Anise vs Diabetes & Menopause

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What A Daily Gram Of Anise Can Do

Anise, specifically the seed of the plant, also called aniseed, is enjoyed for its licorice taste—as well as its medicinal properties.

Let’s see how well the science lives up to the folk medicine…

What medicinal properties does it claim?

The main contenders are:

  • Reduces menopause symptoms
  • Reduces blood sugar levels
  • Reduces inflammation

Does it reduce menopause symptoms?

At least some of them! Including hot flashes and bone density loss. This seems to be due to the estrogenic-like activity of anethole, the active compound in anise that gives it these effects:

Estrogenic activity of isolated compounds and essential oils of Pimpinella species

1g of anise/day yielded a huge reduction in frequency and severity of hot flashes, compared to placebo*:

*you may be wondering what the placebo is for 1g of a substance that has a very distinctive taste. The researchers used capsules, with 3x330g as the dose, either anise seed or potato starch.

❝In the experimental group, the frequency and severity of hot flashes before the treatment were 4.21% and 56.21% and, after that, were 1.06% and 14.44% at the end of the fourth week respectively. No change was found in the frequency and severity of hot flashes in the control group. The frequency and severity of hot flashes was decreased during 4 weeks of follow up period. P. anisum is effective on the frequency and severity of hot flashes in postmenopausal women. ❞

See for yourself: The Study on the Effects of Pimpinella anisum on Relief and Recurrence of Menopausal Hot Flashes

As for bone mineral density, we couldn’t find a good study for anise, but we did find this one for fennel, which is a plant of the same family and also with the primary active compound anethole:

The Prophylactic Effect of Fennel Essential Oil on Experimental Osteoporosis

That was a rat study, though, so we’d like to see studies done with humans.

Summary on this one: it clearly helps against hot flashes (per the very convincing human study we listed above); it probably helps against bone mineral density loss.

Does it reduce blood sugar levels?

This one got a flurry of attention all so recently, on account of this research review:

Review on Anti-diabetic Research on Two Important Spices: Trachyspermum ammi and Pimpinella anisum

If you read this (and we do recommend reading it! It has a lot more information than we can squeeze in here!) one of the most interesting things about the in vivo anti-diabetic activity of anise was that while it did lower the fasting blood glucose levels, that wasn’t the only effect:

❝Over a course of 60 days, study participants were administered seed powders (5 g/d), which resulted in significant antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and hypolipidemic effects.

Notably, significant reductions in fasting blood glucose levels were observed. This intervention also elicited alterations in the lipid profile, LPO, lipoprotein levels, and the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level.

Moreover, the serum levels of essential antioxidants, such as beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin E, which are typically decreased in diabetic patients, underwent a reversal.❞

That’s just one of the studies cited in that review (the comments lightly edited here for brevity), but it stands out, and you can read that study in its entirety (it’s well worth reading).

Rajeshwari et al, bless them, added a “tl;dr” at the top of their already concise abstract; their “tl;dr” reads:

❝Both the seeds significantly influenced almost all the parameters without any detrimental effects by virtue of a number of phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals present in the seeds having therapeutic effects.❞

Full text: Comparison of aniseeds and coriander seeds for antidiabetic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities

Shortest answer: yes, yes it does

Does it fight inflammation?

This one’s quick and simple enough: yes it does; it’s full of antioxidants which thus also have an anti-inflammatory effect:

Review of Pharmacological Properties and Chemical Constituents of Pimpinella anisum

…which can also be used an essential oil, applied topically, to fight both pain and the inflammation that causes it—at least in rats and mice:

❝Indomethacin and etodolac were treated reference drugs for the anti-inflammatory activity. Aspirin and morphine hydrochloride were treated reference drugs for the analgesic activity. The results showed that fixed oil of P. anisum has an anti-inflammatory action more than etodolac and this effect was as strong as indomethacin. P. anisum induces analgesic effect comparable to that of 100 mg/kg Aspirin and 10 mg/kg morphine at 30 th min. of the study❞

Summary of this section:

  • Aniseeds are a potent source of antioxidants, which fight inflammation.
  • Anise essential oil is probably also useful as a topical anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent, but we’d like to see human tests to know for sure.

Is it safe?

For most people, enjoyed in moderation (e.g., within the dosage parameters described in the above studies), anise is safe. However:

Where to get it?

As ever, we don’t sell it (or anything else), but for your convenience, you can buy the seeds in bulk on Amazon, or in case you prefer it, here’s an example of it available as an essential oil.

Enjoy!

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    Reformer pilates is steadily growing in popularity, with new studios opening regularly in major cities all over the world.

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    Classes aren’t cheap so let’s look at the potential benefits and drawbacks to help you decide if it’s right for you.

    Ahmet Kurt/Unsplash

    Pilates with special equipment

    Pilates is a mode of exercise that focuses on core stability and flexibility, while also addressing muscular strength and endurance, balance and general fitness. At first glance, it might look a bit like yoga, with some more traditional weight training components thrown in.

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    The reformer was first designed to help people recover from injuries. However, it has now become common for general fitness and even sports performance.

    Unlike normal pilates, also known as “mat pilates”, which only uses your body weight, the reformer adds resistance, meaning you can change the difficulty according to your current level of fitness.

    This not only provides a way to overload your muscles, but can make the exercise session more aerobically demanding, which has been proposed to improve cardiovascular fitness.

    Man stretches while his pilates instructor repositions his back
    Mat pilates uses your body weight. Kampus Productions/Pexels

    What are the benefits of reformer pilates?

    Despite being around for decades, there is surprisingly little research looking at the benefits of reformer pilates. However, what we have seen so far suggests it has a similar effect to other modes of exercise.

    Reformer pilates has been shown to help with weight loss, cause some small increases in muscle mass, and enhance cognitive function. All of these benefits are commonly seen when combining weight training and cardio into the same routine.

    Similarly, among older adults, it has been shown to improve strength, enhance flexibility and may even reduce the risk of falling.

    From a rehabilitation perspective, there is some evidence indicating reformer pilates can improve shoulder health and function, reduce lower back pain and increase flexibility.

    Finally, there is some evidence suggesting a single session of reformer pilates can improve two key markers of cardiovascular health, being flow-mediated dilation and pulse wave velocity, while also improving cholesterol and insulin levels. This suggests reformer pilates could lead to long-term improvements in heart and metabolic health, although more research is needed to confirm this.

    Man pulls straps of reformer, with his physio looking on
    Reformer pilates was first designed to help people recover from injuries. Kampus Productions/Pexels

    However, there are some key things to consider when discussing these benefits. Most of this research is quite exploratory and comes from a very small number of studies. So we do not know whether these findings will apply to everyone.

    Very few studies compared reformer pilates to other types of exercise. Therefore, while it can improve most aspects of health and function, it’s unlikely reformer pilates provides the optimal mode of exercise for each individual component of physical fitness.

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    Cost and access are major barriers. Or you might get better results with specific modes of exercises. Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

    Third, the effectiveness of your workout is likely to be impacted by how competent your instructor is. There are a host of different pilates qualifications you can get in Australia, and some take much less time than others. With this in mind, it might be best to look for accredited pilates instructors, although this will further reduce the number of options you have available.

    Finally, there is a learning curve. While you will get better over time, the exercise will likely be less effective during those first few weeks (or months) when you are getting used to the machine and the movements.

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    Reformer pilates can be a great addition to your fitness routine, especially if you’re looking for a low-impact way to build strength and flexibility.

    But if you have more specific goals, you might need a more specific mode of exercise. For example, if you need to get stronger to improve your ability to manage your daily life, then strength training is probably your best bet. Likewise, if your goal is to run a marathon, you will get more specific benefits from running.

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    Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia; Jacinta Brinsley, Exercise Physiologist and Postdoctoral Researcher in the Alliance for Research in Nutrition, Exercise and Activity, University of South Australia, and Lewis Ingram, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of South Australia

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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