Absinthe: properties, use, contraindications

By the Doctor Giuseppe Annunziata

The wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is useful for promoting digestion and menstrual flow and against fever. Discover the properties, how to use it, when to avoid it.

The Artemisia absinthium L. (vol. Assenzio ) is a plant with a bitter taste widely used for various disorders related to the digestive system . In addition to favoring and regulating menstrual flow, it is also referred to as febrifuge . Let's find out better.

Absinthe property

The main properties of Absinthe are: choleretic, cholagogue (promotes bile secretion), eupeptic (facilitates digestion), emmenagogue (promotes and regulates menstrual flow), febrifuge, vermifuge.

The drug is commonly recommended in the case of: loss of appetite, biliary hyposecretion, digestive disorders, gastric atony, nervous vomiting, intestinal parasitosis, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the gastro-intestinal tract, amenorrhea, menstrual irregularity, prolonged dysentery. The plant is also used as a hepatoprotector.

Thanks to the presence of numerous active ingredients, which give the phytocomplex properties eupeptic, choleretic, cholagogue, digestive, vermifuge, emmenagogue, Absinthe is widely used in case of loss of appetite in post-convalescence, dyspepsia, inflammation of gastric mucosa, gastritis, gastric atony, intestinal worms.

Like absinthe, there are other natural remedies for amenorrhea: find out which ones!

Method of use

The drug can be used as a fluid extract or as an infusion or decoction.

It would be useful to consume the herbal tea about thirty minutes before meals in case of loss of appetite; after meals in case of dyspeptic disorders.

Absinthe yields a strong liqueur that gives symptoms comparable to those of soft drugs, due to some specific essential oils present in the plant.

Contraindications and side effects

Being a plant with several toxic active ingredients, it is recommended to use it with extreme caution, and not without consulting a specialist.

At therapeutic doses, the administration of the drug should not last for a long time, interrupting the therapy after about twenty days of taking it.

It is contraindicated in the event of:

breastfeeding because it makes the milk bitter;
gastro-duodenal peptic ulcer;
gynecological infections.

The main side effects listed in the scientific literature are: vomiting, hypotension, diarrhea, decreased heart rate, fatigue . However, the non-toxicity of the drug should be remembered at the recommended doses.

Description of the plant

The name absinthe comes from the Greek word apsìnthion (of unknown etymology) and from the Latin word absinthium, which can be translated as "plant without pleasure", precisely because of the unpleasant taste (bitter) in each of its parts.

The plant, already duly known in ancient Egypt and Hippocrates in Greece, was administered as a tonic and digestive. The euphoric properties of absinthe have also been mentioned in numerous works of different artistic expressions, including Hamlet, a painting by Manet and some of the poems of the so-called "cursed".

Artemisia absinthium is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the botanical family of Asteraceae . The plant, which grows to a height of one meter, has a characteristic down on the alternate petiolate leaves and the fibrous stem. The flower heads are yellow and collected in elongated inflorescences. The Artemisia ( Artemisia vulgaris ) used against cough is also known and used in phytotherapy.

To obtain the drug we use the reduced flowering tops in powder and the leaves from which we get liqueurs, bitters and aperitifs. Among the active ingredients of the phytocomplex we find essentially: absintina (sesquiterpene lactone), flavones, essential oil (which contains tujone and tujolo, substances of high toxicity that act at the level of the Central Nervous System), ascorbic acid, tannins.