July 21, 2024
As for traditional evidence, chamomile may be one of the first herbal medicines ever recorded. Ancient Egyptians used chamomile as a remedy for fevers and dedicated the plant to the sun. Later in ancient Greece, chamomile was a popular medicine for headaches, as well as liver, kidney, and bladder diseases. From the Victorian era to today, chamomile has been recommended to soothe anxiety and indigestion. Chamomile tea is one of the healthiest of the herbal teas commonly available at coffee shops and restaurants. But did you know that chamomile tea helps prevent thyroid cancers and other thyroid conditions? Not long ago it was examined the ability of chamomile tea to extend lifetime. A study of 1,677 men and women found that chamomile tea was able to extend life by nearly a third for adults 65 years and older. Now we find that regularly drinking chamomile tea will reduce our risk of thyroid cancers and other thyroid disorders. How did they determine this?
Chamomile reduces risk of thyroid conditions
A case-control study from the University of Athens found that drinking herbal teas, and in particular chamomile tea, over a long period of time is linked to a decreased risk of developing thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases.
Tea is one of the most commonly consumed beverages in the world, second only to water. Previous studies have found that tea consumption could play a role in lowering cancer risk, but few studies have looked specifically at endocrine tumors. The new study included 113 Greek patients with histologically confirmed thyroid cancer, matched with 138 healthy control patients; the researchers also included 286 patients with benign thyroid diseases. The participants were categorized according to tea consumption rates-none, at most once a week, two to six times per week, or at least once per day-and duration-0 years, at most 15 years, 15 to 30 years, and more than 30 years.
The patients and healthy controls were extensively interviewed regarding their diet and other lifestyle habits. The interviews were conducted personally with trained interview technicians.The researchers eliminated the effects of known thyroid condition associations including alcohol, smoking, coffee consumption, age and obesity. The research – published in the European Journal of Public Health – found that drinking chamomile tea regularly over a 30-year period reduced the risk of thyroid cancer by nearly 80 percent. More specifically, those who drank chamomile tea two to six times each week reduced their risk of any thyroid disease by 74 percent. Common thyroid disorders include hyperthyroidism, goiters and others.
Regularly drinking two other herbal teas – notably Greek mountain tea and herbal tea – also helped reduce thyroid conditions, but not nearly as much as the effect of drinking chamomile tea.
One might wonder just how many of the test subjects drank chamomile tea? Close to a third of the total subjects drank chamomile tea regularly.The significance of these numbers was enough for the researchers to come to their conclusion that drinking herbal teas, especially chamomile, protects from thyroid cancer as well as other benign thyroid diseases.
https://plantmedicines.org/tag/thyroid