Health Benefits
Horse Chestnut can be seen rolling all over the streets of the Northern hemisphere in the autumn. You may not be able to roast it on an open fire, but you might be interested to know that horse chestnut is an effective dietary supplement that’s been used for hundreds of years to treat a number of conditions:
Helps Vein Problems
Reduces Swelling and inflammation
Contains Powerful Antioxidants
Helps with Hemorrhoids
Improves Male Fertility
Anti-aging Effects
Cancer-fighting effects
Helps Vein Problems
Horse chestnut is most famous for its beneficial effects on the veins and swelling. Valves in veins help carry blood from the legs back to the heart. When the valves become weakened or damaged it may lead to swelling, pain, fatigue, tension, and itching in the legs.
Leg vein problems, like varicose veins and blood clots (deep vein thrombosis) are risk factors for developing chronic venous insufficiency (CVI).
Conventional medical treatment of CVI typically consists of compression treatment, which many patients don’t like due to the discomfort involved. CVI can be very uncomfortable and painful and it can limit the movements and lower the quality of life.
Luckily, numerous studies ( 1, 2 ) confirm the benefits of horse chestnuts for treating chronic vein problems. Horse chestnut seeds reduce the amount of fluids in lower legs as well as ankle and calf swelling in people with chronic leg problems.
Reduces Swelling and inflammation
Edema is caused by the buildup of fluids under the skin, leading to swelling. It can affect the lower legs and feet, and symptoms include stiff joints, aching limbs, skin color changes, and weight gain.
Escin, a compound in Horse Chestnut reduces swelling and fever, and helps the contraction of veins and pushing blood back to the heart. It acts by blocking the release of inflammatory compounds and reducing the activation of immune cells that increase inflammation.
Contains Powerful Antioxidants
Free radicals are compounds that form in your body as a result of things like stress, pollution and a poor diet. Over time, the accumulation of free radicals can lead to cell damage and chronic disease. Antioxidants can help neutralize free radicals and have been shown to reduce the risk of conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Horse chestnut contains some incredible antioxidants, which can help your body to fight free radical damage and fight disease more effectively . Studies have discovered both quercetin and kaempferol glycosides in horse chestnut, two antioxidants praised for their intense disease-fighting capabilities.
Helps with Hemorrhoids
According to research published in Alternative Medicine Review, horse chestnut has been shown to improve microcirculation, capillary flow and vascular tone, all of which are helpful in the case of hemorrhoids.
For hemorrhoids, Horse Chestnut is mostly used topically, either as a tea or tincture (or cream) that is applied on the painful place with a cotton ball or as a wash.
Improves Male Fertility
We have already mentioned the ingredient called escin, which is very beneficial for veins and swelling. Possibly through the same mechanisms with which horse chestnut positively impacts chronic venous insufficiency, escin seems to safely increase count and quality of sperm in men with varicocele-associated infertility, according to a 2010 research study.
This particular form of infertility is caused by enlarged varicose veins within the scrotum and affects 15 out of 100 men overall and 40 out of 100 men with diagnosed or known infertility.Due to the rate at which male infertility is increasing, it’s become more important than ever to understand ways to support and maintain healthy sperm counts.
Anti-aging Effects
Because of it’s beneficial effect on blow flow, circulation, veins and its powerful antioxidants, Horse Chestnut is a great helper to keep a healthy, glowing and beautiful skin!
Cancer-fighting effects
In a laboratory setting, horse chestnut extract has shown cancer-fighting effects on cells related to leukemia, cervical cancer and breast cancer. The most drastic of these were Jurkat cells, used to test a type of cancer known as acute T-cell leukemia, in which the lab tests found a cell death rate of nearly 94 percent.
