One of the popular holiday foods is cloves—a spice known for its aromatic, smoky scent, and its sharp flavour. Cloves are part of many sweet and savoury recipes, including curries, cookies, chicken, pie, and even coffee. You’ll find them everywhere during the holiday season, used in festive homemade dishes such as cider recipes, mulled wine, or pumpkin pie.
There’s a lot more to cloves than just being a delicious addition to your recipes. Stay tuned to explore an impressive range of clove health benefits that’ll inspire you to add more of the spice to your dishes.
Toothaches are never pleasant, especially if your dentist appointment is weeks away. If you have to resort to an emergency treatment at home, try cloves. If you’ve got them lying around in your kitchen cabinets, they might just be the best pain-relieving home remedy you could ask for.
Cloves can immediately alleviate toothache pain thanks to the eugenol they contain—something that not only provides flavour but also has excellent anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. For toothaches, clove oil generally works even better than biting on the standard ground or whole cloves. Store some clove oil away for such emergencies – but you’ll also be able to find clove oil easily at your local pharmacy, if needs be.
Acne is commonly caused by an oil imbalance in the skin and can show up at any stage of your life. Relying on over-the-counter products for acne can quickly become costly, and some products may even make your skin worse, depending on how sensitive it is. Treating acne with specialized products is challenging as everyone’s skin type varies in its properties. This causes most people to stick to lighter home remedies to treat their acne naturally—and that’s where cloves can be used.
According to research, the antifungal and antibacterial properties of cloves make them fantastic for maintaining healthy skin. Just like with toothaches, clove oil works best against acne due to its rich eugenol content. Its anti-bacterial properties fight inflammation and help treat infections to reduce acne on the skin. Add a light clove oil massage to your daily cleansing routine and you’ll see noticeable results within a couple of weeks.
Low testosterone levels can have a significant negative effect on a man’s health and fitness. The most obvious issue with low testosterone levels is a lower sperm count—a serious problem for couples trying to have a baby.
Moreover, some other issues associated with low testosterone levels in men include weakened bones, insomnia, low energy levels, or mood changes. While there are many testosterone supplements available in the market, most men would prefer to keep their testosterone levels up through natural means. Cloves are one of the best herbal solutions to naturally supplement your testosterone levels.
According to studies, adding cloves to your diet can largely boost testicular function and enhance your testosterone levels. Some people have seen massive improvements in fertility, but more research needs to be carried out before we can fully understand the promising health benefits of cloves. If you’re keen to see a natural rise in your testosterone levels, adding more cloves to your daily diet can be a great idea.
Everyone has to fight a headache occasionally, whether it’s caused by a virus, something you’ve eaten, or simply being drained by the sun. In the case of a more serious condition, people may experience chronic migraines, causing intense headaches, sickness, dizziness, and nausea. Having access to a quick natural remedy for headaches can be invaluable in such situations—and once again, cloves are the answer.
According to research, the pain-relieving and cooling properties of cloves can be incredibly effective at addressing the source of headache pains. Next time you experience an annoying headache, simply crush some cloves, fold them in a clean piece of cloth and inhale the smell for immediate relief. Another effective remedy is to massage your temples with a few drops of clove oil, which should help you to feel better right away.
Poor circulation can lead to a variety of long-term health issues. If the heart can’t pump blood through your body as efficiently as it should, you may notice numbness or coldness in your feet and hands. Other signs of compromised circulation may be altered skin colour, fatigue, digestive problems, and frequent muscle cramping. In severe cases, poor circulation can even lead to serious problems with your heart and brain.
If you’re experiencing these signs and suffer from poor circulation, it’s best to get yourself checked out right away. Before you get to see a doctor, it’s worth making use of the home remedies on offer for the issue.
Clove oil is one of the simplest ways to improve your body’s blood circulation, thanks to its ability to reduce body temperature and impact metabolism. As cloves are rich in antioxidants, they purify your blood, helping it travel smoothly throughout your body.
Common respiratory illnesses like bronchitis and asthma affect thousands of people all over the world, and these conditions typically worsen in the wintertime. Many respiratory patients follow special treatment plans according to the guidance of their doctor. You can never go wrong with supplementing your medical treatment with herbal remedies at home to see even better results. These remedies, especially clove oil, can help improve your respiratory health on a short and long-term basis.
Clove oil is highly effective against non-chronic respiratory issues like cough, cold, bronchitis, and asthma. With its natural anti-inflammatory effect, the oil helps by soothing your respiratory tract. To get the most out of it, massage the oil topically onto the bridge of your nose, chest, and sinuses, opening up the breathing passages. This should bring you a sigh of relief—quite literally!
For oral use of cloves for improved respiratory function, simply make a quick clove tea. All you need to do is add some cloves to a glass of warm water and drink up.
Digestion can take a hit by many different issues, with stomach ulcers being a prime example. They’re caused when the stomach’s lining is badly damaged. If left untread, ulcers can potentially lead to abdominal pain, nausea, bleeding, bloating, anaemia, weight loss, and so on.
If you think you’re dealing with stomach ulcers, you should immediately seek medical care. As a supplement to your treatment, you can use cloves as a natural home remedy – they can also help prevent the issue in the future.
According to studies, certain compounds in cloves have properties that can help reduce stomach ulcers. The oil from cloves is also thought to increase gastric mucus thickness, protecting the stomach’s lining from further damage and preventing the formation of peptic ulcers. To naturally ward off any future ulcers, simply boost your daily intake of cloves by adding them to your dishes.
Diabetes, a chronic illness, occurs when a person’s blood sugar levels rise too high. You will have heard of type one and type two diabetes; the former being hereditary, and the latter often occurring as a result of lifestyle factors like ageing, weight gain, or a poor diet. Diabetes treatment is fairly complex, but the wide range of health benefits from cloves can greatly help people fight this illness.
Thanks to a compound found in cloves called nigericin, they can help regulate your blood sugar levels and maintain them within a healthy range. According to studies, nigericin has been associated with improved overall health of insulin-producing cells and enhanced insulin secretion. Therefore, when cloves are taken regularly in a balanced diet, they should help to prevent blood sugar spikes.
Perhaps the most impressive health benefit cloves have to offer is that they’re effective in the fight against certain cancers. Statistics suggest that most of us will be impacted by cancer directly or indirectly at some point in our lives.
The cancers treatments we currently have are extremely invasive and unpleasant for patients. Scientists are constantly on the lookout for natural ways to treat various cancer types effectively. Fortunately, cloves happen to be some of the most important plant sources that show some promise in that department.
According to one recent study, clove extract could induce the death of cancer cells and prevent tumour growth. The eugenol in cloves is believed to have strong anti-cancer properties, with the most positive effects seen in cases of oesophageal cancer.
Furthermore, as cloves are naturally great sources of antioxidants, they can fight inflammation, ultimately leading to increased protection from cancer.
Inflammation takes place when the body responds to infections or injuries. It’s essential for healing, but too much of it can lead to serious health problems such as arthritis, and even some types of cancer.
Cloves are widely known for their anti-inflammatory abilities, again, thanks to their eugenol content. Cloves are particularly effective in fighting inflammation in your throat and mouth areas. According to one study, people consuming cloves every day saw reduced levels of inflammation-causing cytokines in only one week. This can significantly bring down risks of chronic inflammatory disorders such as joint pains or arthritis.
While it doesn’t get much credit as a vital organ, the liver plays an essential role in the body. An unhealthy liver potentially translates to increased fatigue, yellowed skin, nausea, abdominal pain, and swollen legs and ankles. Keeping that in mind, looking after your liver is the best thing you can do for your long-term health and wellbeing.
Improving liver health involves making positive changes to your lifestyle, including your diet, and that’s where cloves can be considered.
You know by now that cloves are naturally an excellent source of antioxidants—which help protect your vital organs from free radical damage, especially your liver. A poorly functioning metabolism can increase harmful free radical production in the long run while reducing the liver’s antioxidants. Cloves are the perfect food to correct that balance and counteract these effects.
Cloves are easy to find in any supermarket near you. You’ll find them in a little jar in the spice section, with the option to choose between whole or ground cloves. Either option works just fine. You can grind whole cloves as and when you want, but buying them ground may be simpler for starters. You can also look at buying a clove oil that’s best for topical application on your skin, or to help with toothaches. You’ll find this in any grocery or medical store near you.
Luckily, cloves aren’t too complex of a spice to cook with. All you need to do is sprinkle some (in whole or ground form) in the right amount, stir everything well, and leave the rest to heat. There are many ways to get inventive with how you use your cloves; pair them with nutmeg or cinnamon in your cookies, throw a pinch into your curry dishes and stir-fries, and so on. If you’re unsure, a quick Google search will spark inspiration.
With so much newfound information, you’re all set to leverage the massive healthcare potential of cloves!You might also like
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