Author: The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association, Tan Fangming
The idea that smoking is harmful to health has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but tobacco is a medicinal plant with a long history, and its medical value cannot be obliterated because of its harmfulness. Today, the pharmacist will talk about its well-known health benefits: the medicinal value of tobacco, but it is not for smoking.
Tobacco
Proclaims, promotes qi, dispels cold, and is poisonous. Functions and Indications: It is used to treat the exterior, good at chasing pathogenic cold and poison, miasma, rheumatism, and pain in muscles and bones. This effect is similar to Gegen Decoction and Maxing Shigan Decoction. It is used to treat the inside, strengthen the stomach qi, eat and drink, dispel yin turbidity and cold stagnation, eliminate food and stop vomiting, eliminate cholera, eliminate the accumulation of various insects, relieve stagnation, stop pain, move qi and lift depression, and access the triple burner. It can be seen that the effects of tobacco are many, and it can also soothe the liver and relieve depression, invigorate the middle and replenish qi, and expel insects.
At present, scientists have isolated and identified more than 40 kinds of alkaloids from tobacco, mainly including L-nicotine, quinine, dehydromustine, etc. The content of total alkaloids is about 1% to 9% Among them, the content of nicotine is the highest, accounting for about 95% of the total alkaloids of tobacco. Nisol , amino acids, rutin, chlorogenic acid , organic acids, lactones, enzymes and other active ingredients. Modern scientific research has proved that tobacco has very important medicinal value.
Regulates the central nervous system
The unique nicotine in tobacco has the mild effects of to stimulate the mind and to calm , that is, when you are anxious or tense, nicotine can play a role in eliminating tension and stabilizing emotions , and nicotine can make the mind clear when drowsy or the brain is unresponsive.Clinical trials have shown that nicotine supplementation has positive effects in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease patients, which may be related to nicotine's ability to desensitize dopamine neurons and thereby protect these neurons from immune ability to be potentially compromised. In addition, various acetylcholine-free neurons in the brain also have nicotinic receptors. It is speculated that nicotine may have a wider range of action, and nicotine and its related substances are very promising candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Improves cardiovascular system
coenzyme Q10 (also called ubiquinone 10) is currently the drug for to treat myocardial infarction and other heart disease , and patients with primary cardiomyopathy lack Coenzyme Q10 inherent in the human body, if not treated in time, will damage the heart muscle and cause the patient to die within 2 years. At the same time, solanesol in tobacco not only has the effect of treating cardiovascular disease , but also is an important intermediate in the synthesis of coenzyme Q10. The aspartic acid in tobacco also has a good effect on the treatment of weakened heart function.
Anti-cancer
McCormick et al. used tobacco extract to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma vaccine (a single-chain antibody protein fragment), which is used to treat human follicular lymphoma. Clinical trials have shown that more than 70% of patients have immune response , indicating that the vaccine induces a specific immune response by directing the immune system to directly attack the cancer cell .
Other
The nicotine extracted from tobacco waste can be used to prevent and treat leprosy, black tongue and stomatitis, enteritis, caused by lack of niacin after being made into niacin by oxidation Diarrhea, dermatitis, memory loss, mental depression and other symptoms also have a good effect on the healing of diseases and wounds such as hepatitis, heart disease, intestinal colon, enteritis, etc. Niacin can also be used as a The raw materials of niacinamide , nicolamin and nicotinate .
Therefore, tobacco has such great medicinal value, if it is only smoked as cigarettes, wouldn't it be sad to buy a scorpion for a pearl.
Review expert: Li Shasha, Deputy Chief Pharmacist, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association
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