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Alternative medicine: Dill
Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:07:55
By Patricia Khashayar, MD., Press TV, Tehran
For thousands of years people have used dill Seed as a digestive aid and for treating diarrhea,
colic disorders and flatulence.
Botanical: Peucedanum graveolens (BENTH.)
Family: N.O. Compositae
Synonym: Anethum graveolus. Fructus Anethi
Habitat:
Dill is native to the Mediterranean region and Southern Russia.
Description:
Dill is a short-lived annual herb, which grows 40-60 centimeters in height. It has slender
stems and finely divided, delicate leaves. The flowers are white or yellow, in small umbels.
The flat fruits are produced in great quantities and have a very pungent and bitter taste.
Part Used Medicinally:
The dried ripe fruit (incorrectly named 'dill seed') and the fresh or dried aerial parts (dill
weed)
Constituents:
Dill oil has a pale yellow color with the odor of the fruit and a hot, acrid taste. It is a mixture
of a paraffin hydrocarbon and 40 to 60 percent of d-carvone, with d-limonene.
Dill leaves and seeds contain vitamin C, folic acid, beta-carotene and potassium.
Medicinal Uses:
Like the other umbelliferous fruits and volatile oils, both dill fruit and oil possess stimulant,
aromatic, carminative and stomachic properties.
The seeds are used to treat stomach ulcers, flatulence, stomach spasms, and jaundice.
They are also used to treat hemorrhoid, appetite loss, and coughing. Cooked dill is good for
treating different tumors.
Dill oil is used in mixtures, or 5-drop doses on sugar. Its most commonly used in preparing
'Dill Water', a domestic remedy for infantile flatulence.
It is said that sniffing dill powder can cure hiccups.
Drinking tea prepared from a teaspoon of crushed dill seeds in a cup of boiling water and
steeped for ten minutes before going to bed, can help insomniacs.
Dill seed has antibacterial qualities. It also contains flavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory
properties.
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It also has sedative effects and can be used as a breath freshener.
Dill is used as a laxative and increases lactation.
Preparation:
Two teaspoons of mashed seeds per cup of boiling water steeped for ten minutes make a
stomach-soothing remedy.
Small amounts of weak dill tea are used to treat colic or flatulence in children under two.
Many herbalists recommend combining dill and fennel to ease infantile colic.
Caution
Pregnant women should not use dill seed.
Some individuals may develop minor skin rashes following dill consumption.
PKH/HGH
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http://www.presstv.com/pop/print.aspx?id=32868 3/17/2008