Evening Primrose:What about its aroma essentials and natural gamma-linolenic acid.

Contents

• Basic Botanical Info:Evening Primrose.
• Evening Primrose Physical Characteristics and Botanical Description.
• Phytochemicals and Constituents of Evening Primrose.
• Evening Primrose Edible Uses and Properties.
• Evening Primrose Oil and Other GLAs.
• Herbalism medicinal uses of Evening Primrose.
• Evening Primrose Suggestions and Administrations.
• How Evening Primrose Can Help.
• Evening Primrose History and Uses:Area of Adaptation,Cultivation and Processing.
• Evening Primrose Research Update.

Evening Primrose Suggestions and Administrations.:

Dosage As a supplement:

 Skin rash, mastalgia (breast pain), and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are the three conditions for which dosages have been recommended. For skin rash, the recommended daily dosage is 6 to 8 g for adults and 2 to 4 g for children. For mastalgia, the recommended dosage is 3 to 4 g daily. For PMS, the recommended dosage is 3 g daily. EPO is available as capsules and as oil. Follow package directions

 If you are taking EPO for arthritis, dry and scaly skin, or most other conditions, a dosage of about 3 g per day is considered safe. Be sure to discuss this with your health care provider before taking EPO.

 The beneficial oils are concentrated in the seed of this plant, although the whole plant is edible. Although many people may have inadequate levels of GLA, the optimal intake for this nutrient remains unknown. Researchers often use 3,000~6,000 mg of EPO per day, which provides approximately 270~540 mg of GLA.


 How to Take It and How Much:

 You can take evening primrose in two forms: as seeds, or preferably, as standardized EPO supplements. Both contain GLA.

 Seeds. If you use the seeds of the evening primrose, grind them first with a mortar and pestle, which I do when making my cornbread. I suspect that unmashed seeds pass straight through the digestive system undigested, which means you may eliminate--quite literally--the health benefits.

 In the autumn, I'll often pass a patch of evening primroses on one of my nature walks through my Green Farmacy Garden. Since I don't have my mortar and pestle handy, I'll just shake the seeds from the plant into my palm and chew the unmashed seeds for a quick GLA fix, using my molars as mortars and pestles.

 Supplements. For most people, I recommend taking standardized evening primrose oil preparations with specified levels of GLA. You have to eat an awful lot of seeds to get the equivalent of a standardized supplement, and buying the herb in capsules, or in bottle form as an extract, at your health food store is a far more practical alternative. Suggested dosages are usually two 1,300-milligram capsules per day or up to four to eight grams of evening primrose oil daily.


 Combinations: Useful Combinations

 Taking evening primrose in conjunction with other herbs and foods can boost its healthful effects.

 Borage and black currant oils. borage and black currant, like evening primose, are rich in GLA and effective when taken in combination. While neither has been researched as thoroughly as evening primrose, studies suggest both may be effective in treating a variety of health complaints. In one study done at the University of California, San Francisco, borage oil lowered blood pressure in rats with hypertension. One caution: Unlike evening primrose oil, borage, the herb, is not safe for long-term use and should not be taken by pregnant or lactating women. The borage plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

 Pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Like evening primrose seeds, these contain tryptophan, which boosts serotonin levels in the brain and acts as an herbal mood enhancer. Try eating all three types together as a kind of happy trail mix. Since many people tend to eat more when they're feeling blue, it's good to know that nibbling on these seeds can also curb the appetite. It's a chain reaction: Tryptophan raises your serotonin levels, and they turn around and tell your satiety centers you're not hungry anymore.

 Saw palmetto. If you are concerned about prostate health, take saw palmetto before you go with EPO. Saw palmetto has earned a rightful place in Duke's Dozen because it shows remarkable promise for keeping the prostate in good working order.

 St. John's wort is another weapon, Both St. John's wort and evening primrose calm skin irritations. To treat dermatitis, insect bites, or scabies (an itch caused by parasites under the skin), steep flowering shoots of St. John's wort for a few days in enough EPO to cover them, then dab the infused oil onto affected areas. If you don't have access to the fresh herb, you can use a tincture of St. John's wort.

 The same herbal mixture may also provide relief for rheumatoid arthritis. Try smoothing it onto achy joints once a day.

 Stinging nettle. Along with evening primrose, stinging nettle is rich in quercetin, a bioflavonoid important to good health. People plagued by seasonal pollen allergies have learned that stinging nettle lets them to do away with antihistamines, drugs with significant toxicity and, often, undesirable side effects. Its efficacy in treating hay fever symptoms has been confirmed in one controlled clinical trial.
 

 Cautions:Contraindications, Interactions, and Side Effects

 Some nurseries sell evening primrose, but they are actually a small, showy hybrid of the perennial Missouri Primrose, and does not have the same medicinal uses.

 Brief: The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) gives EPO a class 1 safety rating, which means it's safe with appropriate use. There have been rare reports of nausea and headaches from using it. Stomach pain and loose stools may be indications that your dosage is too high.

 Pregnancy Safety: Taking EPO while breastfeeding is believed to be safe. Breast milk actually contains both LA and GLA, and it may be a necessary part of a newborn's diet. Safety during pregnancy has not been determined

 Research on evening primrose looks clean. Like most food farmaceuticals, it's generally safe and causes far fewer side effects than most of its pharmaceutical alternatives. Still, keep an eye out for the following.

 Headaches: Some scientific findings have shown that headaches and even nausea can occur in some people who take EPO. I heard one report from a friend who said she got migraines if she took large dosages of evening primrose seed for her PMS. She's not sure, I'm not sure, and the jury's still out until definitive studies are done.


 Pharmaceutical alert: Schizophrenic patients on phenothiazines (Thorazine) may experience mild breathing difficulties or even increased risk of epilepsy, according to some research studies on such patients who took EPO.

 Pregnancy and lactation: EPO is generally given the go-ahead for breastfeeding mothers, since GLA is found in breast milk. However, it's probably smart to stay on the safe side if you are pregnant or lactating. Consult your physician.

Reference:

• 1.Evening Primrose:What about its aroma essentials and natural gamma-linolenic acid.

This article written and edited via herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional. They run a range of online descriptions about this herb,including general information related and summarized updating discoveries from findings of professional scientisits this field related.Describe style aimed to form a useful detecting literature space where the intertwined threshold and related questions raise out and visualize themselves.

♣ last edit date:22nd,Oct.2010.