Don’t you want to chew some ?
( Το κείμενο υπάρχει στο τέλος και στα ελληνικά)
In the tradition of Chios, the mastic trees began to shed
tears when Saint Isidore martyred by the
Romans around 250.
However, the cultivation of the plant on the island dates
back to the 3rd century
The minimum rainfall, sunshine and limestone soil
composition are the perfect environment of success of
the plant.
The first reports about the mastic identified in antiquity and substantially
from Herodotus (484-420 BC), who specifically writes that in ancient
Greece they chewed the dried resinous
liquid that flows from the bark of the mastic .
In medical texts of antiquity found many prescriptions, the
main ingredient mastic, which they considered beneficial to human health and
attributed many qualities. Usually used it in combination with other natural
materials to treat numerous diseases.
Indeed, due to the strong action of antiflegmonodous eleanolic
and oleanolic acid (3-oxotriterpenio), mastic acts lysing healing inflammation
specific organs starting from periodontitis, esophagitis, gastritis, duodenal
ulcer until colitis and hemorrhoids. Also prevents stagnation in these areas
preventing symptoms like indigestion or flatulence. Additionally, digestion is
facilitated by reflex secretion of saliva and gastric juice during chewing gum.
The fact is that the
gum is still used today to soften tumors in the breast, liver, the parotid,
spleen, stomach, intestine and esophagus, even for diarrhea in children. Additionally,
it is considered an analgesic, antitussive, orexigenic, aphrodisiac,
astringent, erythropoiesis, diuretic, expectorant, and hemostatic. Mastic is
mentioned as the traditional antidote against abscesses, acne, cancer, ulcers
and tumors, malignant vesicle kardiodynias, warts, sluggishness, gingivitis,
halitosis, leukorrhea, mastitis, cusps and atherosclerosis.
Recent Medical
studies of the University of Nottingham
report that even in minimal doses (1 mg daily
