Welcome to Herbal Insights - January brings us to the herb of Avena sativa or commonly known as oats. We hope you can pull something out from these posts to incorporate into your lifestyle and become more herb-centered!
Botanical Name: Avena fatua (wild oat) Avena sativa (cultivated oat)
The meaning behind Avena is “nourishing” or to nourish.
Common Names: Oats, milky oats or milky oat tops, oatstraw
Habitat:
Oats grow well in croplands, open field, roadsides, and disturbed grounds with open air. Oat like cool, moist climates, such as zones 4-9, but are found to do especially well in zones 6 and 7. Oats prefer full sun and moderate amounts of water but can be drought resistant when established.
Common and Therapeutic Uses: adaptogen and nervine (nourish and support the nervous system)
As a whole grain a regular dose of oats may help to lower blood sugar and cholesterol. They are also used to repair and prevent skin irritations of many kinds and reduces constipation.
Personally, a good probiotic and a daily bowl of oatmeal has helped my children time and time again stay regular with bowl movements and get things moving when we have gotten off schedule. So in that vain, I can personally attest to an oatmeal regiment for maintaining regularity with bowls. Among other uses, this wonderful grain is often employed as a blood, brain, endocrine, nervous and reproductive tonic; is highly nutritive; and may be used as a diuretic and laxative. What an amazing herb!
If you’re looking for an achievable and effective way to incorporate herbs into your life, perhaps oats are a good start. From simply cooking with oats to using them in skincare products or using milky oats in fever reducing teas and nourishing tonics. Oats are friendly for the who family, which also makes them a great “first herb” or sorts to interact with.
The common cereal (oat seeds) is full of health benefits, but in traditional herbal medicine - the young milky oat tops are preferred. Milky oat tops demulcent properties allow for nerve healing and may help with symptom relief in multiple sclerosis, where the symptoms result from a demyelination of the fatty nerve sheath. The properties of oats assist the nervous system by replacing the body with necessary minerals, vitamins, and other substances so that the nervous system can function properly. See the notes on the properties of oats for more details.
As an adaptogen, oat tops also help relieve exhaustion, irritation, and anxiety. This makes it a great herb to incorporate into bath teas, skincare products, and to drink in teas and tonics. The polyphenols within oats can be especially beneficial for men. Oats my help prevent the body from converting too many testosterone hormones into estrogen.
Oats may also be used in a nourishing tea for women going through both pregnancy and menopause.
Safety measure/precautions:
People who are gluten-intolerant should exercise caution with oats. For the non-gluten intolerant, oats are generally considered a safe choice for even the youngest of eaters. You can grind oats into a powder and add breastmilk, formula, or water to form baby oatmeal. This can be served plain or as a base to add other fruits and vegetable puree to. The milky oat tops are also used for homeopathic and traditional herbal remedies for youngsters.
From young to old, male to female, oats have a great benefit for all stages of life, giving back to the body what gets depleted from stress, disease, physiological changes, and life in general!
See you next week for more herbal insights!
References:
Mars, B. (2016). The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine (2nd ed.). Basic Health Publications Inc.
Gladstar, R. (2012). Medicinal Herbs A Beginner’s Guide. Storey Publishing.
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