December 18, 2023 7:23 am
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Published by Jo Dunbar
These pretty corn silks are usually the parts that we throw away, but do you know what you are throwing out?
Traditionally, herbalists use the corn silks to help with cystitis and kidney infections, but when you look more deeply into this herb – it is absolutely amazing.
The silks can be collected and dried if you are prone to bladder infection, or high blood pressure. Simply drop a teaspoon of fresh or dried silks into a cup of boiling water, cool and drink.
They are highly anti-oxidant, with anti-inflammatory actions on the urinary tract and other parts of the body. With significantly diuretic actions, they can be used to reduce blood pressure and even pressure in the eyes. This is achieved by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme, thereby relaxing and dilating the blood vessels, and the effect happens within 3-4 hours, possibly due to the combined diuretic and vessel relaxing effects(1).
The anti-inflammatory actions of the herb soothes infected and inflamed kidneys, bladder and prostate gland. But there is even more; this herb reduces blood sugars(2), reduces cholesterol(2), protects against diabetes(3), and even inhibits Alzheimer’s Disease(4).
(1)^ George GO, Idu FK. Corn silk aqueous extracts and intraocular pressure of systemic and non-systemic hypertensive subjects. Clin Exp Optom. 2015 Mar;98(2):138-49. doi: 10.1111/cxo.12240. PMID: 25727941.
(2)^ Hasanudin K, Hashim P, Mustafa S. Corn silk (Stigma maydis) in healthcare: a phytochemical and pharmacological review. Molecules. 2012 Aug 13;17(8):9697-715. doi: 10.3390/molecules17089697. PMID: 22890173; PMCID: PMC6268265.
(3)^ Chaudhary RK, Karoli SS, Dwivedi PSR, Bhandari R. Anti-diabetic potential of Corn silk (Stigma maydis): An in-silico approach. J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2022 Feb 10;21(1):445-454. doi: 10.1007/s40200-022-00992-7. PMID: 35673494; PMCID: PMC9167408.
(4)^ Tao TZ, Wang L, Liu J. Role of corn silk for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: A mechanism research based on network pharmacology combined with molecular docking and experimental validation. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2023 Nov;102(5):1231-1247. doi: 10.1111/cbdd.14315. Epub 2023 Aug 10. PMID: 37563784.
