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Chamomile
Tea: New Evidence Supports Health Benefits
For
centuries, people who’ve felt sick or stressed
have tried drinking chamomile tea as a medicinal
cure-all.
Now, researchers in England have found new evidence
that the popular herbal tea may actually help
relieve a wide range of health ailments, including
colds and menstrual cramps.
 Their
study is scheduled to appear in the Jan. 26 issue
of the American Chemical Society’s Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, one of the
Society’s peer-reviewed journals. ACS is
the world’s largest scientific society.
“This
is one of a growing number of studies that provide
evidence that commonly used natural products really
do contain chemicals that may be of medicinal
value,” says study leader Elaine Holmes,
Ph.D., a chemist with Imperial College London.
“The healthcare industry is placing increasing
emphasis on functional foods including natural
remedies, yet little work has been conducted on
the long term effects of such products on human
biology.”
The
herbal plant used in this study was German chamomile
(Matricaria recutita), also known as manzanilla,
whose flowers and leaves are brewed as a fragrant,
flavorful tea. The study involved fourteen volunteers
(seven women and seven men) who each drank five
cups of the herbal tea daily for two consecutive
weeks. Daily urine samples were taken and tested
throughout the study, both before and after drinking
chamomile tea.
The
researchers found that drinking the tea was associated
with a significant increase in urinary levels
of hippurate, a breakdown product of certain plant-based
compounds known as phenolics, some of which have
been associated with increased antibacterial activity.
This could help explain why the tea appears to
boost the immune system and fight infections associated
with colds, according to the researchers.
 Drinking
the tea also was associated with an increase in
urinary levels of glycine, an amino acid that
has been shown to relieve muscle spasms. This
may explain why the tea appears to be helpful
in relieving menstrual cramps in women, probably
by relaxing the uterus, say the researchers. Glycine
also is known to act as a nerve relaxant, which
may also explain why the tea seems to act as a
mild sedative, the scientists note. Glycine supplements
are sold in stores for that purpose, they add.
Levels
of both hippurate and glycine remained elevated
for up to two weeks after the study participants
stopped drinking the tea, indicating that the
compounds may remain active for quite some time,
according to the researchers. Additional studies
are needed before a more definitive link between
the tea and its alleged health benefits can be
established, they emphasize. Funding for this
study was provided by Oxford Natural Products,
a pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and technology
company located in Oxford, England.
The
American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization,
chartered by the U.S. Congress, with a multidisciplinary
membership of more than 159,000 chemists and chemical
engineers. It publishes numerous scientific journals
and databases, convenes major research conferences
and provides educational, science policy and career
programs in chemistry.
Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and
Columbus, Ohio.
Editor's
Note: The original news release - American Chemical
Society
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