Common Uses of Black Currant.
- Basic Botanical Information of Ribes nigrum .
- Botanical Description of Ribes nigrum.
- Phytochemicals and Constituents of Ribes nigrum.
- Common Uses of Black Currant.
- Recipes and how to use Black Currant.
- Contemporary Formulas and Study of Black Currant.
- HPLC Determination of the Composition and Stability of Blackcurrant Anthocyanins.
- Research Update:Blackcurrant or Ribes nigrum.
Common Uses of Black Currant.
"There is nobody who, having a garden, shouldn't plant a great number [of black currant bushes] for the needs of their family,"wrote the Abbe P. Bailly de Montaran in 1712. And he added: "Black currant is a fruit that promotes long life in human beings."
Benefit In Brief:
Traditional Uses: In Europe the leaves were used as a diuretic,and as a gargle for sore throat. The berries were made into a drink for colds and flu.
Medicinal Uses: Diaphoretic; Diuretic; Febrifuge; Miscellany.Leaves of blackcurrant are a folk medicine and are taken against arthritis, spasmodic cough and diarrhea. Leaves and buds are taken in cases of rheumatism and urinary problems. As a tasty source of vitamin C, the fruits of blackcurrant are useful as a dietary supplement during the cold and flu season. Fresh ripe fruits and fruit juice are useful in cases of mild diarrhea. Seed oil has become popular as an alternative to evening primrose oil. It contains about 15% gamma-linolenic acid.
More Other Uses:
Cosmetic; Dye; Preservative.
The oil from the seed is added to skin preparations and cosmetics. It is often combined with vitamin E to prevent oxidation.
A yellow dye is obtained from the leaves.
A blue or violet dye is obtained from the fruit.
The leaves are used for vegetable preservation.
The oil is generally used today. Black currant seed oil is a rich source of essential fatty acids. These are converted in the body to prostaglandin, which is necessary for fighting infection. Many women find this oil reduces breast tenderness associated with PMS.
The Black Currant is occasionally found wild in damp woods as far north as the middle of Scotland, but is considered to be a true native only in Yorkshire and the Lake District - when found apparently wild in other parts of the country, its presence is due to the agency of birds. It is easily distinguished at all seasons by the strong perfume of its buds and leaves.
This shrub shows the only instance of a process by which double flowers may become single, by changing petals into stamina. It has a solitary, one-flowered peduncle at the base of the raceme, and its leaves are dotted underneath. It was not so popular originally as the Red and Whitc Currants, for Gerard describes the fruit as being 'of a stinking and somewhat loathing savour.'
The berries are sometimes put into brandy like Black Cherries. The Russians make wine of them, with or without honey or spirits, while in Siberia a drink is made of the leaves which, when young, make common spirits resemble brandy. An infusion of them is like green tea, and can change the flavour of black tea. Goats eat the leaves, and bears especially like the berries, which are supposed to have medicinal properties not possessed by others of the genus.
The juice can be boiled to an extract with sugar, when it is called Rob, and is used for inflammatory sore throats. Excellent lozenges are also prepared from it.
The juice,especially when fresh or vacuum-sealed, helps to stem diarrhoea and calms indigestion The leaves are cleansing, diaphoretic and diuretic.The raw juice is diuretic and diaphoretic, and is an excellent beverage in febrile diseases.
The infusion of the leaves is cleansing and diuretic, while an infusion of the young roots is useful in eruptive fevers and the dysenteric fevers of cattle.
An infusion of the young roots is useful in the treatment of eruptive fevers.An infusion is used in the treatment of dropsy, rheumatic pain and whooping cough, and can also be used externally on slow-healing cuts and abscesses
A decoction of the bark has been found of value in calculus, dropsy, and haemorrhoidal tumours.
The berries can be used as a gargle for sore throats and mouth ulcers
The oil from the seed is added to skin preparations and cosmetics. It is often combined with vitamin E to prevent oxidation.
Anti-aging:Maintaining Health in Old Age
So important is the use of Ribes nigrum in French phytotherapy that Dr. Leon Binet, an often quoted authority at the beginning of the last century, made a point of indicating how strongly he felt about the benefits of using black currant on a regular basis,as part of a daily herbal regime.
He wrote that one of the best ways of maintaining health in old age was to: have an infusion of the leaves of black currant in the morning; an infusion of mint at noon; and, an infusion of linden flowers in the evening. (Ed: For more on Linden, see Vitality archives here.) Since Dr Binet lived to a ripe old age, it might not be a bad idea.
Black currants, a forgotten fruit in most American diets (but extremely popular in Europe), may be just what the doctor ordered. This dark-colored fruit is jam packed with antioxidants, which have been shown to have significant health benefits. Studies show that antioxidants can prevent various types of degenerative diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, as well as slow down the aging process and protect the body's vision and neurological functions.
Until now, blueberries have long been regarded as the "king of antioxidants." Research has shown that the black currant has a much higher source of antioxidants than the blueberry and has three times the amount of Vitamin C found in oranges. Black currants also contain significant amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin E, potassium, copper and soluble fiber. They are rich in phytochemicals called anthocyanins which are known for their outstanding anti-inflammatory benefits. Anthocyanins are the plant pigments that give black currants their dark color - the darker the fruit, the higher the amount of anthocyanin and the more antioxidant benefits available.
Building Up Resistance:
The fruit of the blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) has a very high vitamin C content and tastes wonderful in the form of jelly, syrup or fruit juice, says Rolf Stmer in his book The Big Book of Health. Thus it is good for building up resistance; one glass of hot blackcurrant juice when you have the flu, sweetened with honey, works wonders.
Black Currants May Help Thwart Alzheimer's:
Compounds in black currants may help protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the current issue of Chemistry and Industry magazine.
Researchers found that these compounds,anthocyanins and polyphenolics,had a strong protective effect in cultured neuronal cells. Darker black currants contain more anthocyanins and are likely to be more potent."These compounds also work in hippocampal cells taken straight from the brain," researcher James Joseph of Tufts University said in a prepared statement. He said these protective effects will likely be reproduced in the human body and that these compounds may prevent or significantly delay the onset of Alzheimer's.
While previous research found that compounds in black currants acted as antioxidants, this is the first study to demonstrate that they may help protect brain cells. Exactly how they do this remains unclear, the study said. "We have evidence that the compounds protect against Alzheimer's by influencing the early gene expression in learning and memory, which influences cell signaling pathways that help neuronal cells communicate with each other," Joseph said.
Cleansing, diaphoretic and diuretic actions:Blackcurrant leaves
The leaves are cleansing, diaphoretic and diuretic. By encouraging the elimination of fluids they help to reduce blood volume and thereby lower blood pressure. An infusion is used in the treatment of dropsy, rheumatic pain and whooping cough, and can also be used externally on slow-healing cuts and abcesses. It can be used as a gargle for sore throats and mouth ulcers. The leaves are harvested during the growing season and can be used fresh or dried.
Cortisol secretions and stress-related conditions treatment:Blackcurrant leaves
It is believed that an infusion of the leaves increases the secretion of cortisol by the adrenal glands, and thus stimulates the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. This action may prove useful in the treatment of stress-related conditions.
Diuretic and diaphoretic actions:Blackcurrant fruits
Blackcurrant fruits are a good source of minerals and vitamins, especially vitamin C. They have diuretic and diaphoretic actions, help to increase bodily resistance to infections and are a valuable remedy for treating colds and flu. The juice, especially when fresh or vacuum-sealed, helps to stem diarrhea and calms indigestion. Tea made from the leaves of the blackcurrant increases the flow of urine and induces heavy perspiration. This is why the tea is also used for rheumatic diseases. A decoction 30 grams to one liter of water of which two to three cups are sipped daily, makes an excellent kidney treatment, says Stmer.
Drainer of the tissues or Deep Tissue DeToxifier:
Modern French phytotherapy has looked at this plant primarily as a drainer of the tissues. This means that it is exceedingly useful anywhere in the body where the tissues have become congested: inflammatory, toxic, or auto-toxic conditions. These include arthritis, gout and prostatitis. It has also been used successfully to relieve skin problems.
Because they are a tissue drainer, black currant leaves have the ability, unlike any drug, to "drain" tissues especially those in the area of the kidneys and urinary tract and the liver. Tissue drainage was first observed by French phytotherapists in the second half of the 20th century. It allows the affected tissue to be cleansed internally by stimulating the body's own internal restoration processes. This means that natural healing is encouraged by providing an ideal terrain, which also requires a balanced whole food diet and a lifestyle that keeps stress to a minimum and outdoor exercise plentiful.
One might well ask why is it so important to get rid of the congestion in the tissues? If congestion is allowed to remain in tissues, the life supply to the cells in the region is compromised. It also means that the toxic wastes of normal metabolism are accumulating in the area. Herbal medicine is able to relieve congestion in specific tissues by using external applications. "Drawing" poultices such as clay or chickweed draw out the metabolites of the inflammatory process. But botanical tissue drainers such as black currant leaves can work from the inside too, enhancing the body's ability to rid itself of the encumbrance.
Now it is easy to understand why taking black currant leaves as an infusion (herbal tea) will help with a skin problem such as dermatitis, psoriasis or eczema. Skin problems always respond well to liver remedies and black currant leaves are widely used in France as a liver remedy. But black currant is doubly effective here because it is also a "tissue drainer." This means that it reaches down into the tissues of the skin and extracts any toxic irritants which may be stored there. At the same time, it stimulates liver activity, making sure that these same toxins are carried right out of the body.
The fresh leaves are also a friend to our skin because they can be crushed and rubbed on insect bites as well as rubbed on the skin to prevent insects from biting. It seems that even waving whole branches of black currant bushes at flying insects will make them feel unwanted; however I wouldn't advise testing this out in the face of a cloud of swarming wasps!
Eruptive fevers treatment:Blackcurrant young root
An infusion of the young roots is useful in the treatment of eruptive fevers. A decoction of the bark has been found of use in the treatment of calculus, dropsy and hemorrhoidal tumours.
Improves Venous Circulation:
There is also a circulatory role for black currant. It has been shown to have vasoprotective and anti-inflammatory properties or "so-called vitamin P activity." Its traditional use as an antihypertensive has been substantiated in some studies. This activity is attributed to the presence of flavonoids, rutin and isoquertin, all substances that are widely prescribed by natural practitioners for treating breakdown of the venous system. Hence it is used in circulatory troubles of venous origin, i.e. varicose veins. Black currant leaves increase microcirculation (hence its use in capillary fragility), and improve visual acuity.
Additional applications include: as a vermifuge for intestinal parasites, a remedy for diarrhea and dysentery, jaundice, and arteriosclerosis.
Black currant is rich in tannins,a favourite constituent of herbal medicine for treating wounds. This is because tannins pull together the two parts of flesh in a wound. In the old days they were called vulneraries. Black currant leaves are also bactericidal which allows them to be used as an infusion (tea) externally to treat abscesses, furuncles (boils), and contusions (scraped skin).
And menopausal symptoms are said to improve as a result of its hormone regulating power. Many women have experienced relief from menopausal symptoms using black currant leaf tea because it is a hormone regulator. It is in the same class as all the other useful botanical hormone regulators including English marigold (Calendula officinalis), red raspberry leaves (Rubus idaeus), and vervain (Verbena officinalis), which seem to be helpful for any woman. Rina Nissim calls black currant a hormonal regulator specific to the adrenals and the ovaries, as well as a decongesting agent, indicated for menopausal complaints. However, it would not be wise to take black currant or any other herb during pregnancy without the advice of a qualified herbal practitioner.
Applications of Black Currant Seed Oil:
This thorn less shrub belongs to the red currant family. The leaves and berries are used medicinally. In European folk medicine, black currant once had a considerable reputation for controlling diarrhea, promoting urine output (as a diuretic) and reducing arthritic and rheumatic pains. Black currant oil is a source of gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) to treat a wide range of ailments.
Ribes Nigrum Seed Oil is derived from Black Currant Seeds,this oil may encourages healthy microcirculation, assists in detoxifying skin tissues, promotes anti-inflammatory actions to relieve accelerated free radical damage, soothes,can be used in many cosmetics.
Role for Anti-aging: Factors such as high cholesterol, aging, stress, alcohol, diabetes, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), aging, viral infections, and other conditions may interfere with the normal conversion of linoleic acid into GLA. Thus, people who obtain little GLA from their diet and those whose systems are unable to metabolize linoleic acid into GLA may benefit from taking GLA-rich supplements like black currant seed oil. According to a study published in February 2000 by researchers at Tufts University in Boston, 4.5 gm daily of black currant seed oil was able to promote cell-mediated immune function. In addition, a similar study found that black currant seed oil had an immune-enhancing effect attributable to its ability to reduce prostaglandin E (2) production. Other studies have found that the extract has anti-inflammatory properties due to its capability of stimulating the production of prostaglandin-1, an anti-inflammatory hormone.
Therapeutic Daily Amount: A daily dosage of 600 to 6,000 milligrams is typical. Capsules containing black currant oil are available in 200 to 400 milligram doses - the capsules typically have a fixed oil component, and usually contain 14 to 19% GLA.
Side Effects and Contraindications: No side effects have been reported, however German health authorities warn that people with fluid accumulation, because of heart or kidney problems, should not take the leaf preparations. It should be noted, that no studies appear to have been done to determine the safety of black currant seed extract over the long term, although preliminary findings for other GLA-rich oils suggest that the supplements are relatively safe.
- 1.Black Currant Extract Ribes Nigrum Anthocyanidins.
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