What are the effects of the traditional Chinese medicine hawthorn?

Hawthorn is a familiar food that helps in digestion and strengthening the stomach. It tastes sweet and sour and has many health benefits. So what are the effects and functions of hawthorn?

Appetite and digestion

Hawthorn is rich in nutrients, including carbohydrates, protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin C and other nutrients. It has the effect of promoting salivation, appetizing and aiding digestion after eating. It can eliminate greasiness, promote gastrointestinal motility, expel toxins from the body, and make the skin healthier and more transparent. If you feel bloated in your stomach, drinking hawthorn water will relieve the condition.

Beauty and slimming

Hawthorn contains vitamin C, carotene and other substances that can block and reduce the generation of free radicals, enhance the body's immunity, and have anti-aging and anti-cancer effects. Women who eat more hawthorn can eliminate body fat and reduce fat absorption. For women who love beauty, it can achieve the effect of beautifying and slimming.

Anti-aging

The flavonoids, vitamin C, carotene and other substances contained in hawthorn can block and reduce the generation of free radicals, enhance the body's immunity, and have anti-aging and anti-cancer effects.

Strengthens the heart, lowers blood lipids, and lowers blood pressure

Clinical studies have confirmed that hawthorn can significantly lower serum cholesterol and triglycerides, and effectively prevent and treat atherosclerosis; hawthorn can also strengthen the heart and prevent angina pectoris by enhancing myocardial contractility, increasing cardiac output, dilating coronary arteries, increasing coronary blood flow, and reducing myocardial oxygen consumption. In addition, the total flavonoids in hawthorn have the effect of dilating blood vessels and permanently lowering blood pressure. Therefore, patients with hyperlipidemia, hypertension and coronary heart disease can take 15 to 30 grams of raw hawthorn every day, boil it in water and drink it as tea.

Cancer prevention and anti-cancer

Recent studies have found that hawthorn contains a compound called vitexin, which has anti-cancer effects. Both nitrosamines and aflatoxin can induce the occurrence or aggravation of gastrointestinal cancer. Experimental studies have shown that hawthorn extract can not only block the synthesis of nitrosamines, but also inhibit the carcinogenic effect of aflatoxin. Therefore, people at high risk of gastrointestinal cancer should eat hawthorn regularly. For patients who already have cancer, if they experience indigestion, they can also cook porridge with hawthorn and rice. This can not only aid digestion, but also play an auxiliary anti-cancer role.

Treat dysmenorrhea and irregular menstruation

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that hawthorn has the effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and is an excellent food therapy for patients with blood stasis type dysmenorrhea. Patients with blood stasis type dysmenorrhea often experience lower abdominal pain on the 1st to 2nd day of menstruation or 1 to 2 days before menstruation. When the menstrual blood flows smoothly, the pain gradually decreases or disappears, and the menstrual blood is dark in color and accompanied by blood clots. Patients can take 1000 grams of fresh hawthorn with core, wash it, add appropriate amount of water, simmer until the hawthorn is cooked, add 250 grams of brown sugar, and simmer for another 10 minutes until it becomes a thin paste. Start taking it 3 to 5 days before menstruation, eat 30 ml of hawthorn paste every morning and evening, and stop taking it 3 days after menstruation. This is one course of treatment, and it will be effective after taking 3 courses in a row. This method is also suitable for those with irregular menstruation and blood stasis as diagnosed by traditional Chinese medicine.

Activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis

Chinese medicine practitioners have always believed that hawthorn has a good effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and can relieve symptoms such as blood stasis. Therefore, when local congestion occurs, you might as well eat more hawthorn to relieve the symptoms as soon as possible. In addition, it has a good auxiliary therapeutic effect on bruises and injuries. Therefore, if you accidentally get injured, you might as well relieve it by eating hawthorn.