Fennel is one of the few plants that has it all — it’s a vegetable, herb and spice. That tang of licorice when you bite into a fennel seed comes from the volatile oil anethole, the same compound that gives anise its licorice-like flavor. Fennel is used for various digestive problems including heartburn, intestinal gas, bloating, loss of appetite, and colic in infants. It is also used for upper respiratory tract infections, coughs, bronchitis, cholera, backache, bedwetting, and visual problems. Some women use fennel for increasing the flow of breast milk, promoting menstruation, easing the birthing process, and increasing sex drive.
*Calms Menstrual Cramps : Fennel seeds are teeming with anethole and dozens of other phytochemicals, including phytoestrogens, estrogen-like compounds found in plants. These can help offset menstrual cramps that affect more than 50 percent of menstruating women.
* [[Colic ]] in breast-fed infants. In a study, doctors treated 125 infants with colic, dividing them into one group that received a product containing fennel seed oil and one that received a placebo. The fennel seed product eliminated colic in 65 percent of the babies given it, compared with 24 percent of the placebo group.
*Stomach upset and indigestion.
*Airway swelling.
*[[Bronchitis]].*[[Cough]].
*Mild spasms of the stomach and intestines.
*Intestinal gas (flatulence).
*Bloating.
*Upper respiratory tract infection.
* [[Detox ]] : Fennel is a mildly diuretic, which may help with the removal of toxic substances from the body
[[Category:Treatments]]
[[Category:herbal medicine]]