Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Available either as a dried herb or herbal tincture.

Please note this is a nutritional, functional horse food supplement and not veterinary medicine. See Dr Kellon's Horse Sense - 'Nutrition is not 'Alternative' Therapy.

Tincture

Our human-grade, certified organic tinctures give you a ready-to-absorb potent source of phytonutrients at the highest-strength available, for immediate absorption straight into the bloodstream and to the body’s cells.

100% certified organic pure tincture: Oreganum vulgare (Oregano) Herb, Infused 1:3 25%, Organic Cultivated

Feed Guide

• Horse - 30-40ml / Pony - 15-20ml, daily in feed.
• Always shake the bottle to disperse any sediment.
• 3-year shelf-life.

Dried Herb

Produced to ecological standards and free from agro-chemicals.

Certified organic dried herb: Oreganum vulgare (Oregano) Herb, Organic Cultivated , Origin Turkey

Feed Guide

• 5g/100kg bodyweight per day, thus for an average 500kg horse add 25g daily to feed.
• 1-year shelf-life.

Functional Nutritional Value

Constituents: Carvacrol, thymol, pinene, ocimene, caryophyllene, linalool, and limonene.

NB. Our range of botanicals are all grown, harvested and dried without the use of agri-chemicals, non-irradiated and GMO free - see our Quality page for Quality Management & Certification Documents. Laboratory tested for identification and compliance to the British and European Pharmacopoeia standards, and are human grade. Please be aware that if you're purchasing our dried botanicals for human use, our dried range is cut to appropriate sizes for feeding to horses.

More ...

A bit of oegano trivia foryou - part of the mint family, there are at least 70 known species of oregano, which have been given more than 300 scientific names over the last century!

However, we’re staying with Origanum vulgare , sometimes called wild marjoram in Europe, Origanum comes from the Greek words oros meaning mountain, and ganos, meaning joy, a befitting name for the swathes of purple flowers and that incredible aroma that festoon Mediterranean hillsides every summer.

And that ‘joy’ carried over into ceremonies associated with good luck and happiness. In Greek and Roman wedding ceremonies, brides and grooms often wore crowns of oregano, and on the other hand, oregano growing on a loved-one’s grave meant a happy afterlife for the deceased.

More practically though, oregano has a long history as an aromatic, culinary spice, and would you believe as a flavouring for beer, before hops became the preferred herb of mead-makers. Its flowers were also used to dye wool and linen cloth, though the resulting colour wasn’t particularly brilliant or lasting.

Medicinally, oregano’s first documented use dates back at least 50,000 years to Iraq where archeologists discovered the grave of an apparent noble woman who had small bag of wild oregano tied around her neck. Oregano-infused olive oil was also found in an ancient Grecian ship in the Aegean Sea and the thinking is that it was most likely used as a therapeutic rub and/or as a food preservative.

The Greeks also used oregano as a remedy for narcotic poisoning, convulsions, and dropsy, while the Turks routinely used it to make what is known as kekik water, used to aid in digestion and regulate blood sugar.

Cut to the Middle Ages, and posies of fresh oregano were held to protect against the black plague. By the 17 ^th century, the British herbalist Culpeper lauded wild oregano for its effectiveness against lung and ear infections, intestinal complaints, stomach aches, tuberculosis, and hepatitis.

As a folk remedy, oregano has been used to relieve colic, cough, headaches, nervousness, and toothaches. And more recently, oregano has been used as an oral antiseptic, to treat viral and bacterial infections, and as an anti-cancer agent. It’s also used medicinally as an astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant, emmenagogue, stimulant, and stomachic.

60% of the world’s wild Organum grows in Turkey, and no question – it was the Mediterranean’s best kept secret until the early twentieth century, when North Americans began to show an increased interest in oregano. In the years between 1940 and 1985, oregano consumption rose an astounding 3800% in the US, although more due to its culinary uses rather than medicinal ones, so probably due to the extensive migration of Italian families to America.

While America was busy adding oregano to their spaghetti and pizza, serious research was already underway on its therapeutic properties. In 1910, W.H. Martindale found that oregano oil had 26 times more phenol than synthetic sources, declaring as “the most powerful plant-derived antiseptic known”. In 1919, studies revealed that even small concentrations of oregano oil had a significant germicidal effect on microbial growth.

Today, oregano is one of the most widely used and researched herbs on the planet. Worldwide production of oregano is estimated at 10,000 tons per year, and a wide range of studies have established oregano as a powerful antioxidant, antiseptic, antibacterial, and antiseptic – I permanently keep a bottle of oregano oil in the house for these very reasons; at the first sign of a cold or flu-like symptoms, we rub the oil on the soles of the feet, and within 20-minutes you can taste it in the mouth. Toothache? No problem – a couple of drops of oregano oil on the offending tooth and its antibacterial properties get to work immediately.

The antioxidant content of oregano is particularly impressive, ranking higher than any other fruit or herb in antioxidant activity. It has 42 times more antioxidants than apples, 12 times as much as those found in oranges, and 4 times the antioxidant content of blueberries. As a result it’s thought to be useful in combating the free radicals responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Other studies suggest that oregano’s antioxidant effects may modulate cancer growth. It’s also proven to be an effective antimicrobial agent against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive microorganisms and may prove vital in the fight against antibiotic resistant infections.

A truly valuable and versatile herb to have on hand, both for medicinal reasons and to add to a pasta sauce every day!

We use oregano in our BiomeTonic blend for its antimicrobial benefits, to compliment the intestinal environment as a safe haven for the beneficial gut biota.

Safety

• A Class 1A herb, oregano is generally regarded as safe.
• Though the literature is mixed, oregano has been shown to stimulate uterine contractions, so it should not be used therapeutically during pregnancy.
• Never use undiluted oregano essential oil, as it can burn the skin, irritate mucous membranes and cause contact dermatitis, plus it's not recommended for use on children under the age of two. If you're going to buy it, this is my recommended diluted oregano oil of choice - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oreganol-P73-Super-Streng...