the women's balance tea
four plants that keep turning up in research on women, brewed at the strength the researchers used rather than the strength that makes a pretty jar. fennel for cramps, anise for the week before and the years after, marjoram for what the adrenals are doing, mint for testosterone. none of them is a cure for anything. together they are a cup you can actually measure.
what you need
- fennel seed, 1.5 g per cup, lightly crushed
- anise seed, 1 g per cup, lightly crushed
- dried marjoram, 1.5 g per cup
- dried spearmint, 1.5 g per cup
- that is about two heaped teaspoons of the blend, for 250 ml
- to mix a jar of twenty cups: 30 g fennel, 20 g anise, 30 g marjoram, 30 g spearmint
- a cup with a lid, or a small pot
the ritual
- crush the fennel and the anise lightly, in a mortar or under the flat of a knife. whole seed keeps its oils locked in.
- two heaped teaspoons of the blend into the cup.
- freshly boiled water over it, and the lid on straight away. the lid is the whole trick: what you smell rising is what you came for, and without a lid it leaves the cup.
- ten minutes.
- strain, and drink it warm.
- two cups a day, which is what both trials did. one in the morning and one in the evening.
- a month, then stop and see how you are. the studies ran a month, and the european monograph for fennel puts the limit at three to four weeks without medical advice. the two agree.
what the research actually found
this is the part most tea is sold without. every number below comes from a published trial, and those trials are the reason this cup is measured in grams.
mint, the strongest of the four. women with pcos drank two cups a day for thirty days. free and total testosterone came down, significantly. a later trial over twelve weeks saw a fall of around fifteen per cent. visible change, in hair growth for instance, takes three to six months.
marjoram. twenty five women, marjoram tea twice a day for a month, against a placebo. dhea-s, an adrenal androgen, came down significantly. insulin sensitivity improved too, though that one did not reach significance against the placebo. it is a pilot with twenty five people, so: promising, not settled.
fennel. the clearest evidence of the four for period pain. a meta analysis found fennel reduced it significantly against placebo, and in one trial it did not do worse than mefenamic acid, the ordinary painkiller, with less stomach trouble. for hot flashes, 100 mg of extract twice daily over eight weeks reduced them.
anise. seventy two women, four weeks. hot flashes went from four a day to one, and their severity from fifty six down to fourteen per cent. nothing changed in the control group. for pms, taken across two cycles, symptoms came down significantly.
and where it stops. four herbs with four separate small trials is not the same as a tested blend. nobody has studied these four together. what you have is four plants that each did something, in a cup that gives you each of them at the amount that was studied. that is honest, and it is more than most.
a note of care
this is a stronger cup than it looks, and the warnings below are real rather than decorative.
not in pregnancy. fennel, anise and marjoram are all mildly oestrogenic, and at this strength that stops being theoretical. leave it until after.
mint lowers testosterone. that is the point for some and a problem for others. if you are trying to conceive, or you have been told your androgens are low, this is a conversation for your doctor first.
hormone sensitive conditions. anything oestrogen dependent: ask before you start, not after a month.
a month, not a habit. the european monograph caps fennel at three to four weeks without medical advice. respect that, and take a break.
allergy. fennel and anise sit in the carrot family with celery and parsley. marjoram sits with oregano and thyme. if you react to those, start with one herb rather than four.
it does not increase milk supply. fennel is sold everywhere on that promise and there is no credible evidence behind it.
and the one that matters most. if you have pcos, endometriosis, a thyroid condition or anything else with a name, you need a doctor and not a tea. this cup can sit alongside that. it cannot replace it.