Horsetail

This video series is about herbalism and the healing properties of plants. The focus is on horsetail, a plant native to the Pacific Northwest and Montana. The video covers where to find horsetail, how to identify it, its components, benefits, side effects, and edibility. Horsetail is rich in vitamins, minerals, and other compounds that have various health benefits, such as improving wound healing, promoting healthy bones and teeth, treating skin problems, preventing kidney stones, and alleviating signs of aging. It also has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, it's important to consult with a physician before using any herbs. Hey fellow foragers, welcome to Wild Craft Science 101. I'm a practicing nurse and I study herbalism. I created this video series as an educational tool, but I'm not a provider, and before foraging or using these herbs, it's always wise to consult with your physician to make sure it is right for you. I became fascinated with the healing properties of plants and the science behind them, as an adjunctive therapy, and also giving the general public their health autonomy back. I've worked in hospitals as a nurse since 2016, where we're constantly prescribing medications, running labs, doing imaging, and even surgery, with very minimal word about diet, lifestyle, activities to minimize stress, or even herbs that have less side effects, that can be used with or without pharmaceuticals. I'm here to bring options to you guys, and teach you how to take control of your health by being outside in nature and finding things that heal us, right outside our door, instead of being made in a lab. I've researched all of these herbs I will talk about, and I will post links of the studies that have been performed on them. Because herbalism is newly accepted into the science and medical community, and is far less lucrative, there's less studies on them. There are many herbs that have been, and are currently being studied, but they are less than the pharmaceutical ones. However, Chinese traditional medicine has been studying these herbs for thousands of years. Back in 2012, they actually discovered a clay tablet that belonged to the Sumerians of Mesopotamia that documented the use of over 250 plants more than 5,000 years ago. Many cultures, including Native Americans and indigenous peoples, have depended upon these herbs for survival. Many anecdotal references are present today because of them, but I hope in the future, most herbs will have been heavily researched. The herbs we'll talk about today, thankfully, have been researched across the world. So, let's get down to it. Today, we're going to talk about horsetail. In this talk, I will discuss where to find horsetail, the identification of the plant, and what it can be confused with, as well as components, benefits with the studies, side effects, as well as edibility and how to prepare it. I'm not going to discuss dosing, as I'm not a physician, and feel it's best to do your own research. The appropriate safe dosages are readily available online for the average adult. Horsetail's botanical name is Equisetum arvens. It's also known as snakegrass or bottle brush. It has a lot of nicknames throughout this country. So, why did I choose this herb? It's really common. It's native to the Pacific Northwest and also in Montana. I found this in my own backyard. It's widespread across the western two-thirds of the state. It's difficult to get rid of due to its tenacity and deep roots, and it's actually considered a weed by some people. It's also really easy to identify, so it's an excellent plant to learn to forage, especially if you're a beginner. A lot of plants' existence has been threatened by irresponsible foraging, but this one does quite well, and it's underutilized. A good foraging tip for you guys is try not to pick more than one-fifth of the plants in your area so they can continue to thrive. We can continue to come for generations and pick these herbs in a responsible manner so others can use them, too. Herbs taste best in the morning after the dew has evaporated, but the sun has not yet dried out their aromatic oils. And something to note, horsetail absorbs the surrounding heavy metals and chemicals in the soil, so you really should avoid contaminated areas or anything near a roadside. Make sure that it's not near any of that. So where is this plant found? It's often found along wet or damp soil, along creeks or streams or shaded areas. In the area above our house that I found it in, it had shaded coverage with conifers and a lot of deciduous trees, and there's a seasonal creek that runs through and makes everything pretty muddy, and so it just absolutely thrives in that area. Identification of this plant. I find this plant really easy to identify. I haven't been foraging for decades, and I didn't find it challenging. It's grooved, it's got jointed hollow stems with 3 to 40 ridges, although the ones I found I would say were closer to 3 to 10. They didn't have 40 ridges. They reproduce via spores, so the leaves aren't actually true leaves. They look like miniature horsetails, which I imagine is where they got their name, but they don't conduct photosynthesis. They're soft like a fern, but more straight like a fir, like pine needle leaves. The fertile stems are green, and they slightly resemble small trees with whorled branches as a node. Those are the ones that you can really just chop up and eat as is, and you can make into things or you can cook them up. The sterile stems are brown in color. You can actually peel off the brown and eat it, but they're a little bit more bitter. They resemble bottle brushes or small asparagus shoots, which is one of their many nicknames. Something that we always want to talk about when we're foraging is what plant can it be confused with? Is it something that could potentially kill me? Really big things. It has been confused with scouring rush before, but it differs because they don't have the two different stem types. The stems of scouring rush are all fertile, that green, and they resemble the horsetail in that manner, but they have two black bands of their joints. They're also in more drier sections of agricultural fields, and they can be eaten like asparagus, but large quantities are known to be toxic. Over 230 million years ago, horsetails were some of the most common plants in the world. Some species were actually towering 100 feet tall. For reference, a Tyrannosaurus rex on average was 12 to 20 feet tall. The remains of these giant plants were significant players in forming the coal and oil that we use today, which I thought was a pretty cool fact. Components of horsetail. It has so many vitamins and minerals, but we'll get down to the ones that are the most significant and unique to this plant. It has vitamin C. It has thiamine B1. I couldn't actually find info on the amount of thiamine. I'm imagining it's not a ton, but it does contain thiaminase, which is an enzyme that breaks down thiamine. Thorough cooking is supposed to negate this, but if you are an alcoholic or suffer from a thiamine deficiency, it's really not recommended to consume this herb. It has riboflavin, which is B2, niacin, which is B3, pantothenic acid, which is B5, and pyridoxine, which is B6. It contains folate, but it is not recommended in pregnant moms or lactating moms. It has vitamin E and K. It has potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper. It also contains silica and silicic acid, up to 25% of the plant. The only thing that is comparable to this in this world is bamboo, which obviously we are not finding in Montana. It aids in calcium metabolism, which makes for stronger hair, bones, teeth, and connective tissues. It contains kynurenic acid, which is an anti-excitotoxic and also an anti-convulsant. It has sterile pyrones, which is commonly found in fungi, chlorophyll, which is known for its detoxification properties, as well as benefits to the immune system and quality to red blood cells. It has weight loss benefits, it's a body odor neutralizer, and it can also help with energy. It contains alkaloids, which have anti-proliferation effects, as well as antibacterial, antiviral, insecticidal, and even anti-metastatic. It contains flavonoids, which are anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral. Horsetail flavonoids specifically are currently being studied for nausea, bloating, stomach pain, and digestion. It has phenolics compounds, which are known for their anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-proliferative effects. They have a strong protective activity against free radicals, lipid paradoxation, and oxidative agents, per an NIH study. Lipid paradoxation is when free radicals actually eat and break down lipids in the body. Phytosterols are known to help manage cholesterol, reduce heart attack and stroke, your cardiovascular disease risk. Phytosterols and flavonoids in horsetail might even be at play here. Studies in post-menopausal women that they've done show that it decreased fat and could be a key in reducing that fat and preventing cardiovascular disease in that population, which is really exciting research. It contains saponins, which decrease lipids and blood sugar response. It can even lower your cancer risk. It has sterols, which may reduce cholesterol, tannins, which lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and stimulate the immune system. So I think that there needs to be more research done, but horsetail clearly has a positive effect on lowering cholesterol. Triterpenoids, which are anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antimicrobial, antitumor, and they're known as an immunomodulator, which means that they can have either an increase or inhibit your immune system. They also contain volatile oils, which are used for a variety of things. There's a lot of different volatile oils in plants. A lot of them have that, but if you think of like peppermint or lemon balm, peppermint's very strong smelling. Whenever you take a peppermint plant, you get the scent very easily, and it's really helpful for nausea, digestion, and headaches. It can have a lot of benefits. One of my favorite facts about plant medicine is that people have been using these plants to heal for thousands of years. It's just in the last 50 that we've lost it and resorted to a conventional medicine-only model. Dating back to the ancient Roman and Greek era, it was utilized for cessation of bleeding, ulcers, and wounds, as well as treating tuberculosis and kidney conditions. Native Americans, who were really the true herbalists of the world, used them as diuretics, kidney tonics, laxatives, poultice for an armpit or groin rash where it's just ground up kind of into a powder, and then it was also used to stop bleeding, heal cuts, wounds, and sores. They powdered the stems of the plant, placed them in their moccasins to prevent cramps when they went on long journeys. They also burned the stems into ash, and they'd use that for sore throats or as a wash for itching or sores. And then they would also use that for polishing their pipes, bows, and arrows. It was given to teething babies. Kids would even make whistles out of them, but they were warned it would attract snakes, which I do wonder if that's how they got the name snake grass. European herbalists even used it for kidney stones, which increased urine flow and to stop bleeding. Housewives historically used it to renew tins, floors, and wood. They used it as steel wool for scrubbing pots and polishing wood by European cabinet makers. Germany has even approved horsetail for the treatment of edema in a more traumatic setting and also irrigating for lower urinary tract disease. This herb has a history of use for gout, gonorrhea, stomach problems, menstrual irregularities, bronchitis, and tuberculosis. But some providers today prescribe it for osteoporosis, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, brittle nails, intestinal bleeding, and minor wounds and burns topically. There's so many health benefits to this herb, so bear with me here. We're going to go through them as well as the research studies that are associated with them. So the first one we're going to talk about is bleeding and healing wounds. This herb is a styptic, meaning it contracts tissues to actually seal off the injured blood vessel and coagulate wound surfaces. The stems or the tops can be applied directly to the wound. It can be used for heavy menstruation as well. I feel like this is really important to know if you're ever someone that wants to backpack with dried herbs. Obviously, there's other things like comfrey root and yarrow, but I think that horsetail has some benefits here as well. Silicon, which synthesizes collagen and optimizes strength and elasticity, a randomized placebo-controlled trial by the Iranian Crescent Medical Journal, found that a 3% horsetail ointment actually promoted wound healing and relieved pain 10 days post episiotomy. A Turkish study found animals with ointments containing 5-10% horsetail increased diabetic wound healing significantly by modulating interleukin-10 and MCP-1, or monocyte chemoattractant proteins, that released and synthesized collagen. So, what the heck is interleukin-10 and what is this MCP business? They are cytokines. Cytokines are basically immune cell proteins that can either enhance or inhibit the immune response. So, proteins that help with the immune system fight things off. Monocytes are what become macrophages in the bloodstream, and then macrophages are essentially the waste management system. They rid of pathogens, debris, dead cells. They ingest foreign material. I think of them as like the dumpster truck guys. They also are known for phagocytosis, where they're actually like eating the foreign material that our body doesn't want in there. So, hopefully you guys are still with me, but monocytes, macrophages, they're cytokines and these are immune cell proteins that can help with our immune response. So, this MCP-1, or monocyte chemoattractant proteins, are chemokines that regulate migration and infiltration of monocytes and macrophages. IL-10, or interleukin-10, are cytokines with potent anti-inflammatory properties that play a central role in limiting host immune response to pathogens. They also boost weight loss. So, kind of a big deal there. Healthy bones and teeth, high concentrations of silica, strong hair, teeth, bones, and they also increase bone density in patients with osteoporosis, which is really difficult to do. My mother, specifically, has struggled with bone density loss after suffering from cancer and going through chemotherapy. And her physicians, she has boosted her bone density and it's so rare to see that they, like the doctors don't even believe it from the supplements that she takes. But it's really, really difficult for patients to actually grow their bone density. So, kind of cool that you can just take horsetail and it can benefit this. But, it can be made into strengthening hair rinses, tooth powder to help with cavities and enamel repair, and can even improve oral candida and gingivitis. Which, if you guys are like me, I never have had a cavity in my entire life, but my stupid gums always want to have the gingivitis and the bacteria associated with it. So, I think it would be pretty cool to use this as a mouthwash and I'm hoping to do so in the future. Brittle nails. It contains psilocyc acid and psilocytes. The Journal of Plastic Dermatology found in two clinical trials that it decreased longitudinal grooves and had an 85% decreased lamellar splitting of treated nails. The other study found that it improved the fragility and the splitting and also improved the longitudinal grooves. Hair growth. There was a significant source of silica in horsetail, as I've discussed multiple times at this point. The Journal of Clinical Aesthetic Dermatology found that horsetail derived silica significantly increased hair growth at 90 and 180 days in women 21 to 75 with thinning hair. Horsetail is helpful for hair as a tincture or a tea and a tea can actually be used as a hair rinse. Skin problems like acne and eczema are often linked to inflammation. Multiple studies are showing that horsetail actually diminishes inflammation in the body. So, they're thinking that it will be helpful for things like acne and eczema in the future. Kidney problems and edema. So, horsetail is actually diuretic. It rids of fluids, salt, and uric acid. So, it's not a good herb for long, long-term use, but it can actually help prevent kidney stones from occurring because of the diuretic effects. It improves peripheral edema that they found in a random double-blind clinical trial by an evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine. They did a dried extract of 900 milligrams a day versus cornstarch and hydrochlorothiazide, which hydrochlorothiazide is a common diuretic prescribed in hospitals and outpatient today. So, they did 25 milligrams for four days with a 10-day washout and actually found that it was equally effective as hydrochlorothiazide. On top of that, it didn't have any liver or kidney function issues or electrolyte depletion, which is a really common side effect of these diuretics because they're making you pee out a lot of these electrolytes. I don't know if that's because you retain more of the electrolytes with the horsetail or if it's because it contains all of the electrolytes, but either way, it seems to be a benefit. It alleviates signs of aging. So, silica stimulates the collagen production to actually prevent wrinkles and healthy hair internally and then externally as a toner to hair or a topical cream or salve for the skin. So, I think that's really exciting. I'm actually going to try and make a cream this week that contains a bunch of horsetail, and I'm going to see how it affects me. It treats infections. There's anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties. Infections can be treated with a warm compress or a poultice made of crushed dried herb. Antibacterial and antiseptic. So, it boosts the immunity and it protects your body against pathogens. It decreases inflammation, which you can utilize by trying in a tea or a powder in capsule form. Phytotherapy research by the University of NIS in Siberia tested against Staph aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumonia with a 1 to 10 dilution and actually found it effective as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which is really interesting considering there's not a lot of side effects. Other than the thiamine deficiency with horsetail and antibiotics can have quite a few, not to mention a lot of people are allergic to things like the penicillins of the world. There's also isoquercetin, which is an active constituent and it's shown in studies to reduce flu symptoms. It's been used for foot fungus and infections where people soak their feet in a horsetail powder infused water, then they soak their feet for 15 minutes daily to try and treat, and then every other day to prevent infection. I don't really think that it would be necessary to prevent foot fungus and infections unless maybe you were backpacking in a really swampy area and you were concerned that you were going to have some major foot issues. Nasal congestion, bronchitis, sore throat, and respiratory issues. Horsetail tea can be utilized for this. People inhale the vapors or they also use steam humidifiers. Inhaling can assist with the congestion. It's also known as an expectorant, so getting all that crud out of your lungs and coughing it out, and an immune modulator where it helps or inhibits the immune system and it's anti-inflammatory. You can also gargle with salt water using horsetail powder and lemon juice for a sore throat. I think that would be really wonderful. I think the one thing I would add as a caveat to this is if you've gargled with salt water, horsetail powder, lemon juice, and then a little bit of honey, honey can be really nice for a sore throat and also respiratory congestion. It also blocks histamine and relaxes airway for asthma patients, so I think that is an interesting one to note. I don't know if they've done any studies doing a side-by-side comparison with Benadryl or another histamine blocker, but something to note. Bladder and UTI conditions with frequent urination. You can either take a capsule, which is a two-gram max three times daily. Don't ever take more than that. Or you can soak in a bath of powder. It also is known to prevent kidney stones in a study with rats, but there's no human studies that have been done. Brain function and cognition. This is actually a big one. I was pretty surprised that horsetail had this many cognitive benefits, but the antioxidants are actually known to increase the neural pathways and help with cognition, so it's been used for dementia and Alzheimer's. Capsules are used for this. There's also anxiolytic and antidepressant properties with improving short-term memory, so it's very neuroprotective. It's been known to be used for anti-anxiety by increasing GABA in the brain due to flavonoids, and it's actually been reported as effective as diazepam, which if you know anyone who's been on diazepam or really any of the PAMs, I think that this could be really exciting for the future and research. So I think they're going to need to find a way for this to have less side effects long-term. It may delay or prevent injury, causing nerve loss, like sciatica. It also reduces inflammation of the brain after a stroke. It decreases inflammatory cytokines, like tumor necrosis factor. Also diabetes. It is known to balance insulin levels as a capsule or a tea. Again, we're not supposed to use this for long-term use, but it could be utilized temporarily for blood sugar spikes and drops or if you're just having a lot of trouble maintaining your blood sugar. Obviously, if you're in ketoacid doses or your blood sugar is super, super low acutely, you need to go to the hospital, go to the ER right away. But if it's something that can be managed at home, I thought that it was interesting that you could use horsetail as an adjunctive therapy. In 11 patients that were recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a single oral dose of horsetail extract actually reduced blood sugar within an hour and a half. So it's definitely not like insulin in that it drops your sugar right away. But I think it's good to know that it's more of like a long-term, you know, throughout the day stabilization, more similar to Lantus. Joint diseases, the Department of EHS at University of Freiburg Medical Center found that it helps inflammatory and degenerative bone disease. And the Annals of Agriculture Environmental Medicine found the kynurenic acid had both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant pain relief. And it can be used as an adjuvant therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. Open Rheumatology Journal with horsetail extract found immunomodulatory therapy on antigen-induced arthritis in mice. So it's the same effect on B and T cells, which the B cells are in the bone marrow and the T cells are in the thymus. And they help produce antibodies that attack bacteria and viruses. And the T cells fight foreign invaders and produce cytokines. So they're really important. It may help boost bone regeneration and reverse bone density changes from osteoporosis, which is really difficult to do. Portugal study found extracts induced osteoblasts and even inhibited Staph aureus. So there's definitely a potential for this as an antibiotic, which is interesting. It's been used to treat gout by decreasing inflammation. It's reduced the side effects of cyclophosphamide, which if anyone is familiar with oncology patients, I do this all the time. As a pediatric nurse, I give cyclophosphamide. But it's a chemotherapy that definitely has side effects. And it blocks acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for stooling. So a lot of benefits, a lot of things that are in this little guy. But what's the harm? What am I going to do here? Side effects and contraindications. Long-term use, it's not recommended for two months daily plus because it can really cause vitamin deficiency, which we really don't want. It's not recommended for alcoholics, potassium deficiencies, low blood sugar levels, nicotine toxicity, and kidney and intestinal mucosal irritation. It needs to be avoided if pregnant or lactating. In addition, there are medication reactions with this drug. So antidiabetic drugs don't pair well with horsetail. Either do lithium or diuretics. So maybe in the future, there's a potential for diuretics and horsetail to be used conjunctively. But I think at this time, it probably deprives you, it flushes you out too much. It may react with arica, thiamine, herbal supplements that decrease blood sugar, chromium-containing herbs and supplements. If an overdose is taken, it can cause kidney damage and heart palpitations. So it's really important to make sure you're not taking too much of this. And then avoid using marsh horsetail or Icosetum pilastrae, which is native to the New England area. So again, look at your field guides. Make sure you have a couple of them to reference from. There's also some really good plant identification apps out there. But they do look different, but it's just something important to note. Edibility. How do we consume these guys to get all these health benefits? So the early spring tan shoots can be peeled and eaten raw. The green and fertile shoots are cooked and eaten more like asparagus, but they become more bitter as they age. So sometimes they recommend changing the water out a couple times during the cooking process, and that can help, especially if you have an older plant that you're working with. The roots are really difficult to collect, so you usually just snip off the tops. It's really easy to forage these guys. In a tea, you're going to pour one cup of boiling water over one to two teaspoons of fresh or dried herb. Steep for five to ten minutes. Strain the tea, and then you can add some raw honey. You can freeze dry for teas for later use, or you can even air dry them. I just prefer freeze drying because it keeps more of the benefits from the constituents in the actual plant while having them be shelf-stable for 20, 25 years. Horsetail honey. So to make this, you're going to want to add your horsetail, one-quarter horsetail to one cup honey, or however much you want to do, but just make sure it's one-fourth horsetail to honey. And you add your honey to a slow cooker, and then you infuse on low for a couple of days, and then it should be ready. Your horsetail cider, you're going to add to the top of the jar. Add apple cider vinegar and let it sit for a couple weeks. I usually let some room. Don't fill it too high, especially because your horsetail can come up above your cider, and then you're going to have to add more cider anyway, so I would do about three-quarters full. And then you can do a horsetail tincture with 80-proof vodka. So every tincture is different in the percentage of alcohol that you're going to need. Some things like roots need a higher concentration, but with horsetail, 80-proof or 40% is sufficient. One thing to note on this is I usually do three-quarters full, and then I top it. The rest is vodka. That's the folk method. There's a more scientific, difficult method to do. It gets you about the same results. I've done both ways. Unfortunately, when I've done the more scientific measurement method, I always end up needing to add a little bit more alcohol to the top because my herbs come above. Why is it bad to not have your herbs completely covered with the alcohol? Because if they sit out like that, over a period of time, they will likely mold, and they will not be stable for use, especially not long-term. We don't want that. The whole benefit of tinctures versus eating the fresh herb or even making a tea or whatever is that tinctures are stable for years, at least one year, and it's a really, really nice way to consume it. For example, if you just want the bone benefits from it and you just want a little tincture that day, it's great for that. You're just going to do your herb three-quarters up to the jar, and then you're going to fill the rest with vodka. You let it sit one to two days, let the herbs settle out a little bit, then you come back to it. Make sure that the vodka is still sitting one to two inches over your herb, and if it's not, you want to add a little bit more at that time. It shouldn't change much more after this one-to-two-day period. Swish it around every couple of days, keep an eye on it, and it should be done in four to six weeks. The benefits of horsetail completely depend on the use of them. If you use them as a tea, it's going to benefit your hair, nails, prostate glands, and for urinary infections. With the apple cider vinegar, it can be utilized as a hair rinse or connective tissue. As a tincture, it can help your hair, skin, and nails. Then as honey, it strengthens and is good for kids. They also enjoy the taste. It's so much easier to get a kid to take some horsetail honey than it's going to be to get them to take a horsetail tea. If this all sounds like too much work for you, you don't want to deal with the hassle of all this, then just go to my link in my bio, and I'm happy to ship some to you. Happy foraging!