|
| The Elder tree is a medicine chest in itself. The leaves contain vitamin C, the bioflavonoids rutin and quercetin, alkaloids, and potassium nitrate. The leaves are a common ingredient in ointments and poultices for burns and scalds, swelling, cuts and scrapes. They are also an effective insect repellant. The bark is an old treatment for epilepsy; the root is used for kidney ailments.
However, it is the berries that we turn to during cold and flu season. The berries contain vitamins A, B and C, as well as bioflavonoids, sugar, tannins, carotenoids and amino acids. In a 1995 article in The Journal of Alternative Medicine, Zakay-Rones showed statistically significant symptom improvements and cure rates of patients with influenza who were treated with elderberry. In this randomized, double blind, controlled test, forty influenza patients were given either elderberry or a placebo. After two days, 86.7% of the patients taking elderberry reported no symptoms, while only 33.4% of the group taking the placebo reported no symptoms. The group taking elderberry also reported fewer symptoms and spent less time with a fever. Zakay-Rones further showed that elderberry inhibited growth of the influenza strands A/Shangdong, B Panama, B Yamagata, A/Texas, A/Singapore, and B/Ann Arbor, in a test tube. The berries are also used in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis.
Copyright 2001 by Chip Engelmann
|
