Fennel has several culinary as well as medicinal uses. If it is not in your kitchen cupboard right now, you’ll want to put it on your grocery list and make it a household staple after learning more about it.
In addition to its popular use as a breath freshener, it helps relieve a number of ailments and facilitates better health due to its stomachic, carminative, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, expectorant, diuretic, emmenagogue, depurative, anticarcinogenic and antioxidant properties. It contains vitamin C, potassium, manganese, iron, folate, and fiber. It is also rich in phytonutrients and has a high concentration of volatile oils.
You can enjoy the health benefits of this licorice-tasting herb by sprinkling it on breads or cakes before baking, adding it in fruit salads, adding fresh fennel roots in sautéed vegetables, or simply chewing fennel seeds after meals.
- Beats Bad Breath
Munching on a few fennel seeds will sweeten and refresh your breath after a meal and especially get rid of bad breath after an odorous meal.
Its antimicrobial properties fight the germs that cause bad breath. Its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties also soothe sore gums. In addition to chewing on a fennel seeds, you can swish lukewarm fennel tea in your mouth and gargle with it to reduce bad breath.
- Aids Digestion
Fennel is highly beneficial in relieving digestive problems such as indigestion, bloating, flatulence, constipation, colic, intestinal gas, heartburn, and even irritable bowel.
This herb stimulates digestion and has carminative effects that soothe the digestive tract and prevent the formation of gas. Moreover, it can help rebuild the digestive system after radiation or chemotherapy treatments.
Simply chewing a teaspoon of fennel seeds after meals aids digestion and relieves stomach pains and bloating. When suffering from indigestion, you can drink fennel tea or take one and half teaspoon of fennel seed powder along with water two times a day.
- Relieves Water Retention
Drinking fennel tea on a regular basis helps flush out excess fluids from the body as it works as a diuretic. You can also reduce puffy eyes caused by fluid retention by applying strong fennel tea under your eyes.
In addition to preventing and relieving water retention, fennel helps remove toxins and reduces the risk of urinary tract problems. It also has diaphoretic properties that will stimulate perspiration.
4. Reduces Obesity
Fennel is excellent for combating obesity as it suppresses the appetite and creates a feeling of fullness. Fresh fennel works as a natural fat buster by boosting the metabolism and breaking down fats. Plus, being a diuretic, fennel helps reduce water retention, which is a common cause of temporary weight gain.
One simple way to facilitate weight loss with this herb is to dry roast, grind and sieve fennel seeds and consume one-half teaspoon of the powder with warm water twice daily.
5. Protects Against Cancers
Fennel can help decrease the risk of developing colon cancer because it helps remove carcinogenic toxins from the colon. Moreover, the herb has an anti-inflammatory phytonutrient called anethole that has anti-cancer effects. A 2012 study at the University of Texas found that this phytonutrient can stop breast cancer cells from growing. Other phytonutrients like quercetin and limonene present in this herb also have anticarcinogenic effects.
6. Relieves Menstrual Problems
Many factors, including stress and poor diet, can interrupt a woman’s regular menstrual cycle. Fennel seeds have emmenagogue properties that promote and regulate menstrual flow. The herb also has phytoestrogens that help with issues like premenstrual syndrome, menopausal disorders, and breast enlargement. Apart from menstrual benefits, fennel is traditionally used as a galactagogue to promote lactation in nursing mothers. It also works as an aphrodisiac to increase libido in both men and women.
7. Treats Respiratory Illnesses
Fennel has mild expectorant properties that help relieve respiratory tract infections associated with coughs, colds, the flu, and sinus congestion.
For instance, when suffering with a cough and sore throat, you can drink warm fennel tea two or three times a day. Also, you can boil two tablespoons of fennel seeds in one cup of water until half the water evaporates, strain the solution and gargle with it.
8. Prevents Cardiac Problems
Fennel can reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. It is a good source of potassium that helps lower high blood pressure as well as folate that is needed for converting potentially dangerous homocysteine molecules into a benign form. Also, raw fennel root is rich in dietary fiber that helps control cholesterol buildup. It also contains vitamin C, which acts as an antioxidant and prevents heart disease by inhibiting free radical activity.
9. Promotes Eye Health
Researchers at the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research have found that fennel may help reduce eye pressure and promote the dilation of blood vessels. Thus, it may help prevent or treat glaucoma, a vision-impairing disease.
You can derive these benefits by drinking fennel tea daily. Also, you can prepare an infusion of one-half teaspoon of fennel seeds boiled in one cup of water until half the water evaporates. Strain and cool the solution and then use it as eye drops to relieve eye strain and irritation.
10. Improves Memory and Brain Function
Fennel works as a general brain booster. Researchers have found that fennel seeds help improve cognitive performance. Fennel bulbs and seeds also have high levels of potassium, which encourages increased electrical conduction throughout the body, contributing to healthy brain functioning and cognitive abilities.
Moreover, fennel juice acts as a vasodilator and increases oxygen supply to the brain. It is also helpful in relieving depression and delaying the onset of dementia.
