Astragulas- Adaptogen and Ayurvedic Herb

The book listed at the bottom of this herb profile is one of the best books on Adaptogen herbs. Many of the Ayurvedic herbs are adaptogen herbs that help your body to work more effectively and efficiently.  This herb is generally used in combination with other herbs for greater benefit to the organ or system.  To get the healing you need to address your body system and its strengths and weaknesses. Imbalance sets into our weaknesses which leads to illness.

There are over 2000 species of Astragalus but only two of them are used for medicinal purposes. So, it is important that you deal with a responsible company that tests the products they sell to make sure it is the correct species.

This is one of the herbs we use to keep our immune function healthy from flu, Covid, and other seasonal health issues.

This herb can be taken in capsules, pills, extract, or powder mixed into smoothies or oatmeal. The taste of this herb may not be pleasant so be aware of that.

Astragalus membranaceus; Family: Fabaceae;

Common Names: Huang qi (Chinese) , hwang-gi (Korean); milk vetch and kibana-ogi (Japanese)

Taste/Energy: Sweet, slightly warm, and moist

Medicinal Part Used: 4-year mature Root (yellow in color)

Natural Habitat: native to China

Growing Requirements: Full sun; sandy soil; low nitrogen levels

Medicinal Benefits:  Adaptogen; antibacterial; antioxidant; antiperspirant; anti-inflammatory; heart tonic; liver protective; tonic for immune system functioning, anti-tumor inhibiting; Chinese studies show promise with combined with ligusticum fruit increased survival time for breast and some cell lung cancers; spleen supporting; used as a spleen tonic for lung qi;

Immune benefits: is used in Ayurvedic medicine to prevent colds, flu, viruses, lung infections, and other illness-producing bugs.  Do not use during acute illness because it feeds the illness according to Ayurvedic medicine protocol.

Liver, Kidney, and Spleen Benefits:  used in Ayurvedic medicine to protect the liver and kidney combined with milk thistle, Schisandra, and turmeric (liver herbs) or kidney herbs such as cordyceps, nettle seed, and S. miltirrhiza.

Cardio Benefits; Used combined with dan shen, dang gui, and corydalis tuber for angina and mild congestive heart failure.

Cancer: Is used to reduce the side effects from chemo and radiation treatments depending on the cancer treatment medications; consult dr first before using it.

Properties: polysaccharides including astragalans 1, 11, and 111; glucuronic acid, astragalosides1 go v11, flavones and isoflavones

How it is used: herb is usually found in combination with other herbs such as herbs to protect the liver, kidneys, or spleen.  Comes in tincture, capsules, or powder.

 

Medicinal Uses and Indications

The following information was originally quoted directly from Pen State Hershey Medical Center Research. This article is no longer available on their site. The man who published his article is no longer there it seems. I leave it as quoted at that time.

Astragalus has been used for the following in India for hundreds of years and is still used today by both the people and given to patients by their Indian doctors in many countries:

• Adaptogen. Protects the body from stress and disease.

 

• Anemia. One early study suggested astragalus may improve blood counts in people with aplastic anemia. The study was poorly designed, so more research is needed.

 

• Colds and influenza. In TCM, astragalus is used as part of an herbal combination to prevent or treat colds, although TCM theory holds that, in some cases, it may make colds worse. Evidence in animal and laboratory tests suggests it may act against viruses like the ones that cause colds.

 

• Diabetes. Astragalus appears to lower blood sugar. More studies are needed to determine whether it can help treat diabetes.

 

• Fatigue or lack of appetite from chemotherapy. Some studies suggest astragalus may help reduce side effects from chemotherapy. The studies have not been well designed, however. More research is needed.

 

• Heart disease. Several studies suggest that astragalus may act as an antioxidant and help treat heart disease. Other studies suggest astragalus may help lower cholesterol levels.

 

• Hepatitis. A few studies have used a combination of herbs containing astragalus to treat hepatitis. Results have been mixed.

 

• Kidney disease. Preliminary research suggests astragalus may help protect the kidneys and may help treat kidney disease. More studies are needed.

 

• Seasonal allergies. One study found that astragalus may help reduce symptoms in people who have allergic rhinitis or hay fever.

 

• Cancer. Preliminary studies suggest astragalus may have anti-tumor effects, specifically against melanoma and leukemia. ”  Again this originally came from a published paper at PenState but is no longer available.