Wild chrysanthemum is a type of traditional Chinese medicine and also a commonly consumed ingredient in our daily lives. One common way to use it is by brewing it into tea, which has many health benefits. The composition of wild chrysanthemum is complex and it has good therapeutic effects on many diseases. So, what are the benefits of wild chrysanthemum?
Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory
Wild chrysanthemum contains chrysanthemol, a type of alcohol that has a strong bactericidal effect on many bacteria, especially Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with an effective killing concentration of 15mg/ml.
Therefore, drinking wild chrysanthemum tea or applying wild chrysanthemum water to swollen areas caused by infection has good antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-swelling effects.
Cooling and relieving heat
In traditional Chinese medicine, wild chrysanthemum is considered a cooling herb that can relieve heat. Especially in the summer, when the weather is hot and humid, people are prone to heat-related colds and excessive liver heat, leading to symptoms such as mouth ulcers. Drinking wild chrysanthemum tea in the summer can help regulate internal heat and effectively prevent and treat heat-related colds and excessive internal heat.
Liver clearing and vision improvement
Chrysanthemum disperses wind-heat and clears liver heat. It can be combined with other Chinese herbs to treat red and swollen eyes caused by liver wind-heat or liver fire attacking the eyes. If there is deficiency of liver and kidney essence and the eyes are not nourished, resulting in blurry vision and unclear vision, it can be combined with appropriate Chinese herbs to nourish the liver and kidneys and improve vision.
Dispersing wind and dispelling cold
Wild chrysanthemum has a pungent and dispersing nature, it clears the surface and rises the clear qi, and has a slightly cold and cooling effect. It can disperse lung wind-heat, but its ability to disperse external pathogens is not very strong. It is commonly used to treat wind-heat cold or early-stage warm diseases that cause symptoms such as fever, headache, and cough.
Soak wild chrysanthemum in boiling water for 1 hour, then simmer for 30 minutes, and take the decoction orally. Adults take 2 qian (about 6 grams) each time, and children should take a reduced dose. Generally, take the medication once a month. For those who used to have 3-6 colds per year, take the medication once every two weeks. For those who frequently catch colds, take the medication once a week. After 1000 people took the medication, the incidence of illness was compared with the same period of the previous year, and the incidence rate decreased by 13.2%. Compared with 261 people who lived nearby and had similar conditions but did not take the medication, the incidence rate was also significantly lower. Therefore, it can be seen that wild chrysanthemum has a good preventive effect against influenza.
Blood pressure lowering
There are many antihypertensive drugs made from wild chrysanthemum in clinical practice, among which wild chrysanthemum flow soaking paste is the most common. Add simple syrup to 5ml for each milliliter (containing 2 grams of raw herbs). Take 10ml each time, three times a day. Preliminary observation of 35 patients with stage I, II, and III hypertension showed an overall effective rate of 68.57%, including 17.14% with significant effects and 51.43% with mild effects. The ineffectiveness rate was 31.43%. It also has certain effects on improving symptoms, with more than half of the cases showing improvement in insomnia, head heaviness, headache, and dizziness.
Antioxidant
Experimental studies have shown that chrysanthemum contains flavonoids that have the ability to scavenge free radicals (OH, O2) and have strong antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of chrysanthemum is closely related to the content of flavonoids. The above experiments indicate that chrysanthemum has anti-aging effects by antioxidation.
Antiviral
Chrysanthemum has a certain antiviral effect. Research has shown that chrysanthemum can inhibit encephalomyelitis virus, measles virus, herpes simplex virus, and other viruses to varying degrees. If the effective components in chrysanthemum reach a certain concentration, it can effectively inhibit the influenza virus and even have a certain inhibitory effect on the HIV virus.
Methods of consuming wild chrysanthemum
Brewing wild chrysanthemum tea
Ingredients: a few wild chrysanthemum flowers, rock sugar, water.
Instructions: Brew the wild chrysanthemum flowers in boiling water for 10 minutes, then add rock sugar until dissolved. It can be consumed as a tea.
Benefits: Clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling blood and improving vision, preventing colds.
