Chamomile Health Benefits and Nutrition Fact
What is Chamomile?
Other names: Matricaria recutita, German chamomile, true chamomile, Hungarian chamomile
The term Chamomile actually refers to a range of different daisy-like plants, which are a member of the Asteraceae family. It is native to Europe and Asia. The flowers are used medicinally.
Chamomile comes in capsule, liquid, and tea form.
History
Chamomile is an age-old medicinal herb known in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Chamomile's popularity grew throughout the Middle Ages when people turned to it as a remedy for numerous medical complaints including asthma, colic, fevers, inflammations, nausea, nervous complaints, children's ailments, skin diseases and cancer.
Nutrition fact of Chamomile
Chamomile is a source of phytonutrients and minerals, such as flavones, glycosides, bitter glycosides, valeric acid, tannins, salicylic acid, coumarin derivatives, copper, potassium, zinc, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin C, and vitamin B1..
Chamomile Health Benefits
Anti-inflammatory
Chamomile is useful for treating inflammation in the body, including respiratory infections, inflammation of the eyes or skin, intestinal inflammation, mouth ulcers, or inflammation of the gums.
Aids sound sleep
Chamomile has components that have soothing properties. Take it before going to bed and it will help you sleep better.
Relieves stress
Chamomile contains natural stress away, and it will calm your nerves.
Soothes the stomach
Chamomile soothes stomachaches and helps alleviate bowel problems. It also helps with digestion.
Muscle relaxant and for menstrual cramps
One of the top uses of chamomile is for muscle relaxation. It can be used as a balm or a tablet. Alternately, one can brew one’s own chamomile tea. Two to three cups a day is ideal to de-stress and keep muscles relaxed. It also calms muscle spasms during menstrual cramps.
The immune system
The production of white blood cells can be enhanced by consuming chamomile tea, which improves immune system function. When the immune system goes down, you get a cold or flu. Chamomile relieve these symptoms.
Eye dark circles
Soak chamomile tea bags in warm water, to help get rid of dark circles around the eyes.
Eases breathing
Breathe in the steam of hot chamomile herbal tea. This will ease breathing during sinusitis or colds.
Skin problems
The cooled chamomile tea can help a number of skin problems including skin rash, acne, or fungal infection. To soften dry skin, pour some chamomile tea in your bath water.
Headaches and migraines
When starting signs of migraine or other headaches, immediately drink chamomile tea, it helps ease before getting worse.
Diabetes
According to one study, symptoms of hyperglycemia and the development of diabetes can be effectively assisted with some chamomile tea.
Cancer
Several in-vitro studies were conducted to show the effectiveness of the possibility of chamomile in the prevention and treatment of cancer. There are two active ingredients in chamomile can make it so efficacious, that is a natural antioxidant called apigenin, and some essential oils. In the study, apigenin seems to have an important role to inhibit cancer cells. Chamomile inhibits the growth of cancer cells that have been tested, including prostate cancer and breast cancer. This fact is due to apigenin acts as an anti-androgen and also not separated from the effects of hormonal regulation.
Other Benefits
Apart from all these, chamomile has been found to be useful for different conditions, such as Crohn's disease, hemorrhoids, colitis, and asthma.
Sources:
altmedicine.about.com
herbwisdom.com
letsgohealthy.blogspot.co.uk
newsmax.com
Other links:
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