Fennel EO
Fennel, Sweet - Organic; steam distilled, Eden Botanicals
Members of the Eulji University in Korea discovered that simply inhaling fennel's essential oil greatly helped rats digest food while lowering their caloric intake.
It is now known that there are two varieties of fennel:
- Sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare subsp.vulgare var. dulce) and bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare subsp. vulgare var. dulce). European Pharmacopoeial standards indicate the main difference between the essential oils distilled from these varieties is the content of anethole and fenchone – sweet fennel essential oil contains more anethole and less fenchone than bitter fennel.
- Bitter fennel oil tastes bitter due to the high fenchone content and is not as acceptable to children as sweet fennel oil, which due to its low fenchone and high anethole content, tastes pleasantly sweet.
When extracted from the bitter fennel the chief components are : Trans-anethols (50-75%) ; Fenchone (12-33%) ; Estragole (2-5%). Additional components are alpha-pinene, camphene, p- cymene, myrcene, limonene, alpha and beta- phellandrene, gamma-terpenes, terpinols, cis-ocimene.
When extracted from the sweet fennel the chief components are: Trans-anethole (80-90%) ; Fenchone (1-10%; Estragole (3-10%). Additional components are: alpha-pinenes, camphene, p- cymene, myrcene, limonene, alpha and beta- phellandrene, gamma-terpenes, terpinols, gamma-fenchen
(Fennel oil has a history of use in medicines to prevent and treat stomach cramps in children and infants, and as a flavoring, hence the importance of taste.)
Sweet fennel, but not bitter fennel, essential oil has GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status. (GRAS, part of the US Code of Federal Regulations covering food and drugs, is a listing of substances generally recognized as safe for their intended use, for example, for inclusion in food.)
The Commission E recommends that steam distilled oil of fennel be used internally for catarrh of the upper respiratory tract. Bronchodilatory activity by fennel oil on precontracted isolated tracheal tissue of guinea pig has been demonstrated several times.
In terms of mechanism of action, fennel essential oil demonstrated stimulatory activity histamine H receptors and/or an inhibitory effect on beta-adrenergic receptors. The inhibitory effect on calcium channels is not a contributing factor, but a potassium channel opening effect may be. (Source)
Dose
Essential oil: 1-2 drops in a gel cap topped with olive oil
Cytotoxicity of the Essential Oil of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) from Tajikistan
Effects of Foeniculum vulgare essential oil compounds, fenchone and limonene, on experimental wound healing (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10520295.2017.1306882)