It’s Allergy Season!

As if I really needed to tell you. It is that time of year when the trees, grasses and other plants wake up and spread their pollen into the air. Spring! Sunshine and rains. A glorious time after the cold and dark days, except for getting a stuffy nose and itchy eyes. Fortunately I have something in my medicine cabinet that takes care of these symptoms. It is called Sambucus nigra flowers or more commonly known as Elderflower.

This has been my personal staple. I took Elderflower tincture two to three times a day whenever my allergies appeared. I don’t even notice my allergies unless I am right in the midst of grass cutting (i.e., mowing) or splitting wood or I happen to get too close to ragweed during ragweed season (from August until a hard frost). And even then my response is nothing like it was years ago. I have always managed fairly well with herbs and foods and my Anti-congestion Mist (an essential oil blend spray). Once I started taking Elderflower tincture, I rarely needed my Anti-Congestion Mist.

In this study done in 2016, pectic polysaccharides (RG-1) from 50% EtOH, 50 °C water and 100 °C water extracts from elderflowers were treated with an enzyme (endo-α-d-(1–4)-polygalacturonase) after previous de-esterification with the intention of isolating hairy regions and relate variation in structure to immunomodulating activity. The results showed that the high molecular RG-I containing polymers exhibit the highest dose-dependent complement fixing and macrophage stimulating activities. In other words, Elderflower modulates the immune system.

But Elderflower is not just for allergies.

Both the elderberries and elderflowers have a long tradition in herbal medicine of being used to reduce inflammation and diabetic symptoms, as diuretics, and in the treatment of colds and flu. Studies have shown that elderberry and elderflower extracts possess diverse biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antidiabetes effects. The results of this study done in 2017 bring new and supportive data to the inflammatory modulating properties of the phenolic compounds present in elderberries and elderflowers. Thus, intake of elderberry and elderflower might help to regulate inflammatory diseases.

In this study done in 2017, the infusions prepared from elderflowers contained more abundant phenolic compounds than the elderberry infusions.

In this study done in 2010, the aqueous elder extracts demonstrated a notable inhibition of E. coli growth. The elderflower extracts were most toxic to all the bacteria tested compared to the other extracts, even more than the elderberry extract. It also exhibited a larger zone of inhibitions when challenged against a wide range of bacteria (gram positive and gram negative nosocomial pathogens) and the highest inhibitory activity was towards MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

See why it is kept in my medicine cabinet?