Why Purslane Is Useful: Medicinal Properties And Contraindications

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Why Purslane Is Useful: Medicinal Properties And Contraindications
Why Purslane Is Useful: Medicinal Properties And Contraindications

Video: Why Purslane Is Useful: Medicinal Properties And Contraindications

Video: Why Purslane Is Useful: Medicinal Properties And Contraindications
Video: Edible Wild Plants | Many Nutrition and Health Benefits of Purslane | Gardening Tips 2024, March
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Garden purslane, or Portúlaca olerácea, is a medicinal plant with the properties of which many gardeners are unfamiliar with, which is why they mercilessly uproot it from their beds. But this is not a useless weed, but a culinary plant and a drug for treating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and skin diseases such as psoriasis and infectious lesions.

Garden purslane, or Portúlaca olerácea
Garden purslane, or Portúlaca olerácea

An inconspicuous plant with leathery leaves - garden purslane - belongs to succulents. It has a creeping stem with fleshy oblong ovoid leaves, reaching 35 cm in length. Purslane development continues throughout spring, summer and early autumn. This plant is considered a weed - so easily, without human help, it spreads through fields, gardens, vegetable gardens and roadsides, sufficiently illuminated by sunlight. Purslane blooms in summer. In gardening, decorative species are used that help cover nondescript flower beds with a multi-colored carpet. Such a decoration does not need feeding and frequent watering, but it pleases the owners with long flowering. As they ripen, black, round and flat seeds are formed in the conical fruit capsules.

Chemical composition of purslane

Purslane contains a large amount of the natural hormone norepinephrine, potassium salts, which include potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, potassium sulfate. Purslane greens contain a lot of carbohydrates, monoterpenoids, carotenoids, coumarins, steroids, organic acids.

It also contains a lot of polyunsaturated (omega-3) fatty acids. The plant also contains dopamine, bedanidin, betanin, oxalic, malic, citric, glutamic, aspartic acid, alanine, glucose, fructose, sucrose. Alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinone glycosides were found in small quantities. All this makes purslane not only edible, but also a very healthy plant.

Purslane application

In folk medicine, purslane is a common treatment for dysentery, acute gastroenteritis, diarrhea, etc., therefore it is most often used to get rid of diarrhea. It also has a therapeutic effect on ulcerative dermatitis and infectious lesions of the connective tissue and dermis, such as mastitis, boils, erysipelas, mycosis. In 1996-2000, clinical studies were carried out in China, which proved the effectiveness of purslane extract in the treatment of psoriasis, chronic atrophic gastritis associated with intestinal metaplasia and atypical hyperplasia of biliary ascariasis, nematode invasion, urinary tract infection, herpes rash, acne. Purslane is currently used in the cosmetic industry to treat skin problems. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is often used in the summer to prevent and treat heatstroke.

The plant is a good natural source of calcium, potassium and magnesium salts, therefore it can be used to normalize water-salt balance and normalize metabolism.

In addition to pharmacology, purslane is also known in cooking. It is an excellent salad product that can be used throughout the warm season. Its fleshy leaves and stems have a pleasant salty taste and perfectly saturate with moisture. Cooking purslane does not take much time: just rinse, cut and season with vegetable oil or lemon juice. And the tasty, and most importantly - healthy, dish is ready.

Pharmacological properties of the purslane plant

Alcohol tincture and a decoction of purslane have a significant inhibitory effect on bacterial infections caused by gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, such as dysentery bacillus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, typhoid fever, ringworm;

Fresh juice and water extract enhance intestinal motility, relax the colon and duodenum, due to which the laxative effect occurs gently, without discomfort;

Oral and intraperitoneal administration of an aqueous extract relaxes skeletal muscles;

Extract injections stimulate the smooth muscle of the uterus.

Contraindications to the use of purslane

An obvious contraindication to the use of purslane extracts is allergy and individual intolerance to the plant's preparations. If the dosage is exceeded with 9-15 grams of dried herb and 30-60 grams of fresh purslane herb, nausea and vomiting may appear.

Purslane is contraindicated in pregnancy and children under 12 years of age due to insufficient research on the use of purslane in these groups.

People with hyperexcitability of the nervous system, hypertension, vascular dystonia and bradycardia should also refrain from using portalac.

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