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One of the most common uses for pine needles and spruce tips throughout history has been to soothe sore throats and coughs while also acting as an expectorant (helping the body to thin and remove mucous). The Algonquin in Quebec used decoctions from Pinus strobus to treat cough, breathing disorders, rheumatism, and kidney disorders. Spruce species were used by the Iroquois to treat respiratory ailments and urinary problems, and as antifungal medication.
You’ve likely heard the stories of old-time pirates under Captain Cook drinking spruce tip beer at sea, or Jacques Cartier's crew cured by an Iroquois decoction of pine needles with vitamin C healed from scurvy. But the medicinal use of conifers goes back much further than the 1700s. The Tlingit in Alaska as well as the First Nations & indigenous peoples of Canada, Norway, and Russia, Native American tribes like the Cherokee, Iroquois, Apache, Hopi, Chippewa, all used these evergreens trees for various medicinal, culinary, and practical applications.
Pine and spruce needles offer impressive health benefits for supporting the lungs and the immune system. Thanks to their rich and unique phytonutrient content that includes golden nutrients like:
Terpenes:Including alpha and beta-pinene, said to help with congestion and cough. Read this 2019 study titled Therapeutic Potential of Alpha and Beta Pinene: A Miracle Gift of Nature
Polyphenols: A variety of antioxidentslike Quercetin, Resveratrol, Pinene, Trans-astringin, Naringin Picein, Kaempferol, Orientin, and Pinosylvin.
Shikimic Acid: A natural organic compound, generally utilized as a starting material for industrial synthesis of antivirals used for colds and flue.
Minerals:Magnesium, phosphorus
Read more on health benefits of SPRUCE TIPS + PINE NEEDLES HEALTH BENEFITS
Photo byAlexandre GuimontonUnsplash
One of the most common uses for pine needles and spruce tips throughout history has been to soothe sore throats and coughs while also acting as an expectorant (helping the body to thin and remove mucous). Various clinical studies have supported the use of coniferous products for different immune challenges:
Antibacterial activity of water-soluble extract from pine needles [2012]
Antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antitumor effects of pine needles (Pinus densiflora) [2006]
Photo bymatthew FeeneyonUnsplash
The Vitamin C content of the spruce tips and pine needles we use to make our Evergreen C Tincture should not be underestimated. You may think that keeping your Vitamin C levels high is as simple as downing a packet of EmergenC - but that is not the case.
Synthetic Vitamin C supplements (as well as the vast majority of ‘immune boosting/cold supplements’ available) utilize ascorbic acid, an inferior form of this nutrient with poor bioavailability and limited effects on health. Ascorbic acid is produced in a lab, mostly from GMO corn sugar glucose. Calling ascorbic acid Vitamin C is like calling the orange peel the whole orange - ascorbic acid is best thought of as the antioxidant skin of the entire Vitamin C complex.
According to the clinical research of Dr. Royal Lee, considered the Father of Holistic Nutrition, isolated ascorbic acid failed to bring complete systemic relief to scurvy as he did when using whole foods.
