Traditional Uses:
Wintergreen has been used for many centuries in conditions such as muscle, joint and connective tissue injuries and pain, inflamed nerves, coughs, colds, bronchitis, asthma usually in Massage Oil and inhalation blends. It clears the head, is uplifting and relaxing.
Wintergreen is often used to relieve pain and inflammation, since the leaves contain a compound closely related to aspirin. Several tribes, including the Delaware and Mohican, used a tea made from the leaves to treat kidney disorders. The Great Lakes and Eastern Woodland tribes used poultices of wintergreen to treat arthritic and rheumatic aches and pains. It was also used by many tribes to treat back pain, fever, headaches, sore throats, and many other conditions.
Traditional folk remedies has led to the discovery of Methyl Salicylate, its main ingredient, as a pain reliever. Methyl Salicylate is now commercially produced and known under the name Aspirin.
The essential oil is used in linaments and ointments to bring relief to inflamed or sore muscles, ligaments, and joints, or applied to such neurological conditions as sciatica and neuralgia. The oil is sometimes used to treat cellulitis, a bacterial infection causing the skin to become inflamed. Commonly used in chewing gum, toothpaste, root beer, coca-cola and candy.
Wintergreen essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the leaves of Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall.
1. Organoleptic Properties:
Appearance: Fluid liquid
Color: Pale yellow or yellowish or pinkish
Aroma: Strongly aromatic with a sweet characteristic odor, displaying a peculiar
creamy-fruity topnote and a sweet-woody dryout
2. Physico - Chemical Properties:
Specific Gravity: 1.1735 to 1.1855 at 25º C
Optical Rotation: (-) 0.3º to (-) 10.5º at 25º C
Refractive Index: 1.537 to 1.5405 at 25º C
Acid No: 10 to 25
Ester number: 335 to 365
Ester No After acetylation: 88.8 to 98% (calculated as Methyl Salicylate)
Solubility: Soluble in 2.0 to 3.5 volumes of 80% alcohol
3. Packing:
Aluminum containers and epoxy-lined metallic barrels
500g, 1 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg, 50 kg, 100 kg, capacities
4. Actions: Analgesic, astringent, carminative, diuretic, stimulant, anodyne,
anti-rheumatic, antispasmodic, antiseptic, aromatic, emmenagogue
5. Principal Constituents: phenols (including gaultherin and salicylic acid)
volatile oil (up to 98% methyl salicylate), mucilage, resin, tannins
6. Uses:
Wintergreen essential oil, Gaultheria procumbens, has been used to staunch
bloody wounds, applied to dog bites, snakebites, and insect bites. Also used as
a poultice, good for boils, swellings, ulcers, old sores
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References
Beckstrom-Sternberg, S.M. and Duke, J. "The Phytochemical Database." http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/
Brown, M.L. (Ed) Present Knowledge in Nutrition, 6ht Editionh. Washington D.C.. International Life Sciences Institute 1990, Cited in Murray M Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements, Rocklin, California, Prima Publishing, 1996
Carlisle, E.M. Silicon. In: Frieden, E, ed., biochemistry of the essential trace elements. New York: Plenum Press, 1984; 257-291
Felter, H. The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics. Portland, Oregon: Eclectic Medical Publications, 1985 [Reprinted from the 1925 original].
Giles RD, Sturgill BC, Suratt PM, Bolton WK. Massive proteinuria and acute renal failure in a patient with acute silicoproteinosis. Am J Med 1978 Feb;64(2):336-42
Groff, J.L. Gropper, S.G., Hunt, Sara M. Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism, Second Edition. Minneapolis: West Publishing Company, 1995
Heng, MC. Local necrosis and interstitial nephritis due to topical methyl salicylate and menthol. Cutis 1987;39(5):442-444