Pine needles, also known as pine leaves, bristle leaves, pine hairs or mountain pine whiskers, are needle-shaped leaves of Pinaceae and Pinaceae plants, and are one of the main by-products of Pinaceae plants. Pinus massoniana, Pinus armandii, Cedar, Korean pine, Pinus thunbergii, Pinus tabulaeformis, Pinus elliottii and Pinus yunnanensis are all medicinal plants. Pine needles are the main medicinal parts of pine trees.
According to the dictionary of traditional Chinese medicine, the sexual taste is bitter, warm, meridian tropism and heart and spleen. Indications: expelling wind and removing dampness, killing insects and relieving itching, treating rheumatism, paralysis, traumatic injury, insomnia, edema and scabies, and preventing hemorrhagic encephalopathy, influenza and hookworm disease. Modern pharmacological research pine needles are rich in antioxidant and anti-aging substances. Pine needle flavonoids have unique water solubility, and can enter the blood with unsaturated fatty acids contained in pine needles through the blood vessel wall. By increasing bile secretion and reducing cholesterol accumulation, it can prevent arteriosclerosis, dilate peripheral blood vessels, improve the oxygen carrying capacity of red blood cells and promote blood circulation.
Pine needle has low toxicity and can be used as a new nutritional and dietetic product. At present, there are few pine needle foods in China, and most of them are drinks related to pine needles in pine needle oil. According to the data query of the US Food and Drug Administration, there are only four kinds of pine needle foods on the market at present, namely pine needle oil Gel Sugar, Pine Needle Enzyme, Centennial Pine Needle morinda citrifolia Enzyme, Pine Needle Ganoderma lucidum, Inonotus fuscus and Inonotus obliquus.
Precautions for collection and consumption:
1. Don't collect pine needles at random on the roadside, because the pine needles here are polluted by automobile exhaust for a long time and are harmful to your health after taking them. Don't pick young pines within 5 years and pine needles with a height of less than 3 meters.
2. The boiled pine needle soup can be drunk as tea or on an empty stomach in the morning and evening. Patients with hypertension should not stop using antihypertensive drugs without authorization. After the blood pressure returns to normal, the dosage of drugs can be gradually reduced under the guidance of a doctor.
3. pine needles are oily plants, which are easy to be contaminated with dirt and must be cleaned. Wrap pine needles with a soft brush or a soft cloth dipped in detergent. After washing, soak in clear water.