Crepe myrtle is a plant that is commonly used as ornamental plant, usually placed on the sides of the road for people to find some shade. This plant whose Latin name is Lagerstroemia speciose or can also be called as crape myrtle can grow well on tropical countries such as Indonesia.

Crepe myrtle itself can actually grow well both on fertile or arid soil. Sometimes, crepe myrtle can be easily found in teak forests. Although it is considered to be a wild plant, crepe myrtle has a lot of benefits for the health. Part of this plant, which is the leaves, can be used as a medicine to cure different kinds of disease and also to protect the health of the body.

Contents of Crepe Myrtle

Crepe myrtle have some contents that can be used as a medicine to cure some kind of diseases. Not only as medicine, crepe myrtle can also be used as herbs that are good for the health. Some contents of crepe myrtle are corosolic acid, saponin, tannin, and flavonoid.

From some of the research that had been done, saponin in crepe myrtle’s leaves can be used as an antioxidant to increase the immune system. Some contents of crepe myrtle are also believed can be used as medicines and herb potions to maintain a good health.

Benefits of Crepe Martyle

Contents of crepe myrtle such as saponin, tannin, and flavonoid are very good to overcome some health problems, such as:

1. Overcome Diabetes

There are many health benefits of Crepe Myrtle. Diabetes can happen because of the decreasing production of insulin and cause the blood sugar level in your system increases. Many ways had been used to increase the production of insulin to decrease the level of blood sugar. One of the natural ingredient that can help to increase the production of insulin is the content of corosolic acid inside the crepe myrtle’s leaves. Corosolic acid can be obtained through the extracts of crepe myrtle’s leaves.

2. Prevent Cancer Cells’ Growth

Crepe myrtle contain saponin in it that can increase the immune system as antioxidant. Antioxidant in crepe myrtle can help prevent the cancer cells from growing inside the body. Besides saponin, crepe myrtle also contains flavonoid in it. Both are the compounds that can help prevent the cancer cells from growing inside the body.

3. As Antivirus

Not only prevent the cancer cells’ growth, saponin in crepe myrtle can also help to prevent viruses from entering the body. Therefore, the body can be avoided from some diseases that are caused by virus such as flu, herpes, and some other diseases caused by virus. So, let’s check more health benefits of Crepe Myrtle.

4. As Antiseptic

Saponin inside crepe myrtle is also an antiseptic. The antiseptic trait of crepe myrtle can be used to inhibit the growth of microorganisms on the skin’s surface. This can help to heal some skin’s surface and mucous membranes diseases such as knife cut, blisters, and some other wounds.

5. Maintain Bones’ Health

Maintaining the health of your bones is very important, because bones functions as a frame and also as the pillar of the body. Lack of calcium and phosphor can also cause the bones to go porous. Besides calcium and phosphor, bones also need flavonoid compound to prevent them from going porous.

6. Overcome Inflammation

Inflammations often can happen because of viruses or bacteria. Preventing and overcoming inflammations can be done through using the crepe myrtle. Flavonoid inside crepe myrtle can prevent and overcome the inflammations from happening.

7. Prevent Premature Aging

One of crepe myrtle’s benefits is to prevent the premature aging. This is because the contents inside crepe myrtle that can help to ward off free radicals from entering the body.

8. Anti-Hypertensive

The contents inside crepe myrtle can help to balance out the blood pressure. By making use of crepe myrtle, high blood pressure can decrease until it become normal again, since crepe myrtle have an anti-hypertensive trait.

9. Decrease the Level of Blood Cholesterol

The accumulation of cholesterol in the blood system can cause some interference on the body’s health. Consuming crepe myrtle can help to decrease the level of blood cholesterol, thus smoothen the blood system and can prevent diseases that happens from blocked blood due to cholesterol from happening.

10. Overcome Stroke

Stroke happen because of the clogged cholesterol in the blood system, thus making the blood system blocked. Crepe myrtle is found to be able to smoothen the blood by decreasing the cholesterol level in the blood. If the blood runs smoothly, then someone will be avoided from the stroke and those who suffer from stroke can also get better by drinking crepe myrtle in the form of herb medicines.

11. Prevent Heart Attack

Same as stroke, heart attack can also happen because of blocked blood that is supposedly go to the heart but gets clogged up because of cholesterol. The contents in crepe myrtle can help to decrease cholesterol, smoothen the run of blood system, and not only overcoming stroke but also prevent the heart attack from happening.

12. Overcoming Diarrhea

Diarrhea can cause the sufferer to feel weak since it causes them to lose lots of liquids. Overcoming diarrhea traditionally is usually by making use of salt and young guava leaves. Besides using guava leaves, other traditional way to overcome diarrhea is by using the crepe myrtle. Crepe myrtle has this compound which is tannin, that can harden the gastrointestinal wall to prevent the entering of liquids into the intestine that can cause diarrhea.

13. Maintain Skin Health

What’s more health benefits of Crepe Myrtle? Contents inside crepe myrtle can help to protect skin’s health. The contents inside crepe myrtle can quickly heal skin diseases, and can also prevent skin from being exposed to free radicals. Therefore, the skin health can be maintained.

14. Overcome Kidney Stone

Make a stew out of crepe myrtle and drink the remaining water can help to destroy kidney stone that can disturb the kidney’s filtration function.

15. Release Toxics from the Body

Inside the body, sometimes there are toxics that enters the body accidentally, caused by the air and also food. Not only to prevent diarrhea, but tannin compound inside crepe myrtle can also give benefits to help releasing the toxics from inside the body.

16. Prevent Arteriosclerosis Disease

Arteriosclerosis is a disease that can happen because of a fat growth on the arterial wall, thus making blood that runs to the brain and heart gets obstructed. Flavonoid in the crepe myrtle can help to prevent the arteriosclerosis from happening, thus smoothen the blood run to the brain and heart.

17. Avoid Thrombus

Different than arteriosclerosis, thrombus does not obstruct the blood system, but it will stop the blood system from running since the blood will turn into lumps. Preventing thrombus can be done by using crepe myrtle, because crepe myrtle’s leaves contain flavonoid in it that can help to prevent blood turn into lumps.

18. Overcome Leucorrhoea

Some women may experience leucorrhoea. If not taken care immediately, leucorrhoea can result a fatal condition and cause infertility. Overcoming leucorrhoea can be done by drinking water from the crepe myrtle stew.

19. Overcome Toothache

Some traits in crepe myrtle act just like how it can be an anti-inflammation, can also overcome toothache. Toothache can happen because of inflammation on the gum or bacteria on the teeth. Besides of anti-inflammation, contents inside crepe myrtle can also help to kill bacteria that can cause toothache.

20. Overcome Coughing Up Blood

Experiencing blood cough or hemoptysis can cause other dangerous diseases if not taken care of immediately. One of the ways to overcome coughing up blood is to use the water from crepe myrtle’s stew.

21. Decrease the Bleeding on Labor

Some mother will experience severe bleeding after giving labor. To help decrease the bleeding, the water from crepe myrtle’s stew can be used for this.

Crepe myrtle can be easily found on the sides of the street as a shade or ornamental plant. Besides the tree itself that is shady, crepe myrtle also has beautiful flowers. But, this tree is not only shady and has beautiful flowers, but its leaves have a lot of benefits for the health. Therefore, crepe myrtle can be used as herb medicines that can heal lots of diseases.