3 Health Benefits of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Agric4Profits December 4, 2023December 4, 2023 0 Comments Nature's Pharmacy

Mugwort botanically known as Artemisia vulgaris derives its name from Artemis of the Greek moon goddess, who is revered as a protector of women.

Meanwhile, vulgaris connects to the first of many applications for mugwort that we’ll discuss about in this article. In the past, it was utilized as a natural menstrual cycle inhibitor for women and to ease the symptoms of menopause.

Mugwort has occasionally been effective in moxibustion, a technique known for reducing joint pain and turning fetuses’ breach positions before birth.

The leaves of one species of the plant, A. douglasiana, have also been used as a natural bug repellant and as a preventative measure before exposure to poison oak.

The plant itself can grow up to six feet tall and has sometimes been mistaken for hemlock, but there are a few easy ways to tell them apart: height, stem color, and blossoms. For instance, hemlocks can reach heights of up to 12 feet, which is unusual for mugwort plants.

Hemlock stems are often green with purple splotches, but mugwort stems are entirely purple. While mugwort blooms are a pale yellow or red color and wrap around the stalk in an alternate pattern, hemlock flowers are white with five petals that resemble an upside-down umbrella.

I want to make sure you are informed of any potential allergies and negative effects associated with the mugwort plant before we almost finish. Not all of the frequent allergies to this particular plant family are included in this article. Before using, make sure to check with your doctor.

I have listed a number of allergies that have been connected to mugwort because they share comparable protein components below. You don’t need to avoid all of these healthy foods; instead, just be mindful of how you may react to them. Most people who are allergic to mugwort pollen only develop a few food sensitivities from this list.

3 Health Benefits of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

You are prepared to apply some of the natural cures associated with this historically significant plant now that you are aware of how to identify mugwort and have learned all about its background. This is a herb whose uses have been around since the time of the Bible.

We’ve talked about a lot of easy ways that this one plant can ease your pain, prevent invasive surgeries, calm your achy joints, calm your stomach, balance your mood, and possibly be a new way to fight cancer. It might even be growing in your yard!

Toxic chemicals and prescription drugs could both be replaced with mugwort in the treatment of any of the Illnesses we’ll be covering.

Antioxidants found in abundance in the plant aid to treat digestive and intestinal problems such as ulcers, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. It has even been known to induce vivid and powerful nightmares.

Mugwort’s constituents are also being investigated and tested as a potential complementary therapy for several malignancies. Let’s delve deeper into the specifics and background of all the advantages of mugwort.

3 Health Benefits of Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

1. Pain Relief

Along with helping to stimulate fetal movement inside the womb, mugwort combined with the moxibustion technique also works well as a treatment for some types of arthritis.

The same traditional Chinese method was tested on patients with osteoarthritis in a trial under blind conditions. Half of the 110 patients received the genuine moxibustion treatment, and the other half received a placebo three times per week for the duration of the study. Patients and practitioners were unaware of which patients were receiving which treatments.

Participants in the moxibustion group experienced a pain reduction of 53% at the end of the treatment, compared to a pain reduction of just 24% in the placebo group.

Knee function also rose 13 percent more in the placebo group versus 51 percent more in the moxibustion group. Although the therapy’s benefits might not have been long-lasting, the outcomes are undoubtedly encouraging.

2. Used In Flavouring Beers

Most beer brewers make their beer with hops, or Humulus lupulus. But around a thousand years ago, brewers in the middle ages used a different herbal mixture called gruit, which featured mugwort as one of its primary components.

In fact, compared to the ancient Greeks or Chinese, the English have a slightly different remembrance of how the word “mugwort” came to be. It is believed that the herb’s name derives from the fact that gruit beer was consumed and served in mugs.

To prepare a kind of herbal tea, the dried flowers are combined with other herbs and boiled; the resulting liquid is then added to give the tea its taste. Some claim that the herbal concoction has a sour flavor.

Like so many other traditions, the practice of making beer in the Middle Ages has actually come back. Gruit mixes are being produced by several well-known breweries, including New Belgium, Dogfish Head, and a ton of other microbreweries throughout the globe. There are numerous recipes available as well for making your own gruit beer.

3. Anticancer

As linkages between artemisinins and their targeting of the lysosome, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria have been discovered by researchers. In turn, this makes cancer cells more vulnerable to the toxicity of artemisinin since they have higher levels of iron than healthy cells.

In one experiment, researchers combined artemisinin with iron-rich cancer cells. Enhanced toxicity, or a greater propensity to kill cancer, resulted from the combination once it was inside the cells.

This tagged chemical may eventually prove to be a potent chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer, the statement reads. Even if this approach to cancer treatment isn’t yet established, it’s something to keep an eye out for as the outcomes of more research and studies become clear.