What is Ayurveda – Buddhist Ayurvedic Medicine, Seven Dhatus – Bodily Tissues, Buddhist Ayurvedic Nutrition and Food Therapy
VI. Astringent
“Astringent taste is a sedative, stops diarrhea, aids in healing of joints, promotes the closing and healing of sores and wounds. It is drying, firming, contracting. It alleviates Kapha, Pitta and stops bleeding. Astringent taste promotes absorption of bodily fluids; it is dry, cooling and light.
“Yet when used too much by itself or in excess, it causes drying of the mouth, produces pain in the heart, causes constipation, weakens the voice, obstructs channels of circulation, makes the skin dark, weakens vitality, causes premature aging. Astringent taste causes the retention of gas, urine and feces, creates emaciation, weariness, thirst and stiffness. Owing to its natural properties of roughness, dryness and clearness, it causes Vata-diseases like paralysis, spasms and convulsions.”
Astringent taste is hemostatic (stops bleeding), stops sweating, stops diarrhea, as it promotes absorption of fluids and inhibits their elimination. It is anti-inflammatory, vulnerary (closes wounds and promotes healing by knitting the membranes back together). It constricts the muscles and helps raise prolapsed organs.
Astringent Herbs: Astringent taste is also very common in herbs, but it is not of such therapeutic importance, as astringent action is used mainly symptomatically Astringency derives mainly from the presence of various tannins.
Typical astringent herbs include cranesbill, lotus seeds, mullein, plantain, pomegranate, raspberry leaves, sumach, uva ursi, white pond lily, white oak bark and witch hazel.”