Chamomile on Stomach Ailments

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BIOQ121 – Foundations of Critical Enquiry Assessment B Traditional Evidence Literature Review Due: Week 11 Sunday the 19th of October 2014 Student Number: 245211 Word count: 675 (Excluding Reference list) A Critical Review on the effects of Chamomile in treating stomach ailments The chamomile flower has been used widely for medicinal purposes since the beginning of ancient times (Franke 2005). Treating disease conditions such as hay fever, inflammation, muscle spasms, menstrual disorders, insomnia and wounds, just to name a few, it is one of the most widely used and well documented plants in the world (Srivastava 2010). Its medicinal effect has been common knowledge among physicians for the past 2500 years, with descriptions of the plant being published in many traditional texts (Franke 2005). Originating from the Asteraceae/Compositae family Chamomile is distinguished by two variations, those being, The German Chamomile and the Roman Chamomile. Both of these Chamomile variations contain terpenoids and flavonoids which make up its medicinal properties (Srivastava 2010). For the purpose of this review, which will look at the medicinal use of Chamomile in treating stomach ailments, two traditional sources have been located ; Culpeper’s Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper (1814) and The Complete Herbalist by O.Phelps Brown (1878). Culpeper (1814, pp. 73 to 75) states that the decoction of chamomile relieves “all pains and stitches in the side”, continuing to show that it has a “wonderful speedy property” on “torments of the belly”. His work states that in order to obtain its full medicinal properties the chamomile should be used in a clyster, or smeared onto the problematic area. In addition to this, Culpeper states that the use of Chamomile is extremely profitable for inflammation of the bowels and the digestive track. Additionally, Brown (1878,

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