Yarrow is a common, feathery looking plant that is crowned with many tiny flowers that come in a wide variety of colors. One of the best-known uses of yarrow historically was reducing the bleeding from serious injuries and battle wounds. It’s perhaps this usage that gave way to the plants’ numerous nicknames including soldier’s woundwort and the nosebleed plant. There are many naturally occurring chemical compounds in the plant that have likely led to its numerous medicinal uses. Yarrow contains salicylic acid, sterols, isovaleric acid, bitters, tannins and coumarin just to name a few. These constituents are the catalysts behind yarrow tea benefits that have been celebrated for hundreds of years.
Interestingly enough, many people make tea from the leaves of the yarrow plant simply for their nutritional content. This is further evidenced by the plant’s regular use in foods like salads. However, yarrow tea benefits acquired through brewing dried leaves of the plant are thought to be some of the most diverse; and as such, it’s a very common method of using it. A typical yarrow tea recipe involves steeping a teaspoon of dried herb in one cup of freshly boiled water for about ten minutes. The flavor of yarrow is enjoyed by many, but most find it best enjoyed in herbal tea recipes when sweetened with honey or flavored with lemon. If the nutritional content or unique flavor isn’t enough to prompt a pot of the brew, perhaps these ten healthful benefits will!
1. Fever Reducer
One of the best known examples of regular utilization of yarrow tea benefits is from the Cherokee American Indian Tribe. Amongst other things, they drank a beverage brewed from the plant in order to help reduce a fever or help hasten its break.
2. Indigestion
The notion that yarrow may be useful in aiding healthy digestion may come from the plant’s historical uses in nutrient absorption. Although there is little evidence to support the herb’s use in this regard, it’s long been hailed in alternative medicine for helping make digestion more comfortable and helping prevent indigestion from occurring in the first place.
3. Congestion
Some of the chemical compounds found in yarrow may promote a drying or absorptive effect, which may be useful in cases of congestion. This may explain past uses of yarrow tea benefits by the Miwok tribe previously found in the State of California, who considered it a possible remedy for head colds.
4. Multiple Sclerosis
What study has been done regarding the relationship between yarrow and multiple sclerosis is minimal and exists only on lab animals. However, at this point, some positive effects have been observed that include a decrease in inflammation, symptom severity and lesion formations in some cases, although far more research will be needed in order to verify these early and inconclusive potential yarrow tea benefits.
5. Gallstone Prevention
The digestion improving properties of yarrow are behind the herb’s additional gastrointestinal benefit which includes reducing the risk of gallstones. Chemicals found in the yarrow plant promote the flow of bile from the gallbladder, and it’s thought that not only does this action result in improved digestion but also a reduction in gallstone formation.
6. Arthritis
The essential oils locked in the yarrow plant that can be released during tea brewing may help fight inflammation throughout the body. One area where this application is of particular research is in the case of arthritis, which is characterized by inflammation. It’s thought that anti inflammatory yarrow tea benefits can lead to pain and symptom reduction in some people with arthritis.
7. Appetite Improvement
Yarrow is thought to affect the gastrointestinal tract in numerous ways, and stimulating the production of enzymes is one of them. Of the numerous positive effects associated with increased enzyme output, one of the most basic is an improved or increased appetite, which is especially useful in the case of illness or infection.
8. Eczema
Yarrow has been used externally for hundreds of years to help stop bleeding and reduce swelling. However, yarrow tea benefits for skin conditions may not stop at external application alone. It’s possible that the anti-inflammatory action of the chemicals found in the plant can bring some relief to persistent dermal problems, such as eczema.
9. Kidney and Urinary Health
Yarrow is considered a very mild natural diuretic and as a result has been used to promote good urinary and kidney health for many years in alternative medicine.
10. Circulation and Menstruation
There is little denying that many yarrow tea benefits are associated with blood flow. Two of the herb’s oldest uses in traditional Chinese medicine are for menstruation and healthy circulation, and it’s likely that the two uses are interrelated. It’s possible that boosting circulation and promoting healthy blood flow are what actually are responsible for improved menstrual symptoms, meaning there may be more to this folkloric use of yarrow than meets the eye.
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