The herbal remedies scene is all about buzzy ingredients, so the recent boom of agrimony is no surprise. You could argue that the hype is attributed to the highly coveted, ultra-versatile health benefits of agrimony for hundreds of years.
These benefits include its ability to improve bladder control, minimize inflammation, better hair and nail health, support digestive functions, detoxify the body, alleviate menstrual issues, and clear up skin issues.
What is Agrimony?
Agrimony is the name given to a group of about 15 flowering species that are native to the Northern hemisphere. They can also be found in some parts of Africa. Although a number of its potential benefits are still being contested, its usage for hundreds of years and several confirmations of its potency has made it an essential ingredient in many treatments.
Actually, its scientific name is Agrimonia eupatoria but some of its known names are cockleburr, sticklewort, and liverwort. In fact, it’s quite easy to identify agrimony species by their yellow flowers and long, single stems.
Traditionally, a long time ago, agrimony was usually used in tonics, solutions, and brews. Its flowers and leaves contain a special chemical combination that acts as a coagulating detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, and astringent substance. It has, therefore, proven to be the direct or secondary treatment of a host of health issues over time.
Okay, let’s discuss the health benefits of agrimony.
Health Benefits of Agrimony
Agrimony has a myriad of health benefits that include:
Detoxifying the Body
Thiamin, catechins, and quercitrin, which are active ingredients in agrimony’s active ingredients, have been directly associated with to gallbladder and liver health. Since it improves the function of the gallbladder and liver, it helps the body eliminate built-up toxins, thus, preventing more serious health conditions and improving metabolism.
Treatment of Menstrual Issues
Agrimony is well-known as a coagulant that is capable of reducing bleeding in the body and healing up wounds. Of course, menstruation isn’t exactly a “wound”, but agrimony can be taken orally to minimize heavy menstrual flow and lower inflammation, thus, making particularly difficult menstrual periods a bit more bearable.
Regulating Diabetes
For many years, several studied have been conducted on agrimony for its potential benefits in treating diabetes. Hopefully, this herb would be a major breakthrough in providing a solution to one of the biggest mysteries medical issues in our generation. Obviously, because of the active components of agrimony, it is able to regulate the body’s glucose and insulin levels better than many other natural treatments for diabetes.
Improving Digestion
Agrimony has anti-inflammatory properties and is often used in alleviating gastrointestinal and digestive problems, especially some irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms like diarrhea. It can substantially lower incidences of inflammation and irritation in the tissues and membranes of the gut.
Hair and Nail Strength
Silicic acid, a unique compound found in agrimony is capable of significantly boosting the appearance, strength, and overall health of the hair and nails, preventing brittle nails or a dull appearance. Maybe this doesn’t seem like a serious “health benefit”, but every little bit of benefit is worth it!
Supporting Respiratory Health
Just like it reduces inflammation in the gut, agrimony is also widely used to alleviating respiratory health issues that may have inflammation as a symptom. These health issues include chronic cough, sore throats, bronchitis, and other sinus conditions. It can prove effective in speeding up the recovery process of flu, coughs, and colds.
Anti-cancer Effects
The truth is research on the anti-cancerous effects of agrimony is still on-going in many research studies, but certain catechins and antioxidant compounds found in agrinomy could help in the treatment for cancer. For one, antioxidants help to destroy free radicals that lead to healthy cells mutating, resulting in chronic diseases like cancer. Luckily, the high count of antioxidants in agronomy means it has health potentials.
Bladder Control
For young children and the very old, bladder control could be an issue. However, because of its astringent properties, agrimony makes it easier to control the bladder control, putting an end to embarrassing bed-wetting accidents. Additionally, due to its non-toxicity, children are able to use without side effects.
Side Effects of Agrinomy
When used short-term, agrimony is generally safe for most adults. However, because it contains chemicals called tannins, agrinomy is possibly unsafe when taken in large amounts.
Also,for some people, agrimony can make the skin more sensitive to sunlight and sunburns.
Precautions and Warnings
Diabetes
Since agrimony might lower blood sugar levels, diabetic patients are to closely monitor their blood glucose levels. People with diabetes are to always check with your healthcare provider before commencing the use of agrimony.
Surgery
Having established that agrimony might affect blood sugar levels, there is also a concern that it might interfere with blood sugar control during and after surgery. It is advisable to stop the use agrimony, at least, 15 days before a surgery is to be carried out.
Pregnancy and nursing
Agrimony may be unsafe during pregnancy because of its ability to affect the menstrual cycle. For breast-feeding mothers, there isn’t enough reliable information on the safety of taking agrimony. It is, therefore, advisable to stay on the side of caution and avoid use.
Interactions
Agrinomy interacts with medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs)
Both agrimony and medications for diabetes might decrease blood sugar. So, taking diabetes medications along with agrimony might further lower blood sugar. Diabetic patients might need to change the dose of their medication. Some medications used for diabetes include rosiglitazone, insulin, glimepiride, chlorpropamide, glyburide, pioglitazone, among others.
Dosing
The right dose of agrimony is determined by factors such as the user’s health, age and a number of other conditions. Currently, there aren’t adequate scientific resources to establish an appropriate range of doses for agrimony.
So, remember that herbal remedies are not often necessarily safe and dosages can be vital. Ensure you adhere to relevant instructions on product labels and talk to your pharmacist or healthcare professional before considering using.
The Bottom Line
When consumed in relatively reasonable amounts, agrimony is neither toxic nor allergy-inducing for anyone, no matter their age. However, because of its astringent properties, it can also worsen constipation, so it’s advisable to use it with caution. Like we always advise, consult a doctor before incorporating new herbal remedies to your health regimen.
