More Than Just a Garden Weed - Naturopathic Perspectives on Dandelion

It is one of the first flowers to pop up in the spring. It can, quite quickly, become the bright, cheerful yellow that takes over a neatly manicured lawn. It is abundantly available and is usually easily recognized. Once it has planted itself, it can be very hard to remove. As you’ve probably already realized, we’re talking about the tenacious dandelion.

If you’ve ever seen a grandparent or wise elder digging dandelions out of a field and collecting them (that image certainly comes to mind for me), you should know they were probably doing so for good reason. Because of its abundance, tenacity, and uncanny ability to seamlessly turn a lush green lawn into a field of yellow flowers, dandelion often gets viewed as an annoyance or pesky weed, and its nutritional value and health benefits can be overlooked. Did you know that every part of the dandelion is edible, and that each part has nutritional and medicinal properties? Let’s start with going over the parts of the dandelion so we’re all on the same page. Dandelions, or Taraxacum officinale, have four parts.

• Roots

  Dandelions have strong, deep taproots. This is what makes them so hard to remove from your lawn or garden. The roots are the most bitter-tasting part of the plant, likely because of their high inulin content. We’ll talk about inulin and its benefits a little later. The beneficial constituents like inulin can be extracted from the roots by boiling them in a decoction or preparing an alcohol extract. Roasted dandelion root also makes for a great coffee substitute.

• Leaves

• The roots give way to rosettes of green leaves. The leaves are high in potassium and great for use in salads, especially if they are harvested in early spring before the plant flowers. Once the plant flowers, the leaves become more bitter and are best for use in teas or alcohol extracts.

• Stems

  The stems rise from the rosettes of leaves. The stems contain many of the same constituents as the leaves, and they can have similar benefits and uses. However, they are more fibrous and bitter so don’t work quite as well eaten in salads.

• Flowers

  From the stems come the bright yellow flowers we all know so well. The flowers are the least bitter part of the plant and are more sweet than bitter, which makes them great for use in baking. They also contain beneficial nutrients like vitamins A and C as well as antioxidant flavonoids

Although the dandelion offers so many benefits and can be harvested anytime before the winter, it does produce varying levels of different constituents depending on the season. That means that optimal harvest time depends on which benefits you are hoping to get from the dandelion.

What are all these benefits I keep talking about?

Dandelions can help support liver health, fat metabolism, digestive health, and kidney health, and they have even been shown to be helpful in treating cancer. In fact, dandelions have so many uses it is hard to narrow down just a few. Today we will focus on three Ds and one C that dandelions can help with:

First up, dandelions and digestion

As previously mentioned, dandelions can be used in all sorts of ways. The fresh leaves can be eaten in a salad or used to make tea; the roots can be boiled in a decoction; and the flowers can be used to infuse oils and vinegars, or even in baking. However they’re used, dandelions seem to really aid in digestion, especially when it comes to the leaves and roots. Traditionally, they have long been used to help stimulate appetite and promote healthy digestion. Dandelions also seem to be useful in addressing concerns such as constipation, diarrhea, and stomach cramps, particularly in people with chronic colitis.[1] With their anti-inflammatory properties,[2] it makes sense that dandelions would be helpful in treating inflammatory bowel diseases, like Crohn’s and colitis. There has also been some interesting research into inulin, one of the compounds that give dandelion its bitter taste. It seems that the inulin found in dandelion helps our digestion as well by acting as a prebiotic and feeding the helpful bacteria in our intestines.[3] This not only makes it easier for us to absorb nutrients and eliminate waste, but by feeding our beneficial gut bacteria, it’s also helping to improve our immune system. Big wins all around.

On to the next D… Detox!

Traditionally, dandelion has been used to “clean or detoxify the blood.” It comes as little surprise, then, that it is often featured in detox teas and supplements. What makes dandelion so helpful in detoxification is likely the role it plays in supporting the liver, one of our body’s main organs of detoxification. The liver’s role in detoxification is to take toxins from the blood and convert them to a form that can easily be processed and removed. This makes it a very important organ, not only in the removal of toxins, but also in hormone regulation and fat metabolism. Dandelion seems to support the liver by increasing the activity of liver enzymes that help convert these toxins into forms that can be safely and effectively removed from the body.[4] This makes dandelion a helpful tool in treating conditions related to less-thanoptimal liver function, such as acne, headaches, menstrual irregularities, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular/heart disease. Dandelion further helps with detoxification by supporting the kidneys. The kidneys help the body remove toxins through urination once they have been processed by the liver. Dandelion, especially dandelion leaf tea, helps support this process by acting as a gentle diuretic and promoting healthy urination.

D number three: Diabetes

Did you know that dandelion can even help with blood-sugar regulation? Remember inulin, the compound we talked about earlier that benefits the good bacteria in your digestive tract? Well, it turns out it may also play a role in regulating blood sugar. How does this help with diabetes? Well, to explain that, let’s start with talking about insulin… not to be confused with inulin (note the extra s)! Insulin is the hormone that tells our cells to use glucose as energy for all the amazing functions they do. In type 2 diabetes, we have what is called insulin resistance, meaning cells stop listening to insulin. This causes glucose to build up in the bloodstream while the cells, unable to use the glucose, are starving for the energy they need to do all their many functions. Now back to inulin. Inulin, along with chicoric acid and other compounds found in dandelion, has the potential to increase insulin sensitivity in people with type 2 diabetes.[5] In other words, it appears dandelion has the potential to tell those cells to start listening to insulin again and use the glucose that’s available to generate energy. Along with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, this makes dandelion quite a useful tool in the treatment of diabetes.

A note on the big C

Like many other plants, dandelion has also been investigated for its usefulness in treating cancer. In traditional medicine, it has often been used for treating breast cancer and leukemia.[2] However, recent research seems to indicate that dandelion’s antitumour properties may also make it useful in treating other cancers such as pediatric cancer and stomach cancer.[6][7] What’s even more interesting is that it seems that dandelion root extract kills cancer cells without harming healthy cells.[6][7][8] Dandelion may play a role not only in treating cancer, but also in preventing it. With inflammation and oxidative damage/stress thought to be two large contributory factors leading to cancer, dandelion’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects would make it a great tool in cancer prevention.

And there you have it! The three Ds and C that dandelions can help with. Hopefully, at the very least, this gives you a new appreciation for dandelions. Maybe next time you see those familiar yellow pops of colour in your lawn, you might see them as nature’s gifts of abundant food and medicine instead of only as pesky weeds. Remember, it is always best to talk to a knowledgeable health-care professional, like a naturopathic doctor, about how herbal medicines like dandelion may help you on your unique health journey.