Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Dosing
The below doses are based on scientific research, publications, traditional use, or expert opinion. Many herbs and supplements have not been thoroughly tested, and safety and effectiveness may not be proven. Brands may be made differently, with variable ingredients, even within the same brand. The below doses may not apply to all products. You should read product labels, and discuss doses with a qualified healthcare provider before starting therapy.
Adults (18 years and older)
A dose of 300 milligrams every 12 hours, for up to 12 weeks (containing 50 to 75 milligrams of escin per dose), has been taken by mouth. A dose of 600 milligrams of chestnut seed extract per day has also been studied.
A gel preparation of horse chestnut containing 2% escin (applied to the skin 3-4 times daily) has been studied for bruising, without clear benefits.
Severe allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock) has been reported with intravenous use. Horse chestnut leaf has been associated with liver inflammation (hepatitis) after injection into muscle.
Children (younger than 18 years)
There is not enough scientific evidence to recommend use of horse chestnut in children. Deaths have been reported in children who ate raw horse chestnut seeds or tea made from horse chestnut leaves and twigs.
NS_patient-horsechestnut
Portions of this document last updated:Sept. 1, 2009
THE NATURAL STANDARD RESEARCH COLLABORATION
(www.naturalstandard.com)
