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Fennel; Foeniculum vulgare

Proposed Uses: Infantile Colic; Dyspepsia (Indigestion); Intestinal Gas; Menstrual Pain

Fennel has a long history as both food and medicine. Traditionally, it is said to help the body expel gas. Other traditional uses include increasing breastmilk production, easing childbirth, soothing cough, promoting menstrual flow, soothing indigestion, and enhancing libido. Fennel is also a common ingredient in “gripe water,” a traditional (and highly alcoholic) preparation used for treating infant colic.

Animal and test-tube studies hint at a number of potential medicinal effects of fennel or its constituents, such as relaxing smooth muscles, stimulating the flow of bile, and reducing pain. However, only double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in humans can actually show a treatment effective. Only one such study of this type has been performed for fennel.

This trial enrolled  infants with colic, who received either placebo or fennel seed oil at a dose of 12 mg daily per kg of body weight. The results were promising. About 40% of the infants receiving fennel showed relief of colic symptoms, as compared to only 14% in the placebo group, a significant difference.

Previously, a small double-blind, placebo-controlled study found similar benefits with a tea containing fennel as well as other herbs (chamomile, vervain, licorice, and lemon balm).

No other proposed uses of fennel have undergone study in double-blind trials.

One study commonly cited as evidence that fennel is helpful for menstrual pain actually proved nothing at all. This was an open trial that compared fennel to the drug mefenamic acid. Because participants and researchers were aware of which treatment was which, making the results suspect.

At one time it was thought that fennel had estrogen-like effects, making it a phytoestrogen. However, subsequent research has tended to indicate that fennel does not have significant phytoesterogen activity.

Dosage
A typical dose of fennel is 1–1 1/2 teaspoons of seeds per day, either in capsules or as tea.

Safety Issues
As a widely consumed food spice, fennel is thought to have a high safety factor. However, according to one placebo-controlled study with rats, fennel impairs the absorption of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (Cipro).

Fennel might be expected to interfere similarly with other drugs in the ciprofloxacin family, the fluoroquinolone drugs. Allowing 2 hours between taking ciprofloxacin and fennel should reduce the potential for an interaction, but may not eliminate it. For this reason, it may be advisable to avoid taking fennel during therapy with ciprofloxacin or other antibiotics in this family.

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