Raspberry leaf

Raspberry leaf: what was it used for?

Astringent and stimulant, Grieve says. The leaf tea, an ounce of dried leaves to a pint of boiling water, was a gargle for sore mouths and canker of the throat and a wash for wounds and ulcers; with powdered slippery elm bark the leaves made a poultice for wounds, burns and scalds. Taken cold, the infusion was “a reliable remedy for extreme laxity of the bowels,” and it served in the stomach complaints of children. Above all “Raspberry Leaf Tea is valuable during parturition. It should be taken freely, warm.”

Raspberry leaf: what does modern science say?

The one large trial, in Sydney, gave 192 first-time mothers raspberry leaf tablets (two of 1.2 g a day) or a placebo from the 32nd week of pregnancy: there were no adverse effects for mother or baby, and, contrary to popular belief, the first stage of labour was not shortened; the second stage was shorter by about ten minutes on average and forceps were used less often (19.3 against 30.4 per cent). A 2021 review of thirteen studies found that the leaf acts on smooth muscle, the uterus included, in the laboratory, that animals given high doses into the vein or the abdomen showed toxicity, and that the human studies have shown neither harm nor benefit; the evidence for its use in pregnancy is weak. In an Australian cohort of 561 pregnant women, 37 per cent took raspberry leaf, most often to make labour easier, and in a smaller prospective study of 91 women those who took it had their labours medically augmented less often, a result the authors say cannot be generalised.

Raspberry leaf: what did the older authorities say?

Dioscorides, as Grieve records

Associated it with Mount Ida in Asia Minor, where it appears to have been abundant; the Greeks called it Batos Idaia, the bramble of Ida, and Linnaeus kept the classical name in Rubus idaeus.

John Gerard

Calls it Raspis or Hindberry, the second name coming from the Saxon Hindbeer.