Raspberries with a cold: what is useful, how to brew tea and drink?

The question – can you eat raspberries when you have a cold? – is asked very rarely, because the medicinal properties of this berry have been known since time immemorial, and it has been a virtually universal home remedy for many diseases.

But if this question still arises, let's try to figure out whether raspberries help with colds? And also find out how raspberries are useful for colds, and whether there are any contraindications to its use in adenovirus infection.

Properties of raspberries for colds

In addition to the fact that raspberries increase sweating and help reduce fever, raspberries also have anti-inflammatory properties for colds. For acute respiratory infections, both the berries themselves and the raspberry leaf, and even the upper parts of the shoots (thin branches) of raspberry bushes are used, since all parts of this plant (Rubus idaeus L.) contain organic acids, including salicylic acid. And the berries contain L-ascorbic acid or vitamin C (25 mg%), as well as carotene and other vitamins.

Fresh raspberries for colds, raspberry tea or raspberry jam for colds act like Aspirin, since the salicylic (or 2-hydroxybenzoic) acid they contain – thanks to the glycoside salicin – blocks the production of cyclooxygenase enzymes (COX-1 and COX-2), as a result of which the synthesis of prostaglandins transmitting inflammatory signals stops. At the same time, salicylic acid promotes the secretion of sweat by the sweat glands of the skin, which activates the physiological mechanism of thermoregulation of the body, and the temperature during cold fever (caused by the action of exogenous viral pyrogens) decreases.

At the cellular level, raspberry kaempferol and several of its derivatives, polyphenolic compounds of the flavone class with anti-inflammatory properties, also affect the transduction of inflammatory signals. Another polyphenol, quercetin, manages to inhibit the action of histamine produced by mast cells and the above-mentioned inflammatory mediators. Recent studies using chromatography and mass spectrometry have revealed that quercetin has antiviral properties, which manifest themselves in the inhibition of viral enzymes (protease, reverse transcriptase, and neuraminidase).

In addition, vitamin C found in raspberries helps with this, as it not only suppresses the reaction of inflammatory mediators, but also increases the production of protective proteins – interferons – by immune system cells.

Flavonoid antioxidants found in raspberries also include ellagitannin (a polyphenolic derivative of ellagic and gallic acids) and berry pigments called anthocyanins.

Raspberry leaves work against colds due to the salicylin, phenolic acids and ellagitannin included in their biochemical composition.

Contraindications for use

Fresh and dried raspberries have no contraindications, but raspberry leaves should not be used to treat colds in the presence of:

• inflammation of the stomach with high acidity and ulcers of the duodenum,
• intolerance to acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin),
• asthma or bronchitis with an asthmatic component,
• chronic constipation and gout,
• in case of poor blood clotting.

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Side effects

Possible side effects include impaired blood clotting (due to the antiplatelet effect of salicylic acid on platelets), stomach pain (if the acidity of gastric juice is increased).

Interactions with other drugs

If raspberries are used to treat colds, it is not recommended to take NSAIDs, corticosteroids, anticoagulants, sulfonylurea-based hypoglycemic agents, and diuretics.

Treating Colds with Raspberries: Method of Use and Dosage

To achieve the maximum healing effect, you should know how to brew raspberries for colds: do not boil the berries and leaves, but pour boiling water over them.

Here are the main raspberry recipes for colds used in folk medicine.

Fresh berries: crush a tablespoon of berries in a cup and pour 200 ml of freshly brewed black or green tea - you get raspberry tea for colds.

Dried berries: pour one and a half tablespoons of berries with two glasses of boiling water, close the container tightly, wrap it up and let it brew for four to five hours. You can do this in a thermos. It is recommended to take the strained infusion several times a day, half a glass at a time. If raspberries are used for colds in preschool children, then it is enough to give the child 50-60 ml of infusion or tea three times a day.

Frozen raspberries are used in the same way for colds, which can be combined with black currants, and for a strong cough - with viburnum.

Fresh and dried raspberry leaves or branches are brewed in a similar way for colds; this infusion (taking it internally 150 ml three times a day) can alleviate the condition of the flu with cough and fever, and gargling helps with its inflammation.

Raspberries and lemon go well together in terms of therapeutic effects, and raspberries and honey go well against colds.

Read also – Teas for colds

Raspberries during pregnancy for colds in minimal quantities and for a short time can be used, but raspberry leaves in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy are strictly prohibited. Firstly, kaempferol, which is abundant in raspberry leaves, interacts with estrogen receptors in the endometrium and changes their physiological response, increasing or decreasing the tone of the uterus. Secondly, ellagitannins exhibit their biological activity by inhibiting aromatase enzymes, thereby reducing the level of estrogen in the pregnant woman's body.

Raspberry is used for colds during breastfeeding. In addition, there is an opinion, which is confirmed by individual reviews of nursing women, that tea with raspberries can increase the production of breast milk and helps in the treatment of lactation mastitis.