antibiotics with a wide spectrum of action, and even surpasses them in some ways.
Lipipidemic action
An important property of extracts from Tribulus terrestris, or rather furastanol saponins contained in the plant, is their ability to have a positive effect on the state of cholesterol levels in the blood of patients. And the use of drugs based on extracts from this plant for the treatment of coronal atherosclerosis brought an effect already during the 3rd week of treatment: the pain in the heart subsided in patients, tachycardia stopped, pressure decreased, and they could sleep peacefully at night. Tribulus terrestris-based drugs have also been shown to have a positive effect on atherosclerosis of the lower extremities.
Antineoplastic action
Scientists have also proven that Tribulus terrestris extracts are quite effective as anticancer and antitumor agents. Certain steroidal saponins isolated from it have proven effective against cancers such as malignant melanoma, epidermoid oral carcinoma, breast carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma.
Saponins have proven to be a successful remedy in the case of exposure to cancer cells of the mammary glands, liver and kidney carcinoma. And an extract from another species of Tribulus terrestris, prepared on the basis of methanol, successfully affected hepatoma tumor cells.
Preparations based on Tribulus terrestris
As can be judged fromof the above, it is a very useful plant. Several types of non-hormonal drugs are produced from it, one of which is Tribestan, produced in Bulgaria.
Also known is its form called "Tribusponin" - a drug for the treatment of infertility and impotence.
Tribulus creeping in pharmacies can be purchased both in the form of components for infusions and decoctions, and in finished dosage forms. Teas are made from seeds, decoctions and infusions are prepared from stems and leaves.
