A Closer Look at Fennel
by Jennifer Good
This week's featured ingredient, fennel, is an extremely flavorful herb/vegetable with a vast history of culinary and medicinal uses. In folk medicine, it was used to promote menstruation and to enhance lactation.1 Native to the Mediterranean, today Fennel is popular worldwide and has a growing list of health benefits. Growing up to 7 feet tall and bearing beautiful yellow flowers, the fruit, roots, leaves, and stem all contain medicinal ingredients and nutrients such as fumaric acid, rutin, quercitin, amino acids, folate, potassium, and vitamins B1, B2, B3, C and E. In fact, in one cup of fennel, you'll receive 10.8% of the daily value of fiber, 5.9% for folate, and 10.3% for potassium.
Fennel is a carminative herb that helps reduce colic, gas, bloating, abdominal pain, indigestion, intestinal disorders, assimilation, nausea, cholera, and flatulence. Fennel contains the compound fenchone, which helps relax the smooth muscle lining the digestive tract, making this herb useful in reducing intestinal and stomach gas, and a necessary ingredient for colon cleansing products. Fennel's essential oils also stimulate the secretion of digestive and gastric juices and help the body better absorb the nutrients of food. These properties allow Fennel to help improve digestive health and quiet hiccups. It is also why chewing fennel seeds after a meal has become a common practice in Indian culture, particularly in the Indian Subcontinent.
Fennel's health benefits do not stop with the gastrointestinal tract. Due to the presence of cineole and anethole, which are natural expectorants, fennel has also been used for upper respiratory tract infections, coughs, and bronchitis. Fennel will help assist in the removal of mucus and phlegm from the lungs and will also help rid the intestinal tract of mucus. Its natural cleansing properties also have a cleansing effect on the gallbladder and liver. It also can help break up kidney stones and uric acid in the tissues and is therefore used in treating gout.
A relief to mothers, according to a study from the St. Petersburg Academy of Postdoctoral Education a fennel seed emulsion can help alleviate symptoms of colic in infants.2 Also, from Ancient Roman to modern times, fennel has had a link to improved eyesight. Extracts of fennel seed have been shown in animal studies to have a potential use in the treatment of glaucoma.3
When using fennel, the three different parts—the base, stalks, and leaves—can all be used in cooking. The stalks of the fennel plant are a popular ingredient in soups, stocks, and stews. Chopped fresh, you can also use fennel in salads, sandwiches, or sprinkled over smoked salmon. Fennel can also be found as a powder in Nutraceutical formulas, particularly those that help to ease and heal the colon.
For more information on how Jon Barron recommends its use in an herbal colon detox formula, click here.
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Sources:
1 - http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info/herbs/fennel.php
2 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12868253
3 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18831355
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