 with fruity and tangy secondary flavor notes and enhance color.
You can harvest and preserve raspberry leaves from your own plants via drying and grinding, which you can then use for making tea or macerations for various therapeutic uses.
What are the benefits of raspberry leaf tea?
Red raspberry leaf tea is commonly consumed for abnormal bleeding in women. It has been proposed that highly biologically active components in red raspberry leaf (e.g. flavonoids) exert beneficial effects on the endocrine system, helping regulate hormonal imbalances that may cause abnormal bleeding in women of childbearing age. More exactly, red raspberry has been found to have estrogenic effects which may explain its benefits for abnormal bleeding in women.
Raspberry leaf tea has been used for natural labor induction for centuries. In folk medicine, raspberry leaf was believed to shorten labor and even make labor easier. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted in a major hospital in Sidney, Australia, 192 low-risk, nulliparous women were given raspberry leaf extract tablets from 32 weeks into the pregnancy and up until labor. Raspberry leaf was found to shorten the second stage of labour and lower rate of forceps deliveries, with no adverse effects for the mother or baby (source).
In a retrospective observational study of 108 participants on raspberry leaf and its effect on labour, it was found that raspberry leaf consumed by pregnant women helped shorten labor with no identified side effects for the women or their babies. An unexpected finding in this study seemed to indicate that women who ingested raspberry leaf might be less likely to receive an artificial rupture of their membranes, or require a caesarean section, forceps or vacuum birth (source).
While the exact mechanism of action is not currently known, it has been hypothesized that bioactive components in raspberry leaf (e.g. flavonoids such as kaempferol, quercetin) stimulate uterine contractions which can augment the effects of oxytocin and stimulate oxytocin-induced contractions (source). However, effects may not be consistent.
Raspberry leaf has been called the period vitamin because of its proposed and reported benefits for menstrual periods. In addition to helping control bleeding, raspberry leaf tea and other raspberry leaf preparations provide highly biologically active antioxidants (mainly flavonoids) with anti-inflammatory effects which could potentially hold benefits for painful menstrual cramps.
Red raspberry leaf tea is not actually recommended for consumption during pregnancy because of limited safety data regarding side effects such as preterm labor or miscarriage. Nonetheless, raspberry leaf tea holds some benefits for pregnancy in the sense that it can facilitate getting pregnant. Consumption of the tea or other raspberry leaf preparations such as supplements or tinctures is said to increase fertility in both women and men, increasing chances of getting pregnant.
Red raspberry leaf tea has been reported to provide several benefits postpartum. One of the biggest benefits of red raspberry leaf postpartum is stimulating milk production. Raspberry leaf can also stimulate uterine contractions which can help with lochia elimination which is an integral part of postpartum recovery.
However, some medical professionals do not recommend the use of any herbal remedies postpartum due to limited data on safety (e.g. polyphenols in raspberries are detectable in breastmilk and can be delivered via breastmilk to the baby – source).
The antidiabetic benefits of red raspberry leaf tea are owed to biologically active polyphenol antioxidants such as gallic acid, ellagic acid, and procyanidin C3 (source). The antioxidants inhibit α-glucosidase and α-amylase enzyme activity in vitro. It is this inhibitory effect on digestive enzymes that prevents post-meal hyperglycemia in vivo and can potentially prevent oxidative damage or diabetes-related problems.
Research shows raspberry leaf contains biologically active polyphenols with antiplatelet, anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant activity (source) and can contribute with anticoagulant benefits to cardiovascular health. However, if you are on anticlotting medication (e.g. anticoagulants such as warfarin), talk to your doctor first about what is a safe amount of raspberry leaf tea or raspberry leaf supplements for you, if any, and what is the best time to take it (usually some hours after the medication).
Drinking red raspberry leaf tea can prove beneficial for high blood pressure. Bioactive polyphenols in the tea act at the level of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, inducing relaxation, including blood vessel relaxation, which represents a source of minor benefits for high blood pressure. Red raspberry leaf tea also has diuretic properties which helps remove excess sodium from the body and lower blood pressure numbers.
Red raspberry leaf tea is a diuretic which means it stimulates the production of urine, increasing the elimination of water from the body. By eliminating excess water, the tea helps reduce water retention in the legs and arms, and associated face puffiness. Moreover, red raspberry leaf tea supports kidney health via the same diuretic action.
Drinking red raspberry leaf tea on an empty stomach can help regulate production of gastric acid and protect the stomach mucosa. The tea can potentially help with gastritis and gastric ulcers. Regular consumption can also help regulate transit time for more regular bowel movements.
Page last modified on Thursday 07 of August 2008 13:54:04 CEST by.There's a bit of flapping wing research going on at TAMU, I think. The model they're working with is somewhere in the middle of bird, insect and bat. There are definitely applications for that kind of tech, just mostly at the small scale. They may not be as suitable for higher wing loadings. It's still in a pretty fundamental stage, as far as the research goes. One of my colleagues is wrapping up his dissertation focusing a lot on characterizing flapping wing aeromechanics using IR point mapping video cameras  (a Vicon system) to track the 3d movements and build dynamics models.We have prepared for you an interview with Reinhard Grabler, the director of Sea Shepherd Austria. As you may know, Brutal Assault has started cooperation with this organization. For more information, keep reading…
At first, can you please introduce Sea Shepherd to our readers, who haven´t heard about you before? What is your mission?
Our mission is to protect the marine environment, stop the slaughter or marine animals and thereby conserve the oceans for future generations. We are an army of volunteers, that active worldwide with our own fleet of 10 ships. Sea Shepherd’s approach is direct action, we are no protest organization, we act where it is needed most.
There are lot of activities going on, what are the upcomming campaings?
We are right now running the Operation Baltic Sea on the coastline of Germany. It is a campaign for the protection of harbor porpoise, which are protected by EU law but are threatened because of special permissions for fishing in the protection areas. Also, we are active in Mayotte, a French island near Madagascar, where we fight against turtle poachers. The MY Bob Barker is right now patrolling the west coast of Africa, in the waters of Gabon in Operation Albacore II to stop illegal fishing activities. As well there will be Campaigns including the MV Sam Simon in Italy soon.
How you personally met Sea Shepherd, what was your motivation to join the organisation?
I first heard about the organisation from a friend of mine, he was wearing a Sea Shepherd baseball cap and I was interested in the logo. I was vegan at that time and looking for a possibility to actually do something good for this planet, since I could not accept this environmental threats anymore which humans are causing. When I found out there is Sea Shepherd in Austria, I immediately signed up for a Welcome Day and got member of the crew. This was in 2014, in 2016 I became Austrian Director and still every day Sea Shepherd gives me the feeling that we actually can turn the page around and save this precious planet. And we don’t need a huge organization with a lot of budget, we just need volunteers that are 100% committed for what they do.
Why should we take care about oceans in inland countries?
That question I get quite often, there are not many Sea Shepherd Chapters without any coastlines. Well, every second breath we take is produced in the oceans. And not only this, the oceans are the largest CO2 reservoir, and thereby are necessary to prevent global warming. Right now this reservoir is exhausted and we see the so called ocean acidification, so a decreasing pH level of the water. As well we see a rise of water temperature. The marine ecosystem is very complex and plays a huge role in the environmental effects of the earth. The oceans are the source of all life and home for an incredible biodiversity that needs to be protected, no matter what country I live in, my life is depending on the oceans. Paul Watson once said: “If the oceans die, we die”. And this is just the truth.
How can we join you and what includes work of volunteer? And can we help somehow also in Czech republic?
There is a huge need for On-Shore volunteers, also in Czech Republic. Right now we are working on setting up a NGO for this country. There is a lot of interest, not only for volunteering but there is a large amount of Sea Shepherd supporters. The most important thing is to raise awareness in public, to communicate the importance of the marine eco system, and to show what Sea Shepherd does to protect it. Since the fishing activities happen so far away, it is out of sight and thereby out of mind. People must be aware of the state of our oceans, and they must know that if we continue fishing, we will not have any fish left, and thereby destroy the oceans. It seems like the ocean’s resources are endless, but in fact we already have overfished between