Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) Health Benefits and Side Effects

Hyssop is a semi-woody plants, genus of Hyssopus, belonging to the family Lamiaceae, native to the east Mediterranean to central Asia. The herb has been used in traditional medicine as an antibiotic, carminative, antispasmodic, antifungal, and antiseptic agent and to treat bronchitis, asthma, digestive ailments, insomnia, diabetes, edema, etc.

Health benefits
1. Grug-resistant clinical herpes simplex virus type 1
In the investigation of essential oils of ginger, thyme, hyssop, and sandalwood effect on Susceptibility of drug-resistant clinical herpes simplex virus type 1 strains found that All essential oils exhibited high levels of virucidal activity against acyclovir-sensitive strain KOS and acyclovir-resistant HSV-1 clinical isolates and reduced plaque formation significantly, according to "Susceptibility of drug-resistant clinical herpes simplex virus type 1 strains to essential oils of ginger, thyme, hyssop, and sandalwood" by Schnitzler P, Koch C, Reichling J.(1)

2. Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)
In the assessment of Essential oils from anise, hyssop, thyme, ginger, camomile and sandalwood for their inhibitory effect against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in vitro found that a clearly dose-dependent virucidal activity against HSV-2 could be demonstrated for all essential oils tested. In order to determine the mode of the inhibitory effect, essential oils were added at different stages during the viral infection cycle. At maximum noncytotoxic concentrations of the essential oils, plaque formation was significantly reduced by more than 90% when HSV-2 was preincubated with hyssop oil, thyme oil or ginger oil, according to "Inhibitory effect of essential oils against herpes simplex virus type 2" by Koch C, Reichling J, Schneele J, Schnitzler P.(2)

3. Hyperglycemia
In the classification of hyssop extracts of hyssopus officinalis (hyssop) and its effect on intestinal carbohydrate absorption in rat everted gut sac and carbohydrate-loaded hyperglycemia in mice, found that hyperglycemia in sucrose- and maltose-loaded mice was significantly suppressed at an early stage, within 30 to 60 min by oral pre-administration of 300 and 100 mg/kg hyssop extracts, according to " Inhibitory effects of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) extracts on intestinal alpha-glucosidase activity and postprandial hyperglycemia" by Miyazaki H, Matsuura H, Yanagiya C, Mizutani J, Tsuji M, Ishihara C.(3)

4. Muscle relaxing activity
In the determination of Hyssop's essential oil and main components (isopinocamphone, limonene and beta-pinene) and theirs effect muscle relaxing activity found that he essential oil and isopinocamphone inhibited the acetylcholine- and BaCl2-induced contractions in guinea-pig ileum in a concentration-dependent manner (IC50 42.4 microg/ml and 61.9 microg/ml to acetylcholine; 48.3 microg/ml and 70.4 microg/ml to BaCl2) whereas limonene or beta-pinene left tissue contraction unchanged. according to "Muscle relaxing activity of Hyssopus officinalis essential oil on isolated intestinal preparations" by Lu M, Battinelli L, Daniele C, Melchioni C, Salvatore G, Mazzanti G.(4)

5. Asthma
In the analyzing the Uygur medicine Hyssopus officinalis L on T-bet, GATA-3, STAT-3 mRNA levels of asthma rats found that the expression of GATA-3 and STAT-3 mRNA of Hyssopus officinalis L high-dose treatment group was lower than the low-dose treatment group (P<0.05), but T-bet mRNA that was higher(P<0.05). The expression of T-bet mRNA has negative correlation with GATA-3 mRNA (r=-0.696), the expression of STAT-3 mRNA has correlation with T-bet mRNA and GATA-3 mRNA(r=-0.767, 0.772), P<0.05 and concluded that Hyssopus officinalis L probably regulates the differentiation of Th1, Th2 and Th17 on transcription level to play the role of anti-inflammatory, maccording to "[The effect of Uygur medicine Hyssopus officinalis L on expression of T-bet, GATA-3 and STAT-3 mRNA in lung tissue of asthma rats].[Article in Chinese]" by Wang HY, Ding JB, Halmurat U, Hou M, Xue ZQ, Zhu M, Tian SG, Ma XM.(5)

6. Aspergillus fumigatus
In the observation of essential oil of Hyssopus officinalis and its effect on the lipid composition of Aspergillus fumigatus found that total lipids and sterols were reduced, whereas total phospholipids were increased. There were alterations in the proportions of fatty acids, neutral lipid and phospholipid fractions, according to "Effect of essential oil of Hyssopus officinalis on the lipid composition of Aspergillus fumigatus" by Ghfir B, Fonvieille JL, Koulali Y, Ecalle R, Dargent R.(6)

7. Etc.

Side Effects
1. Overdoses can cause convulsions and seizures as a result of chemical compound pino-camphone.
2. It may cause allergic effect such as skin rashes, swelling of skin, difficulty breathing, etc.
3. Overdoses also can cause disturbances of the central nervous system.
4. Do not use the herb in children or if you are pregnant without approval of the related field specialist.
5. Etc.

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Sources
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17353250
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17976968
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14703310
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11914956
(5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21806885
(6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7935731