Skip to content
Winnowleaf home

Supplement

Horse Chestnut

Horse chestnut is a tree whose seed extract contains aescin, a compound thought to firm up vein walls and limit fluid leaking from tiny blood vessels. People mostly look at it for chronic venous insufficiency, when leg veins struggle to send blood back up, and the evidence is strong: a trial of 297 people found signs of the condition improved. Not every measure moved, though, since HDL cholesterol showed no clear difference in a very small study of 40 people.

Best evidence
Grade A
Conditions studied
2
Outcomes
6
Graded outcomes
1001

Evidence by condition

  • Strong
  • Moderate
  • Limited
  • Very limited

2 conditions

Chronic Venous Insufficiency

Chronic Venous Insufficiency: outcomes studied for Horse Chestnut
GradeOutcomeEffectSizeStudiesPeopleStudies list
Chronic Venous Insufficiency Signs

Moderate Improvement

Improves (the measure goes up)Moderate effect297 people
High-density lipoprotein (HDL)

No effect

NoneNo effect40 people
Leg EdemaImproves (the measure goes down)3 studies297 people

Studies that measured leg edema

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)Improves (the measure goes down)40 people
PainImproves (the measure goes down)543 people

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids: outcomes studied for Horse Chestnut
GradeOutcomeEffectSizeStudiesPeopleStudies list
Hemorrhoids SymptomsImproves (the measure goes down)1 study72 people

Studies that measured hemorrhoids symptoms

Key findings

  • Chronic Venous Insufficiency SignsChronic Venous InsufficiencyImproves (the measure goes up)
  • High-density lipoprotein (HDL)Chronic Venous Insufficiency

Studies cited

3 studies from PubMed

  1. Comparison of leg compression stocking and oral horse-chestnut seed extract therapy in patients with chronic venous insufficiencyLancet · PMID 8569363
  2. Horse chestnut seed extract for chronic venous insufficiencyCochrane Database Syst Rev · PMID 16437450
  3. Double blind study of reparil in proctologyRev Med Liege · PMID 796928

Protocols that include Horse Chestnut