Astringent

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Astringent

An astringent (also spelled adstringent) substance is a chemical that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical

Topical

In medicine, a topical medication is applied to body surface area such as the skin or mucous membranes, for example the vagina, anus, pharynx, eyes and ears....
medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
adstringere, meaning "to bind fast". Two common examples are calamine lotion and witch hazel

Witch Hazel (astringent)

Witch hazel is an astringent produced from the leaves and bark of the North American Witch-hazel shrub which ranges from Nova Scotia west to Ontario, and south to Florida, and Texas....
.

Astringency is also the dry, puckering mouthfeel

Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel is a product?s physical and chemical interaction in the mouth. It is a concept used in many areas related to the testing and evaluating of foodstuffs, such as wine-tasting and rheology....
caused by tannin

Tannin

Tannins are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols that either bind and Precipitation or shrink proteins. The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of red wine or an unripened fruit....
s found in many fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s such as blackthorn

Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa is a species of Prunus native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa.It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches....
, bird cherry

Bird cherry

The bird cherries are a subgenus of the genus Prunus, characterised by having deciduous leaf, flowers 12-30 together on slender racemes produced in late spring well after leaf emergence, and small, sour fruit usually only palatable to birds, hence the name....
and persimmon

Persimmon

A persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family ....
fruits, and banana

Banana

File:Banana and cross section.jpgBanana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit....
skins.

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Encyclopedia

An astringent (also spelled adstringent) substance is a chemical that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical

Topical

Latin

Witch Hazel (astringent)

Mouthfeel

Tannin

Fruit

Blackthorn

Bird cherry

Persimmon

A persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family ....
fruits, and banana

Banana

File:Banana and cross section.jpgBanana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit....
skins. The tannins denature

Denaturation (biochemistry)

Denaturation is a process in which proteins or nucleic acids lose their structure by application of some external stress or compound for example, treatment of proteins with strong acids or bases, high concentrations of inorganic salts, organic compound solvents , or heat....
the salivary proteins, causing a rough "sandpapery" sensation in the mouth. Astringency tastes unpleasant to many mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s (including humans), which tend to avoid eating astringent fruit; conversely, bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s do not taste astringency and readily eat these fruit. It is thought that fruit astringency gives a selective advantage

Natural selection

Natural selection is the process by which favorable heritable trait become more common in successive generations of a population of Reproduction organisms, and unfavorable heritable traits become less common, due to differential reproduction of genotypes....
to some plant varieties because birds are better than mammals at long-distance seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
dispersal, often flying a great distance before passing the seeds in their droppings.

Astringent substances are also found in some red wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
s and tea

Tea

Tea refers to the agricultural products of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods....
s. A small amount of astringency is expected in some wines, especially young red wines made from grapes such as cabernet sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine List of grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major List of wine-producing countries among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canadian wine Okanagan Valley to Lebanese wine Beqaa Valley....
.

Astringent medicines cause shrinkage of mucous membrane

Mucous membrane

The mucous membranes are linings of mostly germ layer origin, covered in epithelium, which are involved in absorption and secretion. They line various body cavities that are exposed to the external environment and internal organ ....
s or exposed tissues and are often used internally to check discharge of blood serum or mucous secretions. This can happen with a sore throat, hemorrhages, diarrhea

Diarrhea

In medicine, diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea , is characterized by frequent loose or liquid bowel movements. The spelling of "diarrhea" is an appropriation of the Greek "diarrhoia" meaning "a flowing through." ....
, or with peptic ulcer

Peptic ulcer

A peptic ulcer, also known as ulcus pepticum, PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is an ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful....
s. Externally applied astringents, which cause mild coagulation of skin protein

Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
s, dry, harden, and protect the skin

Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
. Acne

Acne

Acne is a group of skin rashes that have different causes.* Acne vulgaris - most commonly experienced around puberty, typically of the face and shoulders/chest...
sufferers are often advised to use astringents if they have oily skin. Astringents also help heal stretch marks and other scars. Mild astringent solutions are used in the relief of such minor skin irritations as those resulting from superficial cuts, allergies, insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
bites, or fungal infections such as athlete's foot

Athlete's foot

Athlete's foot is a fungal infection of the skin that causes scaling, flaking, and itching of affected areas. It is typically transmitted in moist areas where people walk barefoot, such as showers or bathhouses....
.

Some common astringent agents include alum

Alum

Alum, refers to a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated aluminum potassium sulfate with the chemical formula KAl2.12H2O....
, oatmeal

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a product of ground oat groats or a porridge made from this product . The term, 'oatmeal' can refer also to other products made from oat groats, such as steel-cut oats, crushed oats, and rolled oats....
, yarrow

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium or Yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere....
, witch hazel

Witch Hazel (astringent)

Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
, and rubbing alcohol

Rubbing alcohol

Rubbing alcohol, United States Pharmacopeia / British Pharmacopoeia is a liquid prepared and used primarily for topical application. It is prepared from a special denatured alcohol solution and contains 97.5-100% by volume of pure, concentrated ethanol ....
. Astringent preparations include silver nitrate

Silver nitrate

Silver nitrate, also known as lunar caustic, is a soluble chemical compound with chemical formula silverNitrogenOxygen3. This compound is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography....
, zinc oxide

Zinc oxide

Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the Chemical formula ZnO. It usually appears as a white powder, nearly insoluble in water. The powder is widely used as an additive into numerous materials and products including plastics, ceramics, glass, cement, rubber , lubricants, paints, ointments, adhesives, sealants, pigments, foods , batteries,...
, zinc sulfate

Zinc sulfate

Zinc sulfate is a colorless crystalline, water-soluble chemical compound. The hydrated form, ZnSO4?7H2O, the mineral goslarite, was historically known as "white vitriol" and can be prepared by reacting zinc with aqueous sulfuric acid....
, Burow's solution

Burow's solution

Burow's solution is a pharmacological preparation made of aluminium acetate dissolved in water. It was invented in the mid-1800s by Karl August Burow, an ophthalmologist....
, tincture of benzoin

Tincture of benzoin

Tincture of benzoin is a pungent solution of benzoin resin in alcohol. A similar preparation called Friar's Balsam or Compound Benzoin Tincture contains, in addition, aloe and storax ....
, and vegetable substances such as tannic

Tannic acid

Tannic acid , a commercial form of tannin, is a polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to these phenol groups in the structure. Tannic acid is a basic ingredient in the chemical staining of wood....
and gallic acid

Gallic acid

Gallic acid is an organic acid, also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark, and other plants....
s. Balaustines are the red

Red

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 625?740 Nanometer....
rose-like

Rose

A rose is a perennial plant flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors....
flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s of the pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight metres tall. The pomegranate is native to the region from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and has been cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean Basin region and the Caucasus since ancient times....
, which are very bitter to the taste. In medicine, its dried form has been used as an astringent. Some metal salt

Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
s and acids have also been used as astringents.