White willow bark has been used for centuries to reduce fevers and inflammation, relieve pain, and tighten body tissues. Ancient historians prescribed white willow bark for corns, earaches and gout, while Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek manuscripts cite its use against fevers and pain. In the mid-1700’s, white willow bark was used to counter malaria. White willow’s astringent action was commonly used to stop internal bleeding. Typical uses of white willow bark include treating angina, arthritis, chills, dandruff, diarrhea, digestive organ weakness, dysentery, earache, eczema, eye problems, fevers, gout, headaches, inflammatory stages of autoimmune diseases, influenza, malaria, nosebleeds, rheumatism, sore muscles, and toothache.

White willow contains the active ingredient, salicin (the forerunner of aspirin), a phenolic glycoside, which relieves pain by depressing the central nervous system and blocking prostaglandins in the liver. Salicin also reduces fever by increasing peripheral blood flow and perspiration to disperse heat in the body. The latter action has also been found beneficial for reducing hot flashes and night sweats. Salicin is believed to be converted into salicylic acid in the body through oxidation. Salicylic acid has similar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties as aspirin; however, it neither thins blood, nor causes irritation of the stomach lining. Laboratory studies have confirmed traditional uses of white willow bark for alleviating minor pains associated with arthritic and rheumatic pain of the back hips and knees, as well as headache, gout, neuralgia, and similar conditions. More recent research indicates the salicin in white willow bark, a mild cycloxygenase inhibitor which helps reduce platelet aggregation (blood clots), may help prevent heart attacks and the spread of certain types of cancer—several types of tumor cells have been found to form a metastasis through platelet aggregation.

White Willow Bark