Chamomile Tea: Health Benefits

               Chamomile comes from two plant species namely: German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile). Approximately 120 secondary metabolites have been identified in chamomile, including 28 terpenoids and 36 flavonoids. They have been used for thousands of years for various mythical benefits.

Chamomile is commonly used in form of tea bags and has benefits backed with scientific references. It is my greatest desire that after reading this write-up, you join me in your next grocery shopping to stock up your pantry with chamomile tea as I love to do. 

USES

1.    Chamomile tea is used for its sedative hypnotic effect/ Sleep-aid: 
      Chang and Chen (2016) [1] conducted a research on 40 Taiwanese postnatal women with poor sleep quality to demonstrate the sedative effect of Chamomile tea. After the women were fed the tea for 2-weeks , they demonstrated significant lower scores of physical symptoms-related sleep inefficiency (p= 0.015) and symptoms of depression (p= 0.020). Similar results has been recorded among the elderly suffering from insomnia. P.S: Remember good adequate sleep/ rest is important to slow aging, maintain good weight, loose weight and achieve a healthy lifestyle.

2.    Chamomile tea is used for good glycemic control: 
     Rafraf, Zemestani and Asghari-Jafrabadi (2015) [2] reports that 32 Type-2 Diabetics (T2DM) fed with chamomile tea 3x/day (3g/150ml hot water) immediately after meals for 8-weeks had a significant decrease in HbA1C, serum insulin levels, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) compared to control groups (who were on water regimen only).

3.    Chamomile is used as a galactogogue: 
      Galactogogue is any food that increases breast milk production in either humans or animals. According to a report by Brodribb (2018) [3], A nursing mother began drinking 1.5 to 2 L daily of chamomile tea ( 3 tea bags in 1.5-2.0L water). She reported that she noticed fullness and tenderness of the breasts 4 to 6 hours after she drinks the tea and was able to pump 90 mL of milk compared to 60 mL without the chamomile use. 

4.    In addition, chamomile have been used for gastrointestinal conditions, wound healing, mastitis and cracked, bleeding nipples [4]. In recent years, chamomile has been used to treat infants/ adults with Colic illness and diarrhea [5] [6]. They have also being used to suppress migration and invasion of human cancers.

TOXICOLOGY: No present literature has shown the effects of excessive chamomile drinking. Present literature only shows that some Chamomile when not well processed by non-regulated farmers contain dehydro pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) which can be carcinogenic. This is the reason you should always buy from a trusted Brand!!

              In conclusion, I hope you've learnt a lot about chamomile today? For me, I drink Chamomile almost very night to help me relax and sleep well in-order to conquer some of my insomnic episodes.

Keep your fingers crossed as my next posts will focus on benefits of other health teas.

Where can you get them?

 They can be found on the shelves of grocery shops where teas like green teas are sold. In Nigeria, you can find them at Shoprite or in the market among grocery retailers. Everyone I have introduced to this tea, testifies to its soothing power especially my beloved MOM. Common brands I use are Ceylon Chamomile Tea, Benner Chamomile Tea, Bigelow Chamomile Tea.

           

REFERENCES

1. Chang, S.M., Chen, C. H. Effects of an intervention with drinking chamomile tea on sleep quality and depression in sleep disturbed postnatal women: a randomized controlled trial.J Adv Nurs. 2016 Feb;72(2):306-15 
2. Rafraf M, Zemestani M, Asghari-Jafarabadi M. Effectiveness of chamomile tea on glycemic control and serum lipid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes. J Endocrinol Invest. 2015 Feb;38(2):163-70
3. Brodribb W. ABM Clinical Protocol #9: Use of galactogogues in initiating or augmenting maternal milk production, second revision 2018. Breastfeed Med. 2018;13:307-14.
4. Castro M. Homeopathy. A theoretical framework and clinical application. J Nurse Midwifery. 1999;44:280-90.
5. Weizman Z, Alkrinawi S, Goldfarb D, Bitran C. Efficacy of herbal tea preparation in infantile colic. J Pediatr. 1993;122:650-2.
6. Savino F, Cresi F, Castagno E et al. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of a standardized extract of Matricariae recutita, Foeniculum vulgare and Melissa officinalis (ColiMil) in the treatment of breastfed colicky infants. Phytother Res. 2005;19:335-40.