Strawberry
Quick Facts
- What it is: Wood strawberry is a small wild berry plant whose fruit is food and whose leaf was used in American folk medicine as a mild astringent tea.
- Main uses: Mild short-term diarrhoea, Gargle for a sore mouth, Heart and blood sugar support from the fruit
- Best for: People who want a food-based source of vitamin C and anthocyanins, People curious about a gentle traditional leaf tea
- Active ingredients: Ellagitannins, Quercetin and kaempferol glycosides, Anthocyanins (pelargonidin type), Vitamin C, Fibre and folate
- Forms: Fresh fruit, Freeze-dried fruit powder, Dried leaf tea, Dried root, Leaf tincture
- Time to effect: Minutes for a drying gargle feel; weeks for any blood test change; often nothing at all.
- Side effects: Usually none; allergy is the main risk, and strong leaf tea can upset the stomach.
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What is Strawberry?
What is wood strawberry?
Wood strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the small wild cousin of the garden strawberry. Folk healers used the leaf and the root as a mild tea. The tiny red fruit was eaten as food.
In American folk and Eclectic practice, the leaf was called an astringent. That means it was used to tighten tissue and dry up loose bowels. The fruit was tied to gout, skin care and stained teeth.
Here is the honest verdict. Human evidence for the leaf is almost absent. A few small trials exist for strawberry fruit, and they used the garden kind.
Long use in a tradition is not proof that something works. It is not proof that it is safe either. Both have to be shown, and for the leaf they have not been.
How does Strawberry work?
How is strawberry supposed to work?
No mechanism is proven in people. The leaf and root hold tannins, plant chemicals that bind protein. In test tubes, tannins tighten the surface of tissue.
That was the old reason for giving leaf tea in diarrhoea. Whether it changes the course of a real gut bug is not established.
The fruit holds anthocyanins (the red plant pigments) and vitamin C. In lab studies these act as antioxidants, meaning they mop up reactive molecules.
Small trials of strawberry fruit powder show modest shifts in blood fats. Some show a smaller rise in blood sugar after a meal. The studies are small and the results are mixed.
One effect of the fruit is plain and proven. Vitamin C prevents and treats scurvy, the vitamin C deficiency disease. That is true of any good vitamin C food, not just strawberry.
What forms does Strawberry come in?
What forms does it come in?
Most people meet strawberry as fresh fruit. Wood strawberry fruit is small, soft and rarely sold in shops. You are more likely to find it in a garden or a hedgerow.
Dried leaf is sold loose and in herbal tea blends. Dried root turns up in some old-style bowel mixtures. Tinctures (alcohol extracts) of the leaf exist but are uncommon.
Freeze-dried strawberry fruit powder is sold as a supplement. This is the form used in most human trials. It is nearly always garden strawberry, not wood strawberry.
Strawberry extract also appears in creams, lip balms and toothpastes. Those are cosmetics. They are not treatments for a skin or dental disease.
Where it comes from:
Where does its reputation come from?
Wood strawberry has a long record in European and then North American folk use. Eclectic physicians in 1800s America listed the leaf and root as mild astringents.
The tea was given for loose bowels. It was also used as a gargle for sore mouths and gums. Writers such as King and Felter called it gentle rather than strong.
Folk tradition claimed the fruit for gout and for stained teeth. The often repeated story that strawberries eased the gout of Linnaeus is just a story. It was never tested.
Who should avoid Strawberry?
- Never eat strawberries or use strawberry products if you have had an allergic reaction to strawberry.
- Do not try strawberry if you carry an adrenaline pen for a fruit allergy, unless your allergy doctor has cleared it.
- Avoid strawberry if birch pollen makes your mouth itch, until you know how you react.
- Do not give strawberry leaf or root tea to babies or young children.
- Do not use strawberry leaf tea in place of rehydration drinks for heavy diarrhoea.
- Avoid medicinal amounts of strawberry leaf or root if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, as safety data is missing.
- Do not drink strawberry leaf tea near your iron tablets if you are being treated for anaemia (low iron).
- Do not use strawberry leaf tea instead of your prescribed treatment for gout, bowel disease or diabetes.
When should you see a doctor?
When to see a doctor
Call emergency services if your lips, tongue or throat swell. Do the same for trouble breathing, a sudden widespread rash, or faintness after eating strawberry. That is a severe allergic reaction.
See a doctor the same day if diarrhoea comes with blood, black stools, fever or belly pain.
Get medical advice if diarrhoea lasts over two days in an adult, or over one day in a child or older person.
Stop the leaf tea and ask a pharmacist if you get mouth itching, rash or stomach pain.
Is Strawberry legal where you live?
In the US, UK and EU, strawberry is an ordinary food. Fruit powder and leaf tea are sold as food supplements or herbal teas. No strawberry product is licensed as a medicine for any condition.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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