A home remedy is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment
that employs certain spices, vegetables, or other common items. Home remedies
may or may not have medicinal properties that treat or cure the disease or
ailment in question, as they are typically passed along by laypersons. Many are
merely used as a result of tradition or habit or because they are effective in
inducing the placebo effect. A significant number, however, have been
demonstrated to effectively treat ailments such as sprains, minor lacerations,
headaches, fevers, and even the common cold.
One of the more popular examples of a home remedy is the use
of chicken soup to treat respiratory infections such as a cold or mild flu, and
according to one in vitro study, there may be benefit from this use. Other
examples of medically successful home remedies include willow bark tea to cure
headaches and fevers duct tape to help with setting broken bones; and duct tape
or superglue to treat plantar warts; and Kogel mogel to treat sore throat.
In earlier times, mothers were entrusted with all but serious
remedies. Historic cookbooks are frequently full of remedies for dyspepsia,
fevers, and female complaints. Many European liqueurs or digestifs were
originally medicinal remedies. In Chinese folk medicine, medicinal congees,
foods, and soups are part of the healing repertoire.
