Elishinva,

have you checked the archives.  One LC I know heard about cabbage in a
talk by an older Russian MD who said it was used as an   remedy in the
'old country'.  So it is a well known folk remedy and we know that when
science catches up with a lot of thes folk remedies that there usually is
a scientific reason.  Someone had suggested to me that there is a book on
Cabbage remedies - I think that is in the archives as well.

I beg to differ with those who think that cabbage is just a quick fix to
'cold packs'.  My husband worked with a compounding pharmacist and
chemist for a while coming up with new drug therapies and the chemist
said there is a diuretic agent in the cabbage leaves - I believe he said
it was related to the aldactones, and that it obviously works topically
as well as internally.  We all know that cabbage when eaten has a
diuretic effect - ie. the famous Cabbage Soup for dieting.

I believe there was a study done with cold and room temp cabbage leaves -
am I thinking of the one with ice vs cabbage that was in JHL?
Most of my back JHL's have not turned up yet since the move a year ago -
so can't look it up!

Also personal experience most recently with my husband broken wrist in
March tells me that there is a definite  difference in cabbage and ice.
I did not have ice on hand, thankfully, and used cabbage to cover from
just above wrist (towards hand) up to within about 2 inches of elbow and
then wrapped with towels.  When we got to hospital (1/2 hr away), places
not covered with cabbage were swollen grotesquely, area covered with
cabbage were not swollen at all.  Dropped him off at ER door and parked
car.  By the time I got to him they had his arm in a sling and removed
cabbage and added ice packs.  Arm was beginning to swell, I removed ice,
replace cabbage and added ice back on top.  We discovered later the wrist
was shattered.  Hundreds of pieces.  Orthopedist did say that the lack of
swelling allowed him to do immediate surgey and cast. Of course once the
cabbage was removed and it was casted he had swelling  - at one point
they had to remove fiberglass cast and do a soft cast - and I went back
to treatment with cabbage, swelling went down quickly with that.  They
had us trying to apply ice packs on top of the fiberglass cast- along
with elevation - those methods did not work to reduce swelling.

Just my observations and what little I know.  Maybe the pharmacists on
Lactnet would know more about the diuretic entity within cabbage, our
chemist friend is now deceased or I would ask him.  Any chemists out
there?

Katherine Catone, LLLL, IBCLC
Kingsville, Texas