Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot has been a cough-suppressing mainstay of Asian and European herbal medicine for 2,000 years.  In addition to using the herb to treat cough, Chinese physicians have long prescribed it for asthma, colds, flu, bronchial congestion, and even lung cancer.

India's traditional Ayurvedic doctors prescribed powdered coltsfoot in the form of snuff to treat cough, headache, and nasal congestion.

For cough and asthma, the ancient Greek physician Dioscorides and the Romans Pliny and Galen recommended a coltsfoot treatment that today sounds ridiculous - smoking the herb.

Coltsfoot may help treat respiratory problems in several ways.  It contains a substance (mucilage) that may soothe the respiratory tract.

A German study using experimental animals showed the herb increases the activity of the microscopic hairs in the breathing tubes that move mucus out of the respiratory tract.

Another experiment shows that the herb suppresses a substance (platelet activating factor) in the body that is involved in triggering asthma attacks.