Horsetail or Horsetail is a perennial, even invasive plant with a versatile use in phytotherapy. It is the above-ground green parts that are used. Horsetail has a direct, albeit limited, effect on the pain caused by gout and rheumatism, especially with stabbing pains such as those that occur with gout, which improves by horsetail.
The indirect, supportive effect is more important when it comes to supplementing a nutrient deficiency, a deficiency that is often the case with chronic diseases, then horsetail is the right remedy. Nettle, comfrey and horseradish are the three indispensable pillars in the treatment of rheumatism, osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatic pain. In a certain respect they form a unity: the nettle purifies the body of waste products, the comfrey mobilizes the restorative powers (callus formation, bone building) and the horsetail partly supplies the material itself and also stimulates the body to produce minerals and trace elements. to take.
Effect of Equisetum
Purification, organization of the construction and supply of material are very complicated mechanisms and it is therefore not surprising that these effects have also been established in those three plants: it is not a single substance that is responsible for the effect, but it concerns the total of all active substances. This also shows the limitation of chemical medicines : it will probably never be possible to create an artificial conglomerate of chemical substances that is able to develop the same effect without harmful side effects and in an equally reliable manner. Nor would it be possible to produce a nettle artificially.
In horsetail it is primarily the silicic acids, the saponin equisetonin and the flavones that work together. How sensitive this balanced system is becomes apparent when the horsetail is infected with a fungus that is harmless in itself: this changes the equisetonin into equisetin – and the horsetail is immediately not only inactive, but even poisonous. Especially because of the common mold, collecting and drying yourself must be done in a controlled manner. Preferably pick early in the season, June and July.
Horsetail a monograph
Pharmacology
- Diuretic (aquaretic) water diuresis without changes in electrolyte balance
- Hemostatic: Equisetum contains both coagulating and anticoagulant substances: aconitic acid, pectin, silicon.
- Connective tissue strengthening
- Stimulates leucocyte activity: 50-year-old research that has not been confirmed nor refuted since
- Oligotherapeutic, remineralizing (silicic acid, minerals)
Indication
- Osteoarthritis +Harpago and oligo therapy
- Many problems with joints and the bone system: fractures, tendonitis, elderly people with brittle bones, growing children, breaking nails, caries (powder as toothpaste, but also internally)
- Urinary tract: chronic cystitis + Solidago
- Cardiovascular: atherosclerosis, atheromatosis + herbs for blood vessels (hawthorn, garlic…)
- Externally: sweating feet (powder + salvia), nosebleeds, cellulite
- Note: Due to its high content of silicon and trace elements, Equisetum can be used as a nutritional supplement for many ailments
Older scientific research
- Ramel: Contribution to the microdosage of Silice. These Doct. Univ. Pharma. Lyon – 1953.
- Leclerc: La Prêle. Journal. des Pract. – 1917.
- Leclerc: La Pharmacologie des Preles. Clinic and labor. 6 – 194 1.
- Leclerc: Les vertus thérap. des Preles. Journal. the med. et de chir. practices 2 – 1946.
- Vincent D., Bouquet G.: Effets de la Prêle sur la coagulation du sang. Thérapie 135 – 1947.
- See Marcus: Problems with the treatment of diuretics. Als Beispiel Schachtelhalm kraut DAB 10 (Equiseti herba). Ztschr . f. Phytoth. 16/331-341 – 1994.
- Commission E monograph, doc. Maurice Godefridi
Recent research
- J Med Food. 2010 Apr;13(2):452-9. Antioxidative and antiproliferative activities of different horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) extracts.
- Inhibition of human in vitro osteoclastogenesis by Equisetum arvense. J. Costa-Rodrigues, SC Carmo, JC Silva, MHR Fernandes* Cell Proliferation Volume 45, Issue 6, pages 566–576, December 2012