Kalongo Hospital in Uganda is on high alert. Medics are facing the pandemic amid an already precarious healthcare situation, in a country with only 55 intensive care beds.
Elder, precious berries to recover from the cold
Useful for the respiratory tract in case of cold, elderberries promote perspiration and regulate the body temperature.
Elder (Sambucus nigra L.) is a wild plant that occurs in every part of Italy, in flat areas as well as at altitudes of 1,000 metres. It blossoms in the spring and bears fruits in the shape of globose drupes that are green when unripe and purple when ripe in the period between summer and autumn. These drupes contain dense antioxidant substances including flavonoids, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins that make this plant one of the most effective in treating cold weather disorders.
Elderberries play an important role in boosting the body’s natural defence as well as relieving congestion and promoting the functions of the respiratory tract that is particularly prone to developing cold weather disorders during the winter.
However, it’s its diaphoretic action, i.e. the one that promotes sweating and contributes to the regulation of body temperature, that makes elderberries really effective against cold. The juice of its fruits is rich in complex B factors: thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide (PP), vitamin B6, inositol, pantothenic acid, folic acid, biotin.
Many parts of elderberries are high in active ingredients and are included in herbal medicine: not just the fruit but also the bark which is rich in potassium salts, sambucin, sambunigrin and alkaloids. And the flowers, where the essential oils are concentrated, are used for external use and have an astringent and soothing effect on the skin; they contain chlorogenic acid, flavonoids, mucilage and tannins. The dry extract of the fruit contains all the functional substances of the plant and it is particularly high in anthocyanins; it’s found in combination with propolis and grapefruit seeds with essential balsamic oils at a high concentration and must be dissolved in warm water to have an even more beneficial effect on the upper respiratory tract.
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