Fennel Seeds vs. Ginger for Menstrual Cramps and PMS

Women have been dealing with menstrual cramps for a lot longer than modern medicine has existed. And nearly every woman deals with pain during some of their menstrual cycles. There are natural and traditional methods for alleviating these issues, whether it’s only discomfort or actual pain. Methods that don’t require turning to drugs. In fact, methods that test just as effectively as modern alternatives when compared in blind studies.

Fennel seeds are a traditional remedy in the Mediterranean region. Medical researchers created a study where women who rated their pain as at least moderate were divided into either fennel or placebo groups. Those women who were given fennel seeds reported their menstrual pain reduced within an hour of taking it, and more than half of them rated the treatment as excellent. The placebo group, on the other hand, nearly all indicated the treatment they’d been given, which they didn’t know was a neutral control, did nothing for them.

Other research looked at how fennel compares to drugs such as ibuprofen. In that study, women were blindly given either, but not both, of the substances, and then asked to report on how well the treatment worked. They all began with severe pain, but after the treatment those taking fennel indicated their pain relief was just as great as those women who were given the modern drug.