Plantain is a common garden herb with healing properties. Although many people refer to plantain as a weed, it’s actually an edible medicinal herb with a number of health benefits. You can use plantain leaf as a poultice for insect bites, a plantain tea to improve digestion or soothe bronchitis, or a healing plantain salve for helping wounds to heal quickly.
Broadleaf plantain is an extremely nutritious wild herb that contains a number of bioactive compounds.
The journal Ecology of Food and Nutrition reports that plantain leaf is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. Plantain leaves also have calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and manganese.
Plantain Weed Can Boost Your Immunity
Wild plantain is an amazingly useful herb that can help in strengthening your immunity.
Various studies have shown that plantain compounds have immune-strengthening properties to fight infection. For example, plantain leaf extract can help boost the number of white blood cells.
One study in the lab found that hot water extracts of plantain leaves have antiviral properties.
Plantain Weed Promotes Good Liver Health
You can use plantain leaf to help protect the health and function of your liver.
The anti-inflammatory compounds in Plantago major (plantain) have many protective benefits for your liver. Lab tests have found that administering plantain extracts has many benefits as a liver tonic.
Other studies involving rats found that plantain extracts may protect the liver from injury caused by painkillers.
The best way to help improve your liver function is to consume 1 or 2 glasses of plantain leaf tea every day. At the end of the article, you can find out an easy recipe on how to make plantain tea.
You could also make plantain leaf juice by putting fresh plantain leaves through a juicer, or you could add a few leaves to your green smoothie recipe to get plantain’s protective properties that way.
To help keep your liver healthy, find out about the worst habits that damage your liver’s health. Avoiding these habits and consuming these proven foods to cleanse your liver will promote good liver health.
Plantain Weed May Help Wounds Heal Faster
One of the benefits of using healing herbs such as plantain on your skin is to help promote wound healing.
Studies have shown that plantain leaves are good for speeding up the healing of wounds. Plantain leaves help regenerate skin tissue, reduce inflammation, and have antibacterial properties.
One study on rats found that combining plantain tincture and aloe vera enhanced wounds healing.
You could apply fresh plantain leaves to minor cuts or wounds to promote healing. Crush a washed plantain leaf to help release the healing compounds. Place over the minor cut for 10-15 minutes and repeat 3 or 4 times a day. Use the plantain remedy daily until the small wound has healed.
Plantain May Help Treat Kidney Stones
Apart from helping to improve kidney function, regularly drinking plantain tea could help prevent kidney stones from forming.
Some studies suggest that extracts from plantain leaf are better than some traditional kidney stone remedies.
Because plantain extracts also help to lower levels of uric acids, taking plantain seed extracts could help to reduce instances of gout.
To help flush out kidney stones and increase urine output, drink 1-2 glasses of plantain tea daily.