The Advantages Of Having Fennel After Dinner

Fennel is a beautiful plant with light green feathery leaves and yellow flowers. The seeds and leaves, which taste like licorice or anise, are used in cooking and in herbal medicine, while the stalks are often added to salads. Herbalists have long used fennel to treat a variety of digestive conditions.

Traditional Uses for Fennel

Because fennel acts on the digestive system, many people find it helpful to take fennel after dinner. According to Tracy Bosnian, a trained nutritional therapy practitioner, fennel aids in the assimilation of food and reduces intestinal gas. It also alleviates nausea. However, do not use fennel for morning sickness, because it can relax the uterus and lead to miscarriage. If you are nursing a colicky baby, drink fennel tea; it passes into your milk and exerts an anti-spasmodic effect on the baby's intestines.

Ways to Use Fennel

Make a medicinal tea by crushing 1 tbsp. of fennel seeds and letting it steep in hot water for 15 minutes. You can also dilute one or two droppers of fennel extract in a small amount of water and use it up to three times per day. If you want to eat fennel in solid form, mix the crushed seeds with candied ginger and cardamom seeds to make a digestive chew. Eat it after meals, including dinner.

Scientific Research

Modern research supports the notion that fennel might have beneficial properties. An April 2011 article in "Pediatrics" found evidence that fennel might be an effective remedy for colic. However, the authors caution that more clinical trials are needed before it can be routinely recommended for this condition. Additionally, an August 2011 article in the "Journal of Medicinal Food" found that fennel has antitumor effects on human cancer cell lines in studies using test tubes and laboratory animals.

Contraindications

As of August 2011, fennel has no reported ill effects in humans, except for rare allergic reactions. The Food and Drug Administration has placed fennel on its "generally recognized as safe" list. However, some animal studies indicate that estragole, a compound in fennel, might be carcinogenic; mice given this substance developed more cancerous liver tumors than mice that didn't receive it. However, these studies did not use whole fennel, but only one component of it.