Such a widespread plant as burdock is probably known to everyone. Thanks to its prickly leaves, an engineer from Switzerland invented the Velcro fastener, which is commonly used today.
The plant is actively used in folk medicine. Burdock juice is especially effective, the medicinal properties and contraindications of which we will reveal in our article.
Description
The plant is biennial. It blooms in the second year. The most valuable are the older leaves and other parts of burdock. In the first year, only leaves grow, and then a stem appears, which has a reddish tint. Burdock has a specific smell.
It grows everywhere in the steppe and forest-steppe zones, as well as in forests, although it can be found less often there.
Burdock root is harvested in early spring or at the endsummer and autumn. Leaves are used for decoctions, extracts. They can also be eaten. Many consider this plant to be a weed. Meanwhile, preparing burdock juice (whose medicinal properties and contraindications should be studied beforehand) and taking it, you can help yourself gain good he alth.
Composition
Burdock contains a lot of inulin polysaccharide, proteins and essential oil. It also includes ascorbic, as well as other acids (stearic, palmitic, malic, citric, coffee), tannins, resinous and protein substances, as well as many micro and macro elements: boron, copper, manganese, zinc, iron, tin and titanium.
Roots contain up to 45% inulin, fat-like and bitter, tannins, mineral s alts, bardan essential oil, organic acids, vitamin B.
Leaves are rich primarily in tannins, ascorbic acid, carotene, essential oil.
In terms of usefulness, the plant is put on a par with ginseng. This is especially evident in burdock juice.
Healing properties
Both the contraindications of the plant and its beneficial qualities manifest themselves in different ways. Consider first its medicinal properties.
Many women use a decoction of the leaves or burdock oil for hair, so that the hair is strengthened, their structure is noticeably improved. However, the beneficial effect of the plant is not limited to this.
Burdock is used as a bile, sweat, diuretic. It activates the metabolismactivity of the pancreas, liver, kidneys and gallbladder.
The plant is extremely useful for burns and bites, to relieve itching and inflammation.
Seeds, inflorescences, leaves and rhizome are used for medicinal purposes.
The latter is used as a natural antiseptic. They treat the musculoskeletal system, strengthen the immune system and fight oncology. In addition, the root is excellent as a diaphoretic, diuretic and laxative. It is also widely used in cosmetology, where burdock oil for oily hair and lotions for skin cleansing are prepared on the basis of the root, especially in the presence of acne in boys and girls or to tighten the skin of the face in case of emerging signs of fading.
But the most powerful effect is made from burdock leaves juice. Medicinal properties and contraindications in this case are most clearly expressed. It has the strongest concentration of all the substances that make up the plant.
It helps a lot with inflammatory processes. And if you look closely at the hair shampoos presented on store shelves, in most of them you will find the plant we are considering in the composition.
But besides the leaves, you can also make juice from other parts of burdock. However, when using it, one should take into account what it is made of, since different substances are concentrated in all parts of the plant, which, in turn,affect the body in different ways. Most often, the juice of burdock leaves is prepared. Medicinal properties and contraindications, however, we will study, keeping in mind both one and the other parts.
Inulin, concentrated in the roots of the plant, actively helps in the treatment of diabetes. The fact is that the substance is a sugar substitute. Therefore, it helps to reduce blood glucose and heals blood vessels, as well as the liver. Along with lowering cholesterol, other harmful substances can also be neutralized.
Thus, the juice from the roots of the plant will be very effective in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and poisoning with heavy metals, plant poisons.
Juice from burdock leaves has slightly different medicinal properties and contraindications. Essential bardan oil has an excellent effect on the skin, has a pronounced antiseptic and anti-seborrheic property. Thanks to this, the remedy well treats the affected skin, ulcers.
Contraindications
We examined the medicinal properties of burdock juice. And contraindications, we will now also study the reviews.
There are not so many prohibitions when using burdock, however. Firstly, it is not recommended for pregnant women to drink it, like many other herbs. The same applies to lactation.
Because burdock juice is very concentrated, allergic reactions are possible. As with all herbs, individual intolerance may occur in the case of burdock. Therefore, deciding to use the juice as a remedy, you should start doing it with small doses and low concentrations. So the body gets used to the action of the drug. And if it willa negative reaction is noticed, the reception of burdock is simply stopped.
Application
Juice from burdock leaves shows the most useful properties and contraindications when made from fresh leaves. They contain so much vitamin C that the amount exceeds 6 times the presence of it in a lemon. In addition, as mentioned above, there is a huge amount of essential oils and various acids.
Juice is used for a variety of diseases. It prevents the formation of s alts and has an antitumor effect.
Cookery
Burdock leaves are known not only in folk medicine. They are also used in cooking. Consider a few simple dishes.
To prepare the salad, you will need a glass of cut leaves, a tablespoon of horseradish, two tablespoons of green onions and four tablespoons of sour cream. Burdock is thoroughly washed, dipped in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then dried, cut and all ingredients are added.
Also, like coltsfoot, cabbage rolls are wrapped with burdock leaves.
Soup can be made from both roots and leaves. To do this, add three chopped potatoes to boiling water (one and a half liters), sauté semolina with burdock and onions in oil, add tomato paste, stew and put the workpiece into the soup. At the end, spices and herbs are added.
Interesting burdock will turn into jam. To prepare it, pour 50 milliliters of vinegar into a liter of water, pass a kilogram of burdock roots through a meat grinder and boil.
Other recipe includes exceptburdock roots sorrel leaves. For cooking, take 400 grams of the first ingredient, 200 grams of the second, boil to make them soft, rub through a sieve, add a kilogram of sugar and cook again until tender.
Here's how to make mashed potatoes. Four potatoes take a glass of burdock roots, pre-chopped, two hundred grams of cheese, six cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of sour cream and spices. Sliced potatoes, chopped rhizomes, seasonings and s alt are placed in boiling water. When the potatoes are cooked, drain the water, add sour cream, grated cheese and pepper.
And you can also cook burdock with sorrel and even make a spicy Korean dish.
How to make juice properly
Prepare a drink in the following way. Peeled and slightly dried leaves are passed through a meat grinder, after which the resulting slurry is squeezed out. The liquid can be drunk without any additives (read below how to take the juice correctly).
In this form, it is convenient to make juice in the summer, when raw materials grow right at home. But it can also be prepared for the winter. Then alcohol is added to the juice and a tincture is obtained. To do this, take half a liter of juice, 100 milliliters of pharmaceutical alcohol and half a kilogram of honey. Such a remedy can be stored for two years.
Another thing is freshly squeezed juice from burdock leaves. Medicinal properties, shelf life - these are the most important components that depend on each other. Unlike tincture, juice is stored much less. However, compared toother juices, this period is also significant. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to several weeks.
How to drink juice properly
If the juice is taken for treatment, then it should be drunk in a course lasting from two weeks to a month. In case of ovarian and kidney disease (cyst), they drink it before meals:
- in the first days - in the morning and in the evening, a teaspoon;
- in the next couple of days - three times a teaspoon;
- on the remaining days of the course - three times a tablespoon.
The same dose is sufficient for liver disease (taken before meals). But with urolithiasis, you can only half a teaspoon three times a day for a month.
In diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the juice from the leaves of burdock also shows medicinal properties. Then it is allowed to drink half a tablespoon before meals also for a month.
Burdock juice can be used for burns, wounds, ulcers, warts and even snake bites (by treating the affected area).
Healing properties and contraindications (reviews of people who have tried the remedy confirm this) are incommensurable.
Reviews
Looking at the comments left by users, you can find a lot of rave reviews. Because this tool is so powerful, while being available to everyone and completely free.
Especially many reviews are left by women who rinse their hair with a decoction of burdock. There are fewer people who are treated with it as a medicine. But maybe thanksthis article will increase their number.
Conclusion
Now, knowing what burdock juice has medicinal properties and contraindications, recipes from it, you will surely try this remedy. After all, only in this way can you find out how effective the methods of folk therapy outlined above are for you.
