History of Using Home Remedies

The history of using home remedies dates back to thousands of years ago. Almost every country had a number of plants that they used for medicinal purposes. The home remedies were ingested in various forms. Some communities would chew the barks or the twigs of various trees while others would brew tea prepared with extracts from the medicinal plants. Japan and China were famous for their remedial tea that still exists in some places. In those days, there was no knowledge of chemical compositions and concentration of medicinal content. People could consume large quantities of certain herbs and it is assumed that some of the medicinal content would remain in the body as a form of natural vaccine.

Some of the famous traditional home remedies were the ginger plant that was used by many communities to cure flu and sore throat. The wattle tree and opium poppies were also common among the ancient Indian communities were used to cure headaches and muscular pains respectively. In Australia, the common remedy for diabetes was wild plum extracts. The Cinchona tree was used in many parts of the world as a cure for fatigue. Potatoes were used to treat excessive body sweating by rubbing them on the body. Other common remedies included stinging nettle and chicken soup which was used to treat problems in the respiratory canal.

It is the knowledge of home remedies that has seen the pharmaceutical industry to grow to its current state. For instance; the development of quinine medicine was based on deciphering the medical component in the Cinchona plant so that the content could be extracted before it could be used to develop quinine tablets. The famous aspirin that is used across the world as a painkiller was used in Asia and South America as a cure for fever and aches. It is this invention that inspired pharmacists to research and discover that the barks of the wattle tree had a high content of acid acetylsalicylic. This acid enhances pain relief in the body and it is also given to children who are restless at night due to fever.

Most of the home remedies used was meant to reduce effects of aches. These treatments were used for generic reasons and they somehow managed to work. While some of these remedies were discovered by accident, they were greatly treasured and the families that had the medicinal knowledge would pass it down the lineage. There were very few instances of side-effects since the human body mechanism is able to ingest the right amount of medicinal content it requires while it excretes the rest through urine. There were other specific treatments that were used to treat major ailments like blood clotting and heart diseases.

To sum it all up, the home remedies were found to be rich in medicinal content referred to as phytonutrients and phytochemicals with phyto referring to plants. These extracts have made it possible for pharmacists to produce various qualities of medicines for various aches and ailments depending on the strength of the phytonutrient in relation to the magnitude of the targeted ailment.