Chamomile is a herb your grandmother and generations of grandmothers before her delighted in. And why not? It grew easily in substandard soils, producing an attractive daisy-like flower to adorn the garden, it freshened air in pioneer homes where bathing was infrequent according to today’s standards and, perhaps best of all, it was thought to be a cure for just about anything. Baby had colic or son a stomach ache? Feed them a few tablespoons of chamomile brew to soothe. Couldn’t fall asleep at night, felt nervous about writing an exam or had a cold coming on? Drink a cup of chamomile tea to relax and stave off viruses.
The question for us to ponder is does chamomile have healing properties, and if so what are they and how can we access them? While there is no doubt, people over the past centuries who were sick or felt stressed experienced relief from drinking chamomile tea, did the “cure” come about because one believed it so strongly (the mind is a very potent instrument) or is there some actual scientific basis for believing chamomile can be used as a healing agent?
The most common way of using chamomile for medicinal purposes is by brewing a tea of lesser or greater strength based on fresh or dried flower petals which contain an essential oil. While the herb isn’t quite what the Germans called alles zutraut – “capable of anything” – there is evidence it may, indeed, relieve certain ailments.
The reason most often cited for drinking a cup or two of chamomile tea – besides enjoying the flavour – is to calm and relax. Some people take it before bedtime as a sleeping aid. In a recent study done in England, researchers found that drinking chamomile tea was associated with an increase in urinary levels of glycine, an amino acid known as a relaxant. This explains why chamomile tea appears to act as a mild sedative, helps to calm nerves and promotes restful sleep. You might not want to drink a cuppa when alertness is called for such as negotiating a curvy road or taking a difficult exam although chamomile doesn’t have the potency to knock one out.
Calm an irritable baby
However, it seems parents in past years were correct in believing a dose of chamomile tea would calm an irritable baby or help Johnny fall asleep. To make matters easier, it appears children as a rule tolerate the taste of chamomile even without adding sugar.
Over the years, chamomile has also been used to treat such gynecologic issues as menstrual cramps and sleep disorders related to PMS (premenstrual syndrome). That chamomile proves to relieve these complaints makes perfect sense when one realizes the herb contains glycine which serves to relax the uterus.
Secondly, chamomile has often been used to mitigate or treat infections and colds. In the same study cited above, researchers found a significant increase in urinary levels of hippurate after subjects ingested chamomile tea. Hippurate is a breakdown product of plant-based substances known as phenolics associated with antibacterial activity. Thus the tea boosts the immune system, helping to fight a variety of infections and inflammations such as is attributed to a bacteria known for causing stomach ulcers. Thus it would follow that the presence of hippurate might well soothe stomach aches by improving digestion and elimination.
In addition to ingesting chamomile through tea – which can be brewed from either fresh flower petals from the garden or from dried petals found in loose tea or teabags on store shelves – the herb has also been applied topically to relieve irritated skin such as eczema and applied as a poultice to speed the healing of a wounds, burns and bug bites. To create a soothing bath, put four tablespoons dried chamomile petals and ½ cup oatmeal in a cloth pouch such as the foot end of a sock and tie to close. Place this herb-filled sock under the tap as you fill the tub to allow water to pick up on the essential oil in the chamomile.
Just one warning: if you are allergic to plants from the Compositae family (daisy, ragweed, chrysanthemum, aster), you might experience sneezing or dermatitis on encountering chamomile.
