Clove a great antioxidant

Clove is the bud of a highly aromatic tropical evergreen tree.  When you enter your dentist’s office, you might smell varied things but chances are clove oil is one of the most powerful smells on the shelf.  It is an oral anesthetic and dentists use it to disinfect root canals.

Ayurvedic healers in India have used clove since ancient times to treat respiratory and digestive ailments.  During the Han dynasty (207B.C. to A.D. 220) those who addressed the Chinese emperor were required to put cloves in their mouths to mask the bad breath.  Traditional Chinese doctors used cloves to treat indigestion, diarrhea, hernia, ringworm, athlete’s foot and other such fungal infections.  In medieval Germany, herbalist Hildegard used clove in her anti-gout mixture. 

During the 19^th century, American physicians were the first to extract clove oil from the

herbal buds and they used it on the gums to relieve toothache.  Modern herbalists use cloves for digestive complaints and its oil for toothache.  Clove oil is the active ingredient in many mouth washes.  Clove oil is about 75 percent eugenol, which is the source of its anesthetic and antiseptic properties.

Japanese researchers have discovered that cloves contain antioxidants.  Antioxidants help prevent the cell damage that scientists believe eventually causes cancer.

It has been proved that clove kills intestinal parasites and exhibits antimicrobial properties against fungi and bacteria.  Probably that’s the reason clove has been used as a treatment for diarrhea, intestinal worms and other digestive ailments since ages.

For temporary relief of toothache prior to visiting your dentist, dip a cotton swab in clove oil and apply it to the affected tooth and gum.  After having starchy food, if you feel the acid reflex, put two or three cloves in your mouth and suck on them slowly.

Clove belongs to the Myrtaceae family and other members of this family are myrtle and eucalyptus.  Its botanical name is Eugenia caryophyllata and is also known as Clavos.

Its flower buds are used when they dry.  Tanzania produces about 80 percent of the world’s supply of cloves.  Cloves also grow in Indonesia, Brazil, Sri Lanka and West Indies.