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Jun 20, 2023

7 Benefits of Chamomile Tea: What Is It Good For?

Besides improving sleep quality, chamomile tea may also help with PMS, diabetes, depression and more. Isabel Vasquez is a bilingual registered dietitian practicing from an intuitive eating, culturally

Besides improving sleep quality, chamomile tea may also help with PMS, diabetes, depression and more.

Isabel Vasquez is a bilingual registered dietitian practicing from an intuitive eating, culturally sensitive framework. Her clinical experience includes providing outpatient nutrition counseling to adults with a variety of chronic health conditions, along with providing family-based treatment for eating disorders in children and adolescents. She also offers intuitive eating coaching for Latinas to heal their relationships with food, particularly their cultural foods.

Maria Laura is EatingWell's senior nutrition & news editor. As part of the nutrition team, she edits and assigns nutrition-related content and provides nutrition reviews for articles. Maria Laura is a trained dietitian, almond butter lover and food enthusiast with over seven years of experience in nutrition counseling.

Does lounging on the couch and drinking a cup of chamomile tea sound like the epitome of relaxation for you? Besides promoting sleep, chamomile tea has some other potential health benefits that may surprise you. Think heart health, digestive health and mental health, just to name a few. Learn what the research says about the benefits and risks of chamomile tea.

Pictured Recipe: Herbal Chamomile Health Tonic

Chamomile is a type of flower often dried and used in herbal tea. It has been used for centuries, with reports of its use dating as far back as ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, per the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). It's somewhat similar to a daisy since they're both a part of the Asteraceae family. Chamomile tea has a mild, floral flavor with calming notes of honey. It's readily available at many grocery stores.

One of the most widely touted benefits of chamomile is its benefits on sleep, but what does the research say? Well, a 2019 meta-analysis and systematic review in Phytotherapy Research found that chamomile did, in fact, improve sleep quality and generalized anxiety disorder. However, it didn't help with insomnia or state anxiety.

Negative sleep quality may increase state anxiety and depressive risk, per a 2022 study in BMC Medical Education, so the better sleep quality chamomile tea promotes may have longer-term effects on mental well-being.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S., per the American Cancer Society. Needless to say, the complications of cancer can be detrimental to one's quality of life.

A 2023 systematic review published in Integrative Cancer Therapies found that chamomile may be a helpful adjunct therapy to alleviate some cancer-related health complications. The study found that chamomile effectively helped reduce oral mucositis, skin complications, depression and vomiting in cancer patients. It also helped improve their appetite and quality of life. The studies in this review used various forms of chamomile, including mouthwash, topical material, tea, capsule, syrup and aromatherapy massage, so we can't say that these effects would all hold true for chamomile tea specifically.

Globally, one of the most common uses of chamomile is to promote gastrointestinal health. A 2022 review in Life highlights various examples, from nausea relief in Spain to gastrointestinal pain relief in Turkey. It is said to soothe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and reduce inflammation, per Integrative Medicine. Plus, it can function as an antispasmodic, reducing gastric spasming that can cause diarrhea.

However, many studies on this topic have been done in mice or rats, so more research on humans is needed to verify chamomile's benefits for digestive health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), having diabetes puts you at higher risk for other medical complications like vision loss, heart disease and chronic kidney disease. Partly because of its antioxidant profile, chamomile tea may help with diabetes-related health complications.

A 2020 systematic review in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that chamomile helped decrease oxidative stress and renal and hepatic complications and improve glycemic control in patients with diabetes.

Chamomile is rich in phenolic compounds and terpenoids. And according to a 2022 study in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders, these compounds could work as an herbal treatment option for diabetes, found a 2022 study in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders.

Another benefit of chamomile found in the 2020 review referenced above was improved lipid profiles. High cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease, so chamomile tea may improve heart health as a result.

Furthermore, a small 2023 study in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association found that participants taking a saffron and chamomile tea blend twice a day for one month, in addition to their regular medications, had significantly better levels of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and depression values compared to the control group who continued taking their regular medications but didn't have the tea. We can't say whether chamomile caused these improvements since the tea also had saffron, but the study shows the potential for chamomile to benefit heart health.

As we mentioned above, chamomile may improve symptoms of depression. Chamomile's positive impact on sleep quality may also reduce depressive risk since poor sleep quality is associated with depression.

Additionally, while research is limited, a 2016 study in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that after two weeks, drinking chamomile tea improved physical symptoms of sleep insufficiency and depression amongst postpartum women compared to the control group. The results didn't hold true at a four-week follow-up, so researchers believe the benefits are immediate and not long-lasting.

No one likes dealing with cramps and low mood the days leading up to their period. Luckily, chamomile may help. A 2019 review in the Journal of Pharmacopuncture concluded that chamomile might be an effective herbal treatment for pre-menstrual syndrome because of its anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, sedative and anti-anxiety properties.

Studies in the review used various forms of chamomile, including tea, capsules, extract, and oil, so we can't be sure whether tea alone will lead to all these benefits.

While chamomile tea has several potential health benefits, certain groups should be careful about drinking it. These include:

Many recommend drinking chamomile tea 30–45 minutes before bedtime to allow your body time to metabolize the nutrients and reap the benefits. However, there isn't enough research to provide specific recommendations on when and how often to drink chamomile tea for benefits on sleep. If you tend to wake up in the middle of the night to urinate, you may want to drink it a little earlier in the evening to prevent added trips to the bathroom that disrupt your sleep.

While detoxing has become a popular trend, your liver and kidneys are amazing organs that handle detoxification naturally if they are healthy. Chamomile tea won't help detox your body since your organs do a great job of that on their own, but it may help reduce inflammation due to its antioxidant profile.

For most people, drinking chamomile tea is perfectly safe and might promote various facets of health, including digestive health, sleep quality and mental health. Those with allergies or taking certain medications, including warfarin and cyclosporine, should stay away from chamomile tea since it can cause an allergic reaction or interfere with these medications. You may also want to avoid chamomile tea if you're pregnant or breastfeeding since research on its safety in these populations is limited.

There are a few different ways to make chamomile tea that are equally delicious. Chamomile tea can be purchased in a tea bag commercially and steeped in water; this is the simplest and easiest. Chamomile can also be purchased dried or fresh and combined with other ingredients, like ginger, lavender and rosemary.

Many rely on chamomile tea for its purported benefits on sleep. The research shows that chamomile may improve sleep quality, but it doesn't support the idea that chamomile tea helps with insomnia.

Like chamomile tea, lots of other herbal teas have health-promoting antioxidants and other potential health benefits. Some of our favorites include sage, green tea, peppermint and ginger.

Besides being relaxing, chamomile tea may also work as an adjunct therapy for various health issues, including diabetes, high cholesterol and depression. If you have an allergy or are taking certain medications, you'll want to avoid chamomile, but otherwise, it's a safe, delicious and budget-friendly tea to add to your pantry. You can steep a regular tea bag and add some honey, or make your own Lavender-Chamomile Herbal Tea using our recipe!