An ancient woman, who has lived all seasons, wanders the earth gathering camomile.
Each flower in her apron is a star, her apron is the sky. – Khaled Abdallah
‘Though the camomile, the more it is trodden upon, the faster it grows; yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears.’ – William Shakespeare
‘How the Doctor’s brow should smile, Crown’d with wreaths of camomile.’ – Michel de Montaigne
Overview
What easier way to lower blood sugar than a nice cup of tea? Used for thousands of years as the ingredient in infusions, chamomile is a catch-all for many daisy-like plants. Relevant here are the German chamomile, or Matricaria chamomilla (also known as Matricaria recutita), and Chamaemelum nobile, known as Roman, English or garden chamomile.
What are the known benefits related to blood sugar?
This 2013 study showed that M. recutita flowers reduced insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, plasma triacylglycerol, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and LDL/VLDL cholesterol in mice.
Wouldn’t it be nice if only someone could prove the same in human studies. No one has, as of yet, but this study showed that reduced mortality was associated with chamomile consumption in a population sample of older women of Mexican origin.
German chamomile
Any other potential benefits?
Chamomile contains blood-thinning compounds and anti-inflammatory agents. In addition, chamomile also has relaxing properties and has been shown to inhibit the growth of certain cancer cells in vitro.
Any reports debunking these benefits?
The always skeptical Jenny Ruhl pens a blog post questioning the validity of studies performed on rodents, whose metabolism is completely different from that of humans.
What is the scientific mechanism at play?
Not enough research has been done, but this study explored one way chamomile could help fight damage to cells caused by inflammatory oxidants that might cause cancer. This study suggested that anti-hyperglycemic bioactivity could partially be mediated by the inhibition of intestinal glycosidases by the major polyphenols present.
Conclusion
A cup of chamomile tea a day can help keep the doctor away.
References:
http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/06/05/geront.gnv051.short
http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/06/05/geront.gnv051.full.pdf+html
http://www.fasebj.org/content/29/1_Supplement/LB323.short
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0080335
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/71/8_Supplement/4626.short
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2008/10/dreaded-words-in-mice.html