Achillea millefolium L. s.l. revisited: Recent findings confirm the traditional use

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L. s.l.) is tra-ditionally used in the treatment of inflammatory and spas-modic gastro-intestinal disorders, hepato-biliary com-plaints and inflammation. Now we could show that the flavonoids mediated the antispasmodic properties of yarrow, whereas the dicaffeoylquinic acids caused the choleretic effects. Moreover, we observed an in vitro-inhibition of human neutrophil elastase, a protease involved in the inflammatory process, by extracts and fractions from yarrow, which suggests additional mechanisms of antiphlogistic action. The presented results confirm the traditional use of yarrow.

‍