Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Herb for the Wise

Family: Labiatae; (includes Mints)

Genus and Species: Salvia Officinalis

Also known as: Garden, Meadow, Spanish, Greek, or Dalmatian Sage

Parts used: Leaves

Close your eyes and imagine Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. Chances are the warm, rich aroma comes from sage. Thousands of years before the Pilgrims stuffed the first Thanksgiving turkey, people all over the world were celebrating the Healing powers of this aromatic herb. The generic name for sage, Salvia, comes from the Latin word meaning “to heal.”

Sage was used to treat so many maladies, it gained a reputation as a panacea, prompting herb expert Varro Tyler, Ph.D., to write: “If one consults enough herbals … every sickness known to humanity will be listed as being cured by sage.” Sage is no cure-all, but research shows this herb has some value as an antiperspirant, preservative, wound treatment, and digestive aid.

The Immortality Herb

The ancient Greeks and Romans first used sage as a meat preservative. They also believed it could enhance memory, like another powerful preservative, rosemary. But sage gained a much broader medicinal reputation. The Roman naturalist Pliny prescribed it for snakebite, epilepsy, intestinal worms, chest ailments, and menstruation promotion. The Greek physician Dioscorides considered it a diuretic and menstruation promoter and recommended sage leaves as bandages for wounds.

Around the l Oth century, Arab physicians believed sage extended life to the point of immortality. After the Crusades, this belief showed up in Europe, where students at the medieval world’s most prestigious medical school in Salerno, Italy, recited: “Why should a man die who grows sage in his garden?” The same thought evolved into a medieval English proverb: “He that would live foraye [forever] - Must eat sage in May.”

The French called the herb toute bonne, “all’s well.” and had their own adage: “Sage helps the nerves, and by its powerful might/Palsy is cured and fever put to flight.” Charlemagne ordered sage grown in the medicinal herb gardens on his imperial farms.

Widely Prescribed

Around the year 1000, an Icelandic herbal recommended sage for bladder infections and kidney stones. German abbess/herbalist Hildegard of Bingen prescribed sage for headache and gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments from the common cold to tuberculosis.

During the 16th century, Dutch explorers introduced sage to the Chinese, who prized it so highly they gladly traded 3 pounds of their own tea for each pound of the new European healer. Chinese physicians used sage to treat insomnia, depression, gastrointestinal distress, mental illness, menstrual complaints, and nipple inflammation (mastitis) in nursing mothers.

India’s traditional Ayurvedic physicians used Indian sage similarly. They also prescribed it for hemorrhoids, gonorrhea, vaginitis, and eye disorders.

Herbalist John Gerard called sage “singularly good forthe head and brain. It quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that have palsy, and taketh away shaky trembling of the members.” Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper seconded Gerard, and recommended sage “boiled in water or wine to wash sore mouths and throats, cankers, or the secret parts [genttals] of man or woman.”

America Embraces the Herb

Colonists introduced sage into North America, where it was widely used by folk healers to treat insomnia, epilepsy, measles, seasickness, and intestinal worms.

America’s 19th-century Eclectics used sage primarily to treat fever. They also prescribed sage poultices for arthritis and the tea as “a valuable anaphrodisiac I sexual depressant I to check excessive venereal desires … used in connection with moral … and other aids, if necessary.”

As late as the 1920s, U.s. medical texts recommended sage tea as a gargle for sore throat and sage leaf poultices for sprains and swellings.

Modern herbalists recommend sage externally for wounds and insect bites, as a gargle for bleeding gums, sore throat, laryngitis, tonsillitis, and in an infusion to reduce perspiration, terminate milk production, and treat dizziness, depression, menstrual irregularity, and intestinal upsets.

Toute bonne overstates things a bit, but sage contains an aromatic oil with some value in herbal Healing. The oil has one unique property that sets sage apart from all other Healing herbs-it reduces perspiration.

Antiperspirant - Several studies show sage cuts perspiration by as much as 50 percent, with the maximum effect occurring 2 hours after ingestion. This effect helps explain how sage developed a reputation for treating fever, which causes profuse sweating, and for drying up mothers’ milk. Today a sage-based antiperspirant (Salysat) is marketed in Germany.

Wound Treatment - Sage is active against several infection-causing bacteria in the test tube, lending some credence to its age-old use in treating wounds. Modern physicians would not recommend bandaging wounds with sage leaves as did Dioscorides, but for cuts and scrapes in the garden, you may want to crush some sage leaves into the wound on the way to washing and bandaging it.

Preservative - Meats spoil in part because their fats turn rancid (oxidize). Like rosemary, sage contains powerful antioxidants, which slow spoilage. The antioxidants in sage, comparable to the commercial preservatives BHA and BHT, support its traditional use as a preservative.

Sage’s preservative action may help prevent food poisoning on your next picnic. Mix it generously into hamburger meat and tuna, pasta, and potato salads.

Digestive Aid - Like most culinary spices, sage may help relax the smooth muscle lining of the digestive tract (making it an antispasmodic). This property lends support to the herb’s traditional use in gastrointestinal complaints.

Diabetes - One German study shows sage reduces blood sugar (glucose) levels in diabetics who drink the infusion on an empty stomach. Diabetes is a serious condition requiring professional care. If you’d like to include sage in your overall management plan, discuss the herb with your physician.

Sore Throat - Sage contains astringent tannins, which account for its traditional use in treating canker sores, bleeding gums, and sore throat. In Germany, where herbal Healing is more mainstream than it is in the United States, physicians recommend a hot sage gargle for sore throat and tonsillitis.

Women’s Health - Some studies suggest sage oil may stimulate the uterus, possibly explaining its traditional use in menstruation promotion. Pregnant women should not take medicinal doses. Other women might try it to bring on their periods.

Rx for Sage

For garden first aid, crush some fresh leaves into cuts and scrapes on the way to thoroughly washing and bandaging them.

For an infusion to settle the stomach, or possibly help manage diabetes, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried leaves per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 minutes. Drink up to 3 cups a day. This may also be used as a gargle. Sage tastes warm, pleasantly aromatic, and somewhat pungent.

In a tincture, take ½ to 1 teaspoon up to three times a day.

It might also help reduce wetness if you perspire a lot.

Medicinal doses of sage should not be given to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.