Symptom → Plant Sources
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) as a tool for helping with Diarrhoea
inferred from astringent action
Hamamelis virginiana L. (witch hazel) is a traditionally used medicinal plant, well-known for its dermatological applications. The plant's bark and leaves contain a rich array of bioactive compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, proanthocyanidins, and tannins, many of which exhibit antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties. These activities have been verified by numerous in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as limited clinical trials. The H. virginiana extracts have demonstrated effectiveness against bacteria, fungi, and some viruses. Moreover, the extracts exert anti-inflammatory effects by modulating cytokine expression and NF-κB signaling, improve skin regeneration, and protect against UV-induced damage and pollution. This review highlights H. virginiana as a complex botanical resource to be used in dermatology and cosmetology and shows that current research offers encouraging results for its future therapeutic use, especially in skin treatment.
3 sources supporting Witch Hazel for Diarrhoea. Includes scientific publications, books, monographs and traditional-use references.
Mechanistic basis
This use is associated with the plant's astringent action. Further evidence for that pharmacology:
Hamamelitannin from Hamamelis virginiana dose-dependently inhibited TNF-induced endothelial cell death, an activity that may explain the antihaemorrhagic and protective traditional uses of witch hazel.
Polymeric proanthocyanidins composed of epicatechin and epigallocatechin units were isolated from the bark of Hamamelis virginiana, characterising the astringent tannin constituents of witch hazel.
Proanthocyanidins were isolated and hamamelitannin quantified in the leaf, bark and stem extracts of Hamamelis virginiana, with the bark far richer in hamamelitannin, characterising the astringent tannins of witch hazel.