White Horehound

Forget about its musky odor and focus on how White horehound eases your lungs and throats due to frequent coughs and respiratory problems. The white horehound is the commonly used expectorant herb since the ancient Egypt. In fact, the herb was called Horus’ seed and a main ingredient for tea and candies made of the same herb. The musky smelling plant is covered with tiny hair-like in prominent in its stems and its leaves are crippled plus white small flowers. The musky smell can be reduced if the plant is dried before its consumption as either tea or for candy-making purposes.

The white horehound is a useful herbal plant is extensively cultivated in European countries but is mostly originated in Britain.

Similar to other herbal plants, white horehound just grow along the streets and is dominantly exists in uncultivated areas the country and some districts of Europe. Also, the plant is regarded to be a magical plant during the ancient Egypt. Because of its extensive use for respiratory illness, the plant is considered to be one of the leading cough medicines in the ancient times. These days however, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of United States prohibited the use of white horehound as a cough medicine, asthma relief or for any respiratory problems because of the lack of scientific studies and proof of the efficiency of this plan to the medical field. This ban request was made in 1989 to date.

Moreover, with the consideration of the possible effects of the use of white horehound, it is best to consider the caution needed in using this herbal as cough treatment or any respiratory issues. Despite of the 1989 FDA ban on using white horehound, many people still use this herb because of its extensive benefits as heartburn treatment or what is medically called dyspepsia. With some minor scientific studies on animal models, the plant helped lower blood sugar levels during the researches thus providing evidence that this plant can be used for further studies. While it is true that there is limited evidence in the safety or side effects of white horehound, people from the country still use this as their therapeutic herbal medicine particularly as a cough medicine and pain reliever.

To effectively use the white horehound, making a tea out of its leaves is the usual practice. This will also increase the benefit of using the herb as an expectorant especially for cough or asthma attacks. Similar to other herbs and medicinal plants, white horehound use must be regulated at the same time. Even though an increase dosage of intake may be useful as a purgative, a regulated use of the herb will prevent one from incurring extreme side effects. However, there are those who may incur allergies with the use of this herb especially those who are already allergic to mint herbs. Caution is needed for the use of any kind of herbs and make sure to contact your physician if you incurred any allergic reactions in using white horehound, both if taken as a food flavoring or as a tea.

Submitted on January 16, 2014