Cloves are a wonderful herd that is loaded with various health benefits. The clove herb is actually the dried flower bud from the Syzygium aromaticum, a type of evergreen tree. Learn some both fun facts about cloves and all of the many clove health benefits.

Cloves Fun Facts

• The first history of cloves goes back to 1721 BC.
• Cloves are native to the Molucca Islands.
• The Ancient Romans used cloves for a surplus of different things.
• Cloves were a very popular spice to trade in the 17th and 16th centuries.
  • Finding them or gaining control of land that had them have caused battles, wars, and expeditions.
• At one time, cloves were seen as more valuable than gold.
• The Dutch began trading cloves in 1605 when one of their explores made his way the Moluccas.
• The Dutch went as far as to destroy clove trees in lands that they didn’t have control over so that people would have to do trade with them.
  • This idea didn’t work because too many places were already trading cloves.
  • Cloves were grown in Brazil, Tidore, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Tanzania, Madagascar, Ternate, and a load of other places.
• Cloves get their name because someone thought they look like nails and the French word for nail is clou.

Clove Health Benefits

1. Antioxidants

Cloves contain vitamins E and C while also having something called eugenol in them. These antioxidants are amazing for stopping and killing free radicals that can cause cancer and they stop oxidative stress which can lead to chronic diseases.

 

2. The Number of Nutrients

While one might not expect there to be a lot that a little bud from an evergreen can have, you’d be surprised. The little buds are crammed full of minerals and vitamins. Just one teaspoon (two grams) of cloves has.

• Vitamin C
• Fiber
• 21 calories
• Vitamin K
• One carb
• Manganese

Cloves also have trace amounts of vitamin E, calcium, and magnesium.

 

3. Kill Bacteria

Small is powerful! When dealing with bacteria- which are microorganisms- you need something just as tiny to fight back with. Which is why cloves are amazing. Cloves don’t only have antioxidants, they also antimicrobials which are tiny enough to fight the bacteria. Studies have shown that using clove oil can kill bacteria that lead to tooth decay and gum disease.

You can make a really easy mouthwash using 20 drops of clove essential oil and a cup and a half of filtered water. All you do is combine the two in a glass jar and shake it really well. Just swish with a tablespoon or two of the wash for twice a day for 30 seconds each time.

4. Cancer Fighter

The eugenol in cloves was aforementioned. The eugenol can kill free radicals that cause cancer, can stop the spreading of cancer cells, can shrink the sizes of tumors, can outright kill the cancer cells.

It should, however, be noted that you should take it easy when using cloves for their eugenol because too much of it can become toxic and can actually cause liver damage.

 

5. Blood Sugar

Cloves have something in them called nigericin. Because of the nigericin in cloves, it helps your body to be more sensitive to insulin, improves how much sugar your cells take in from your blood. Being more sensitive in insulin and you cells taking in more sugar from your blood, like they should be- should help to keep your blood sugar down and closer to the range it should be in.

6. Liver Health

Eugenol doesn’t just help when you are trying to get rid an illness. It also helps when you’re having troubles with your liver. The eugenol, anti-inflammatories, and other antioxidants help to keep your liver strong and healthy. The aforementioned compounds work together to reverse things like fatty liver disease, scarring, oxidative stress, and liver cirrhosis.

 

7. Bone Health

Osteoporosis is a common issue (it affects 43 million elderly people in just the United States) and it occurs when someone’s bones start to lose mass. Cloves are perfect for warding off osteoporosis because of the vitamin K and manganese. The manganese and vitamin K are very important to bone growth and can even stop the bones from losing mass.  

 

8. Digestive Help

Cloves help the body to make gastric acids and these, in turn, help your body to better digest foods. If you have trouble with gas, indigestion, or dyspepsia, then try using cloves in more of your cooking to stop the discomfort before it even gets the chance to start.

9. Acne Cure

The eugenol in cloves is truly the holy grail when it comes to home cures. You can use cloves because their eugenol to battle out acne. Using cloves for acne treatment is pretty easy and it doesn’t take a lot of time to do.

All you need for the face mask is honey, some ground up cloves, and a couple drops of lemon juice. Mix those together, apply it to your face, and leave in place for about 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, just wash it off.

 

10. Toothaches

Toothaches are a bother that no one wants to deal with. It’s a long holiday and the dentist’s offices are closed so you can’t get in for an appointment. So what do you do? You use clove oil to stop the pain because of the anesthetic compounds it has. Clove oil can help toothaches, gum problems, and even the aching that can come with cavities.

11. Air Freshener

Cloves have a such a strong smell and the smell bonds well with other scents. When if you’re planning on having someone or a couple of friends over and the smell of your house is bothering you, can use cloves in a simple air freshener.

To make the air freshener, you boil orange peels in water with several pieces of cloves and just let it boil like this. The scent is powerful, good, and neutralizing.

 

12. Food Poisoning

There’s a kind of bacteria at fault for causing food-borne illnesses and it’s called listeria. Adding cloves to easy on the stomach foods like applesauce has been found to stop at the very least slow down the growth of the listeria. If you don’t have cloves handy but are going to be able to get some soon, then two other spices that can do the same thing are allspice and cinnamon.

 

13. Prevent Chemotherapy Side-Effects

Eugenol can aid in stopping cancer, but it can also help with some of the side effects of the chemotherapy that some people have to undergo. The cloves help the chemo to act faster as well because of the cancer benefits of its own. Cloves have been proven helpful most powerfully in f=helping chemo fight against cervical cancer and early stages of lung cancer.

14. DNA Protection

There are mutagens that can occur in DNA cells that aren’t always good. Cloves have something in them called phenylpropanoids and they help to protect your DNA. This was even tested by applying cloves to cells that we subjected to the mutagens. The phenylpropanoids in the cloves were fully capable of controlling the mutagenic effects.

 

15. Respiratory Infections

Respiratory infections aren’t all kinds of fun and can oftentimes be rather scary for the people who have them as well as the people around the ill one. Well, cloves can help with it. The antioxidants and other illness battling compounds in cloves work together in amazing ways to loosen up phlegm to make it easier for your body to get rid of it. Not only that but if you also have a throat, the painkillers in the cloves that help with the toothaches can also ease up some of the pain in your throat.  

16. Treating Wounds

Cloves have anti-inflammatories, antiseptics, and analgesics. That means that they’re great for infections and pain at bay. If you have scrapes and bruises, then you can use cloves in more of your cooking or clove essential oil in a diffuser to help with the swelling, to keep away infections, and to help the wound to heal faster.  

 

17. Stress Relief

Cloves can have a calming effect on your body. This is perfect if there’s something stressful coming up, if you have anxiety, or if you’re just generally a higher-strung person.

You can use aromatherapy or you can even just make (or buy) teas with cloves in it. Cloves help with anxieties because they encourage the body to make more hormones that can boost your mood and even your energy levels.

 

18. Healthier Circulation

Again, the antioxidants come into play here. The antioxidants clean your blood that that lets it flow more easily through your body. Having a stronger circulation helps to keep your body temperature more normal, and it helps your metabolism.

 

19. Testerone

The Romans weren’t wrong when they thought that cloves can make men more fertile. In men, cloves have the ability to increase the levels of testosterone which boost the health of the man’s sperm and his fertility.     

There are a few things that you should keep in mind when planning to use cloves, whether their oil or otherwise. If you use clove oil on your skin, don’t go outside into bright sunlight right away. The oil makes your skin more sensitive to light and can actually cause some pretty bad sunburns.

Some people are allergic to cloves or if they’re not allergic to the clove itself, they can allergic to the oil. If people have sensitive skin, they might not want to use clove oil all that much because it can affect their skin and cause rashes.

Oils made from cloves can drastically slow what it is called platelet activity. What this means is that clove oil can poorly affect how quickly anticoagulant meds (think along the lines of Aspirin).

Sources

https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/amazing-health-benefits-of-cloves/

https://www.naturalfoodseries.com/17-benefits-cloves/

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9991/6-health-benefits-of-cloves.html

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/health-benefits-of-cloves.html#chemopreventive-properties

https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-health-benefits-of-cloves-89050

https://articles.mercola.com/herbs-spices/cloves.aspx

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-cloves#section6

https://ohdeardreablog.com/2018/06/natural-mouthwash.html

http://www.indepthinfo.com/cloves/story.shtml

Coughing man picture source here.