Medicinal plants have been with us since prehistoric times and still continue in the form of medicines, lotions, and infusions. Naturopathic Therapies include the use of plants and the extraction of compounds from medicinal herbs. Learn how to get the most out of them.
There are many scientific tests and analyses that reflect what medicinal herbs can do for us in the prevention and cure of diseases.
For this, it is necessary to know in depth how to collect and manipulate each one of them, always with sufficient scientific rigor to be able to use their properties without risk of side effects or toxicities.
Within the plant world, we find many different types of plants. Those of which of their parts can be used to produce some benefit in animals and people and are considered medicinal plants.
The way they work is based on their active principles. Substances that through enzymatic processes the plant is able to produce (in leaves, roots, stems, flowers, or fruits), based on alkaloids, polyphenols, glycosides, and terpenes.
Most of them, as long as they have an application in medicine, have been extracted and synthesized to produce medicines that nobody questions today, hence the importance of these types of plants with medicinal action.
Since ancient times, there have been several ways to use and apply the extracts of each of these medicinal plants.
Whether externally (applications through poultices, oil massages, soaked gauze, baths, etc.) or topically (seeds, consumption of fresh flowers, decoctions, balms), we can benefit from the different potential effects.
These properties have been studied in numerous investigations and published in scientific journals of worldwide interest. Therefore, contraindications and allergies that may cause us, either because they are incompatible with our body or we have not used the recommended dosage, are also disclosed.
The best preservation of the active principles of medicinal plants is their conservation in the plant or the tree. However, it is not always practical and within our reach.
At the moment of cutting the flowers, bunches, or parts of the plant, the enzymatic balance is broken and the composition of these extracts can be modified, which is not desirable.
The sooner the drying process of the different medicinal herbs takes place, the more intact the active principles, initially dependent on water, will remain.
Within the drying process, we have several options to preserve the medicinal properties:
Direct drying in the sun will not be possible for all plants since we can have these disadvantages:
Of course, drying will take much longer, but it is safer and the preservation of essential oils is greater. When looking for the ideal environment, we will have to choose those environments where there is no humidity (or it is below 60%).
Some air should circulate so that the environment does not become rancid and cause rotting in some parts, as can happen with flowers.
Any surface where we can spread the leaves of the medicinal plant, such as a metallic or wooden surface, will suffice. It is important to change their position relatively often or to choose a porous material (a grid or paper, for example) so that some air can circulate over all parts of the leaf.
We will make bouquets with the flowers, and we will hang them upside down in a place where the air circulates and there is no direct sun. It is important not to make very compact bouquets so that oxygen can enter all parts of the flower.
In the past, it was hung from the bars of a window. This method is effective if it is protected from the sun’s rays, is covered with rain and there is not much temperature variation.
The roots are one of the most delicate and complicated parts of a medicinal plant to dry, but they have many medicinal properties.
Once cut, it is advisable to cut the stems and leave only the wide roots. The fastest way to allow them to dry is to cut them into small slices and place them as you would the leaves, that is to say, spread out and separated on a grid that allows the passage of air, turning them frequently.
Naturopathic Therapies include the use of infusions and a variety of ways to extract the compounds of medicinal herbs and plants. Learn how to get the best in the posts of this section.
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