Infusions and decoctions of medicinal plants
Medicinal raw materials are rarely used in the form of a powder that is washed down with water. So use, for example, a root of a rhubarb, a sheet of digitalis, some gathering. More often, from the raw material, dosage forms and preparations are prepared.
Infusions and decoctions of are aqueous extracts, they are obtained from various types of medicinal raw materials. The ground raw material is placed in a porcelain or enameled vessel which is preheated in a water bath for 15 minutes, filled with a calculated amount of distilled water at room temperature and heated under a lid in a water bath with frequent stirring.
Infusions are heated for 15 minutes, broths - 30 minutes. Then the vessel is removed from the water bath and cooled at room temperature: infusions - 45 minutes, broths - 10 minutes. When infusion, the transfer of biologically active substances into the solution continues. After cooling, the extracts are filtered, the remainder of the plant material is squeezed, then water is added to the prescribed amount. Due to the fact that the water to extract is taken more than the prescribed amount, taking into account the water absorption coefficients for various types of plant raw materials, after filtering, water often does not have to be added at all or a minimal amount is added. Infusions are usually made from leaves, herbs, flowers, and decoctions - from the bark, rhizomes, roots. An exception is plants containing essential oils, from which infusions are prepared, in order to reduce the loss of aromatic substances.
When preparing aqueous extracts from alkaloid raw materials, citric, tartaric or hydrochloric acids are added, which increase the solubility of alkaloids by converting them to the salts of these acids.
Broths from raw materials containing tannins( leaves of bearberry, bark of oak, rhizomes of serpentine and lapchatka, aplicata of alder, etc.), filter immediately after removal from a water bath without cooling.
In some cases, infusions are prepared without heating, with cold water at room temperature( althea root).
To accelerate the preparation of aqueous extracts, concentrates obtained in the factory are used.
Prepare infusions and decoctions at home from pharmacy pre-packaged, shredded raw materials in accordance with the attached instructions. Raw materials are dosed with tea or table spoons, placed in porcelain or enameled utensils, boiled, covered with a lid and insisted for 20, 30 or 60 minutes. With prolonged infusion, the dishes should be covered with a towel. To get the broth, the contents are boiled on low heat, filtered through cheesecloth or a metal tseedil and consumed, divided into single doses.
Drug collection - a mixture of several types of crushed, less often whole plant raw materials, sometimes with an admixture of salts, essential oils. They are prepared in pharmacies or in factories, and extraction from them can be obtained at home.
The collection includes various parts of plants: roots, bark, grass, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds.
When preparing the fees, the crushed vegetable raw materials are weighed and mixed thoroughly on a large sheet of paper or in an enameled basin. Leaves, grasses and bark pre-cut, leathery leaves are rubbed into powder, roots and rhizomes are cut or crushed, fruits and seeds are passed through rolls or mills. Small seeds and berries, small flower baskets and flowers are taken whole( except limes).
Ready-made collections at home are best stored in glass jars of high capacity, closed with plastic covers. Dosing each time, the collection is thoroughly mixed with a tablespoon, as during storage, its components can separate.
Depending on the ingredients of the collection of raw materials, infusions or decoctions are prepared. If the composition of the collection includes odorous essential oil plants, then, as a rule, they are made into infusion. Boiling is not allowed, since essential oils are volatile substances that evaporate with water.
Medicinal collections contain various biologically active compounds that, simultaneously with the treatment of the underlying disease, enrich the body with additional vitamins, mineral compounds and other plant components that contribute to increasing the body's resistance, beneficial effects on the central nervous system, improving hemopoiesis, neutralizing "slags" and acceleratingremoving them from the body. The effect on physiological processes is carried out in this case by natural organic substances more intrinsic to the body. Allergic complications in the treatment of charges are observed much less often than with the use of other medications.
As mentioned above, synergies between the combined substances are commonly observed in the collections( the effect of one substance is aggravated by another).
The versatile effect of biologically active plant substances often achieves the goal. Thus, with the appointment of a complex collection for liver diseases, immortelle substances intensify the secretion of bile, gastric and pancreatic juice, increase the tone of the gallbladder, and change the chemical composition of the bile. Substances contained in corn stigmas, beneficial effect on metabolism, improve bile secretion. Barberry substances reduce and relieve pain, which depends on the presence of alkaloid berberine, which has an antispasmodic effect. For the same purpose, often a sheet of peppermint is also introduced into such a collection.
In addition to organic substances, the fees contain macro - and microelements. The latter participate in the metabolism, are in functional interaction with enzymes, vitamins, hormones and other biologically active substances. The presence of copper,
of manganese, iron, molybdenum in the composition of metal-protein supports the transfer of electrons in living cells. Manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt in micro doses stimulate the production of antibodies, increase the body's resistance. Copper, iron, zinc, cobalt reduce the permeability of biological membranes.
Here is not a complete list of those substances that are introduced into the patient's body in the treatment of multicomponent collections: proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, enzymes, vitamins, organic acids, alcohols, aldehydes and ketones, esters of phosphoric acid and other acids, phytosterols,tar and tannins, glycosides, terpenoids, coumarins, amides and amines, betaines, choline and choline esters, purines and pyrimidines, alkaloids, bitter substances and many others.
The effect of medicinal plant matter largely depends on the dose. Root of rhubarb, for example, in large doses is used as a laxative, and in small - on the contrary, it has a fixing effect. Various doses of spicy-bitter raw materials stimulate or inhibit the secretion of gastric juice. In addition, as mentioned above, medicinal raw materials have a multifaceted effect. This explains the fact that in the prescriptions, different in purpose, the same components are often found, but in different amounts and in different combinations. Prepare the water extracts from the collection more often like this.
In a preheated kettle, the collection is covered, poured with boiling water, covered with a towel and left to stand for 1-2 hours.
You can prepare infusions and in a thermos, leaving a mixture for, infusion overnight. The thermos is indispensable for the preparation of medicine from the flowers of the chemist's chamomile and the fees in which they are included. In the dry inflorescences of this plant, sesquiterpene matricin is contained, which during thermal treatment gradually turns into chamazulene, which has an anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, disinfectant effect. It, like other components of essential oil, is hardly soluble in water, but with prolonged infusion it passes into solution. When preparing infusions in a thermos, the essential oils of other plants also do not evaporate.
To prepare the decoction in an enameled pot of small capacity, fill the measured amount of collection, fill it with cold water, cover with a lid and heat it over low heat. Boil for 5 minutes and insist for 1 hour. Cooked infusion or decoction filter.
In all cases, to obtain a complete extraction of active substances, water is taken much more than when preparing similar drugs under the conditions of a pharmacy. Therefore, the manufactured medicine is often taken not with spoons, but with 1/2 cup - 100 ml, and sometimes more. If the medicine is prepared daily, it is not subject to microbial spoilage and can be stored at room temperature throughout the day. If more than it should be stored in the refrigerator.