Long before modern science discovered the beneficial biochemical actions of hempseed’s nutrient, the medicinal properties of hempseed were widely used in the herbal medicine of both the East and West. To avoid confusion, in this section I’ll cover the medicinal properties only of cannabis seeds, and not those of the THC-rich cannabis flowers and leaves.
The Greek physician Dioscorides (c.A.D. 40-90) recorded the use of hempseed for medicine as well as for food. In his work De Materia Medica, one of this millennium’s most authoritative herbal and pharmacological information resources, he extols Cannabis sativa for its medicinal benefits and recognizes hemp’s value for stout cordage. Dioscorides also had the honor of giving our favourite plant its botanical name.
In the early centuries A.D. in Europe it was common to use hempseed oil (juice) as an analgesic for earaches and for expelling insects from inside the ear. Galen (A.D. 129-c.199), a famed physician and philosopher, believed that gout is caused by overindulgence. He found hempseed useful in the treatment of this painful disease. Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) prescribed infusion of hemp root to ease the inflamed joints of gout sufferers. Pliny was also the first known to prescribe hempseed as a laxative for farm animals.
Hempseed was also used quite extensively throughout Asia. Whether in the form of oil, decoction, powder, infusion, paste, or whole, it was a vital ingredient in many formulas.
The Chinese whose common name for hempseed is huo ma ren, Offer the most extensive medicinal information on it, most notably in Pen T’sao Kang Mu, China’s pharmacopoeia complied by Li Shih Chen. In addition to the wealth of information and prescriptions packed into this work’s large section on cannabis seed, there are numerous recipes, formulas, and preparation methods.
The Chinese attribute the following medicinal properties to cannabis seed: The seed’s energetics are sweet and neutral. Meridians and organs affected are the spleen, stomach, colon, and large intestine. Properties are demulcent (soothes, protects, and nurtures intestinal membranes), nutritive (nourishing to the body), laxative (loosens, relaxes, or stimulates evacuation of the bowels), diuretic (increases blood flow through the kidneys and thus augments urination), anthelmintic (destroys and dispels parasites such as worms), and mild yin tonic.
According to the following bits and pieces of modern and ancient prescriptions found in Chinese medicinal texts, cannabis seed:
- Is a chi (life force) tonic
- Can be used to hasten childbirth where the delivery is troubled with complications, or overdue
- Is indicated for postpartum recovery, for blood deficiency, and following febrile (fever) diseases
- Will alleviate retained placenta illness in mothers just beginning to suckle their infants
- Increases the flow of mother’s breast milk
- Is indicated in menstrual irregularities, constipation due to intestinal dryness, and wasting thirst
- Is commonly prescribed to treat constipation, particularly in the elderly
- Is indicated for dysentery
- Is used as a treatment for obstinate vomiting
- Is contraindicated for diarrhea
- Is used as an assisting herb in formulas to treat ulcers and sores
- Is helpful in reducing blood pressure
- Can break up long-standing problems with the blood flow
- Will restore the blood, the pulse, and the veins and arteries
- Improves the urinary tract and the passing of urine
- Has the capacity to cure zhong feng (neurologic impairment due to stroke) and the problems of excess sweating that this brings on
- Serve as a treatment for edema and its accommodation of diluted lymph
- Promotes healthy hair and skin
- Accelerates hair growth
Excerpt from ‘THE HEMP COOKBOOK” by Todd Dalotto
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Ted Emanuel Wellness /Solutions 