What Is Fennel? A Full Guide to Its Benefits, Effects and Who Should Avoid It

Fennel is a vegetable and also a component of traditional Chinese medicine with health-promoting and conditioning effects. So, what is fennel? What benefits and effects does fennel have? Who should not eat fennel? Let's find out together.

I. What is fennel?

Fennel greens and their seeds both have a distinctive aroma, and they are cultivated throughout the north and south. Fennel greens are rich in vitamin B1, B2, C, PP, carotene and fiber, and fennel is rich in fennel oil, so it has a distinctive spicy aroma and the benefits of regulating qi and soothing the stomach and strengthening the body.

II. The benefits and effects of fennel

1. Fennel has the benefit of regulating qi and soothing the stomach. It can be used to improve symptoms of cold pain in the lower abdomen, distending pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, and poor appetite with vomiting and diarrhea.

2. Cooking fennel as a prepared food, or steeping it in liquor and drinking it, can promote the movement of qi, dispel cold and relieve pain. Mashing fennel sprouts and leaves to extract the juice and taking it or applying it externally can treat virulent carbuncles and swellings, disinfect and relieve pain.

3. Fennel contains fennel oil. Fennel oil can stimulate the nerves and blood vessels of the gastrointestinal tract, promote the secretion of saliva and gastric juice, and increase the motility of gastrointestinal peristalsis, thereby improving appetite and promoting digestion, and helping to relieve spasms and reduce pain.

4. The anethole contained in fennel can promote the maturation of bone marrow cells and their release into the peripheral blood, raising white blood cell counts, so fennel can be used to treat leukopenia.

5. Fennel is rich in vitamin B1, B2, C, PP, carotene and fiber, and can effectively stimulate the nerves and blood vessels of the stomach and intestines, strengthen the stomach and regulate qi, and promote digestion; paired with meat and fats, it has an excellent flavor.

6. Fennel is pungent in flavor and warm in nature, and enters the kidney, liver and stomach meridians. It has the benefits of warming the stomach and kidneys, expelling cold qi, and soothing the stomach and regulating qi.

7. Fennel contains a component called anisole, and this substance can kill E. coli and dysentery bacilli. So people with a cold, weak stomach can eat some fennel, which can effectively prevent various infectious diarrheas.

8. Fennel can have the effect of dispelling cold and warming the uterus, so people with dysmenorrhea or amenorrhea can relieve these symptoms by eating fennel. Fennel can also serve as a carminative to expel gas, and people with abdominal bloating can eat fennel to release gas.

9. Fennel can directly warm and tonify the yang qi of the kidneys, so for people with yang deficiency or a cold-deficiency constitution, eating it can tonify the kidneys and support yang. Fennel can also regulate all cold patterns; when affected by wind-cold, eating more fennel greens can treat wind-cold and dispel wind and dampness.

10. Fennel can eliminate fatigue, warm the stomach and harmonize qi, treat cold hands and feet, and relieve nasal congestion symptoms.

Below is the nutritional composition table for fennel

III. Who should not eat fennel?

1. People whose bodies often feel hot and who easily get internal heat should eat less fennel, because fennel can aggravate symptoms such as body heat.

2. People with stomach heat or lung heat should eat less fennel. Eating too much fennel can cause damage to the stomach and lungs and impair the normal function of the lungs and stomach.

3. People who are prone to allergies should not eat fennel. Fennel contains some allergens, and eating it may aggravate allergic reactions.

4. People with weak gastrointestinal function should not eat much fennel, otherwise it will increase the burden on the stomach and intestines.

5. Pregnant women should not eat fennel. Eating fennel during pregnancy can aggravate constipation and reduce milk supply, which is not conducive to breastfeeding.

Fennel has many benefits, and the specific method and amount of consumption should be determined according to individual circumstances. Remember that using fennel to treat illness must follow a doctor's advice; this article is for sharing and reference only.