Gemmotherapy, one of the branches of phytotherapy, refers to an alternative medicine that prevents and cures certain ailments through the use of buds or young shoots of plants, in the form of dilution or macerate, the parts of plants that concentrate the most their active principles, their trace elements, their vitamins, etc. Gemmotherapy is of interest to health in many areas. This alternative medicine helps fight fatigue, improves sleep, helps treat inflammatory diseases, digestive disorders, etc.
Gemmotherapy is part of what is called alternative medicine. It is more precisely a mode of homeopathic treatment, that is to say based on a very weak administration of remedies, which can be classified in the category of phytotherapies, treatments with plants or their extracts. .
To prevent and treat, gemmotherapy uses more particularly young shoots of plants, buds or xylem (plant tissue formed of ligneous fibers and vessels carrying the sap which form the wood). This is why gemmotherapy is most often called "bud medicine".
If gemmotherapy is based on the use of buds, secondary roots of plants (rootlets), or even young shoots, it is because these parts of plants contain the main active ingredients of plants, such as hormones, trace elements , vitamins, minerals, etc., in highly concentrated forms.
Concretely, these plant elements are used either after maceration or in dilution. In the first case, before being used as preventive or curative treatments, the buds and other young shoots of plants are infused at room temperature for at least three weeks in a mixture of water, glycerine and alcohol in order to to obtain, once this mixture has been filtered, a substance which contains the maximum of their main active ingredients, called "concentrated mother extract". Other gemmotherapy professionals use these plant parts once diluted in alcohol and glycerin, without using water, to obtain a very concentrated solution.
In gemmotherapy, treatments are generally administered in the form of drops to be taken daily. They can be found in pharmacies specializing in medicinal plants and in organic shops.
Gemmotherapy is practiced by professionals who have knowledge of medicinal plants such as naturopaths, phytotherapists, homeopaths, herbalists, etc.
Like any natural medicine, gemmotherapy should not be used without first seeking the advice of your attending physician. It can, in fact, be contraindicated for pregnant women, for people who suffer from hypertension, blood clotting disorders, or those prone to heart problems.
As gemmotherapy is considered an alternative medicine in the same way, for example, as homeopathy, osteopathy, etc., consultations are not reimbursed by Social Security. Depending on the coverage of alternative medicine by their mutual health insurance, patients can benefit from the reimbursement of part of this cost, often limited to a certain number of consultations per year.
Gemmotherapy is most often used in addition to conventional medicine, especially to prevent certain diseases and infections, but also as a natural curative medicine. In spite of everything, we are talking here more about background treatments.
This alternative medicine based on the maceration of buds and young shoots of plants uses many kinds of plants, each with their own properties. For example, the active ingredients of fir help to calm coughs, those of blackcurrant help fight against fatigue, improve sleep, and restore energy, joint problems are soothed thanks to the buds of birch and hawthorn, maple for the liver, the macerate of fig tree buds helps to fight against stress, depression, digestive disorders, that of olive buds helps to lower the rate of diabetes, etc.
In general, this alternative medicine has beneficial effects on the body in terms of detoxifying the body (elimination of toxic waste), strengthening the immune system, or fighting fatigue.
Gemmotherapy also helps to reduce and prevent cardiovascular risks, and also acts as an adjunct treatment for cardiovascular diseases, by helping to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood. The active ingredients of the plants used in gemmotherapy also have a positive effect in terms of reducing inflammation, and in particular help to reinforce conventional treatments intended to relieve arthritis problems.
Gemmotherapy also restores the balance of the body disturbed by taking medication.
