What is the effect of field horsetail?
The sterile, above-ground parts of field horsetail (also known as field horsetail or horsetail) are used medicinally as horsetail herb. Important ingredients are the abundant silicic acid (silicon) as well as flavonoids, silicates and caffeic acid derivatives.
Horsetail has various effects on the body:
Diuretic effect
The ingredients have a diuretic effect. As a traditional herbal medicine, horsetail is therefore used internally as a flushing therapy for bacterial and inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract or kidney gravel.
Preparations containing horsetail can also flush out water retention in the body (oedema).
Good for the bones
There is also evidence from animal and test tube studies that horsetail is good for the bones. Researchers attribute such an effect to the high silica content and the silicon dioxide it contains. Silica improves the formation, density and consistency of bone and cartilage tissue by promoting collagen synthesis and improving the absorption and utilization of calcium.
However, human studies are needed to confirm these assumptions.
Influence on hair
One qualification to the studies is that the researchers did not investigate horsetail alone, but the hair growth products used consisted of various ingredients – vitamin C and plant amino acids were also included, for example.
Promotes wound healing
Applied externally, the medicinal plant probably supports the treatment of poorly healing wounds. However, further research is needed to further support the evidence.
Use in folk medicine
In folk medicine, Equisetum arvense is also said to have a healing effect in other areas of application, for example in tuberculosis and on the joints in rheumatism and gout. Its effectiveness in these areas has not been scientifically proven.
How is field horsetail used?
The medicinal plant can be used both internally and externally. Various dosage forms are available, such as capsules, coated tablets, tablets and liquid preparations such as horsetail concentrate.
The dried herb is also used to prepare teas and extracts. The latter can be used for compresses and baths.
As an alternative to tea, you can use ready-made preparations such as coated tablets, capsules or drops of Equisetum arvense – according to the instructions in the respective package leaflet or the recommendations of your doctor or pharmacist.
For poorly healing wounds, you can prepare a liquid horsetail extract for compresses: To do this, boil ten grams of horsetail herb in one liter of water for half an hour. Filter the liquid through a cloth and squeeze it gently. Soak gauze bandages in the decoction and place them on the affected areas of skin.
Wound healing can also be supported with a horsetail bath (partial bath). Use two grams of horsetail herb per liter of water for the bath additive.
Home remedies based on medicinal plants have their limits. If your symptoms persist over a longer period of time and do not improve or even get worse despite treatment, you should always consult a doctor.
What side effects can horsetail cause?
Stomach complaints occur very rarely after internal use.
What you should bear in mind when using horsetail herb
You must drink sufficient fluids when undergoing flushing therapy with Equisetum. At least two liters per day are necessary.
As there are no findings on the safety, tolerability and efficacy of use in pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under the age of twelve, these groups of people should avoid the medicinal plant.
How to obtain horsetail products
You can obtain the cut horsetail herb and various dosage forms from your pharmacy. Please consult the relevant package leaflet or your doctor or pharmacist for information on the correct use and dosage of horsetail.
What is horsetail?
Horsetails (genus Equisetum, horsetail family) play a special role in botany. They are the small remnant of a larger group of plants that dominated the vegetation in earlier periods of the earth’s history (Carboniferous, Permian). Some of them grew into tall trees.
In contrast, today’s horsetails, of which there are still around 30 different species, are all perennial, herbaceous spore plants with an almost worldwide distribution. Only in Australia and New Zealand are they not to be found.
Field horsetail (Equisetum arvense), which is used medicinally, forms fertile shoots in spring. They are unbranched, erect, light brown in color and bear cone-like, brownish sporophylls with several spore receptacles.
The stems are rough and hard due to the stored silica – this is also the case with other Equisetum species. They were therefore used in the past as a scouring agent, especially for pewter dishes. This is why horsetail is also popularly known as “tin herb”.
The largest representative of the horsetail family is the giant horsetail (E. giganteum), whose thin, up to 20 meter long shoots climb up other plants. Other Equisetum species include the winter horsetail (E. hyemale), the pond horsetail (E. fluviatile) and the marsh horsetail (E. palustre).
If you want to collect field horsetail yourself and use it medicinally, you should make sure that you get the right plant and not a related species – especially not the marsh horsetail. It contains large quantities of the poisonous alkaloid palustrine.
