Oats

Parts used: peeled fruits (as food and dietary food), freshly flowering plant (in homeopathy), green oats and oat straw (for baths).

Pharmacy name: oat fruit – Avenae fructus (formerly: Fructus Avenae), oat grass – Avenae herba (formerly: Herba Avenae), green oats – Avenae herba recens (formerly: Herba Avenae recens), oat straw – Avenae stramentum (formerly: Stramentum Avenae).

Botanical description. Oats are a cultivated plant that is cultivated everywhere. This cereal, like all cereals, grows vertically and bears spikelets at the end of a hollow stem, which consist of 2-4 flowers. Spikelets are located on peduncles and in turn form a panicle. Oat grains (more precisely, grains) are surrounded by scales with which they do not grow together. In this, by the way, oats differ from wheat, barley and rye. Blooms from June to August. In Germany, it is cultivated everywhere, its culture is possible even at an altitude of 1600 m above sea level. Oats are specially grown for the homeopathic tincture of Avena sativa because it requires a fresh flowering plant.

active substances. For dietary nutrition, the important amino acids contained in oats, B vitamins, minerals – phosphorus, iron, cobalt, manganese, zinc, aluminum, potassium and others – vitamins K and E, also provitamin A, trace elements boron and iodine are of great importance. No medicinal plant contains as much zinc as oats; silicic acid justifies the use of oat straw as a bath product. However, for medicine, along with all these components, a substance that has calming properties, the indole alkaloid avenin, is of great importance.

Healing action and application.The great benefit of oatmeal and other oat products is indisputable in states of weakness, in malnutrition, and as a dietary food for countless ailments. However, here, first of all, the calming effect of alcohol extracts from oats is of interest. A tincture can be prepared by soaking oat grains in 1:10 dilute ethyl alcohol, but it is better to use the homeopathic tincture Avena sati-va, about which there is the most information and with which considerable success has been achieved. It can be purchased at a pharmacy. In relation to oats as a sedative, allopathy and homeopathy work hand in hand. Green oats are also called aerial parts of plants that are green at the time of collection, collected shortly before full flowering, fresh or quickly dried. Green oats in recent years have gained a special fame, mainly in folk medicine. Tea from it finds use in nervous exhaustion as a sedative; it is also believed that it may lower the level of uric acid in the blood, help with rheumatism and gout, and serve well as a tonic for the elderly. They even try to use green oats as a means of improving cardiac activity and blood circulation, as well as for skin rashes and disorders in the genital area. It’s hard to say what’s actually true here. According to the German National Health Service, the effectiveness of drugs from oats has not been proven, and therefore it should not be prescribed for therapeutic purposes. However, since no side effects have been identified, I think

Use in homeopathy. In the foreground here are nervous exhaustion with loss of appetite, insomnia, distracted attention due to the abundance of worries. Along the way, the heartbeat normalizes. It is well treated with “oatmeal drops” also exhaustion as a result of sexual excesses or transferred infectious diseases. They also help those who want to quit smoking. Drug treatment facilities are also trying to use these drops. The initial dose is given several times every day with a dosage of approximately 5-10 (up to 15) drops in water. With acute insomnia, about 2-3 hours before bedtime, you can take 20 drops. Dilutions D, – D 1 are not often given, except for loss of appetite as a result of febrile illnesses.

My special advice. The homeopathic remedy Avena saliva has been found to be of great help to overworked managers, as well as schoolchildren and students, in preparing for exams, especially when taken in mixture (in equal amounts) with a tincture of valerian and/or with the homeopathic remedy Passiflora (p. 382). This mixture, when hot, acts as a sleeping pill.

Application in folk medicine.Here in the first place is an oat-straw bath. It is recommended for rheumatism, gout and metabolic disorders. Frostbite, scabs and female diseases can also be grounds for taking sitz and local baths. o Bath with oat straw: finely chopped oat straw – for a full bath within 100 g – boil in 3 liters of water for about 20 minutes, strain and add to the bath. And of course, one cannot fail to say about the love of oatmeal soups, oatmeal and oatmeal in folk medicine as a soft and strengthening food. Oatmeal is given for diseases of the stomach, intestines, kidneys and bladder, for diseases of the liver, spleen and lungs, for nervous disorders and insomnia. P. A. Mattiolus (1563) wrote the following about the action of oats: “Porridge with the addition of oatmeal is good against cough. Oatmeal mousse fixes the stool. Against the lumbar stone, the layman traditionally uses heated oats or juniper berries placed in a bag. Against scab and lichen in little babies, there is nothing better than boil oat straw and bathe in that broth.

Side effects. With a severe overdose, there may be headaches.

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