Wormwood, scientifically known as Artemisia absinthium, is a perennial plant with various traditional medicinal uses. It has been used for thousands of years for a variety of ailments.
This herbal medicine was written about by ancient physicians such as Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder.
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| Wormwood Herb |
Plant Description and Habitat
Appearance
Wormwood is a perennial herb with silver-gray, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers that bloom in the summer. It has a distinctive bitter taste and a strong, aromatic scent.
Habitat
Wormwood is native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa but has been introduced to other regions worldwide. It typically grows in dry, rocky soils in areas with full sun exposure.
Primary Compounds
Absinthin
This bitter compound is one of the main active constituents in wormwood responsible for its digestive-stimulating effects.
Artemisinin
This compound has garnered significant attention for its antiparasitic properties, particularly in the treatment of malaria.
One metabolite of artemisnin, dihydroartemisinin, has been shown in studies to inhibit the growth of tumors, fight tumor metastatsis, and promote immune function. Dihydroartemisinin has also been shown to significantly fight malaria.
Sesquiterpenes
Wormwood contains a number of these compounds, including chamazulene and thujone.
Health Benefits Overview
Digestive Health
Wormwood has been traditionally used to stimulate digestion, relieve indigestion, and alleviate gastrointestinal discomfort such as bloating and flatulence.
Antiparasitic Properties
Wormwood contains compounds such as absinthin and artemisinin, which have demonstrated antiparasitic activity against intestinal worms and parasites. For this reason, Wormwood has been used in Western herbalism to combat Lyme disease.
Anti-inflammatory Effects
Some studies suggest that wormwood may possess anti-inflammatory properties, which could potentially benefit conditions characterized by inflammation, such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Antimicrobial Activity
Wormwood has shown antimicrobial activity against certain bacteria, fungi, and parasites, indicating its potential use in treating infections. This includes lyme bacteria and other invading organisms. Lyme-carrying bacteria have also been shown to be sensitive to wormwood.
Traditional Uses
Ancient Medicine
Wormwood has been used for centuries in various traditional medicine systems, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, to treat digestive disorders, fevers, and parasitic infections.
Western Herbalism
In Western herbalism, wormwood has been used as a digestive tonic, a vermifuge (to expel intestinal worms), and a bitter tonic to stimulate appetite and improve digestion. As mentioned above, Wormwood herb has been used to help fight Lyme disease.
Human Clinical Research
Wormwood has a long history of traditional use, and there are some human clinical studies to back it up. Following are some of the studies showing its efficacy.
Crohn's disease
In a 2007 study from the Yale University School of Medicine, researchers tested 40 patients with Crohn’s disease. After 10 weeks of wormwood treatment, researchers found the wormwood group had a 65% remission rate and most saw a reduction of symptoms when discontinuing their steroid treatment.
In a 2009 study from Germany’s University of Freiburg, 10 Crohn’s patients were given dried powdered wormwood herb with conventional therapy for six weeks, and 10 more patients were given conventional therapy alone. After the six weeks, the wormwood patients had significantly better Crohn’s scores compared to the conventional therapy-alone group.
Nephropathy
In another study from the University of Freiburg, researchers found that wormwood improved symptoms for patients with IgA nephropathy.
Malaria and Dengue Fever
Malaria is one of the most lethal mosquito-borne infections around the world.
Malaria infects over 200 million people a year worldwide and kills somewhere around a million people a year.
Researchers from the University of Delhi found that Artemisia leaf extract kills the parasites associated with the malaria and dengue fever infections.
The researchers found this by applying the Artemisia extract against the parasite larvae derived from the mosquito species Anopheles stephensi-female (malaria) as well as larvae derived from Aedes aegypti (which transmits dengue fever).
The extract showed “strong larvicidal activity against both of these vectors,” according to the researchers. This means the Artemisia killed the parasites.
The researchers then separated the extract into fractions, and found that three fractions also had significant killing activity against both types of larvae. The researchers found that the active compound from these purified fractions were Artemisinin, Arteannuin B and Artemisinic acid.
A 2011 study from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine conducted a clinical trial with 220 malaria patients that used three different Artemisia extract formulations – Artemisinin-piperaquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine phosphate and artemether-lumefantrine.
They found that parasites were cleared from the patients for all three formulations in an average of 65 to 67 hours.
In another study, from Tanzania, researchers tested Artemisia tea with malaria patients. At seven days, the Artemisia tea resulted in a 70% cure rate. A 2004 German study found similar results – a 74% curate rate after seven days.
It should be noted that this 2004 study found Quinine had a 91% cure rate at seven days. The researchers suggested that Quinine would be the preferable medication.
What about Quinine?
But sometimes Quinine is not available, and some malaria species are resistant to Quinine. (Five different protozoa species are responsible for malaria).
Quinine is derived from the bark of the Cinchona (Cinchona officinalis) tree. This has been used for many conditions for centuries in South America. Today the drug chloroquine is most used for malaria, though natural quinine is still also in use.
Artemisia grows in temperate climates, often in regions that have dengue fever outbreaks. The Wormwood name is also applied to other Artemisia species as well.
A 2004 study from the German Institute for Medical Mission studied wormwood on malaria, comparing it to quinine treatment. The researchers found that after seven days of treatment, wormwood treatment had a 74 percent cure rate compared to 91 percent for quinine. However, the wormwood artemisia patients did have a higher recurrence rate than the quinine group. Further study was recommended.
Cinchona tree (Cinchona officinalis) has been used for many conditions for centuries in South America. Today the drug chloroquine is most used for malaria, though natural quinine is still also in use.
Quinine is not always successful, however. As mentioned above, some malaria species are resistant to Quinine.
A 2011 study from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine conducted a clinical trial with 220 malaria patients that used three different Artemisia extract formulations – Artemisinin-piperaquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine phosphate and artemether-lumefantrine.
They found that parasites were cleared from the patients for all three formulations in an average of 65 to 67 hours.
Artemisia for prostate cancer
Researchers from the Cancer Research Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley tested an extract of Artemisia against human prostate cancer cells of two different types. This 2017 study found the artemisinin extract interrupted the process of androgen reception among the prostate cancer cells. This effectively cuts off the process that prostate cancer cells utilize to expand.
Researchers from the medical school of Czech Republic’s Masaryk University found in another 2017 study that several compounds in Artemisia, including dihydroartemisinin and artesunate, actively kill prostate cancer cells (cytotoxic).
Another 2017 study from China’s Nanjing Medical University studied an extract of Artemisia annua called Artesunate. Like the Berkeley researchers, they found that Artesunate blocked androgen receptor proteins, which in turn suppressed tumor growth and resulted in cancer cell death.
Wormwood and colon cancer
In 2014, doctors at the St George’s University of London, and the UK’s St. George’s Healthcare NHS Trust conducted a phase II clinical trial of the Artemisia extract Artesunate. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
The researchers tested 20 colorectal cancer patients. The patients were given either a placebo or 200 milligrams of oral Artesunate each day for fourteen days. After the treatment period, all the patients underwent surgery to remove the cancerous area of their colons.
The researchers found that a significant killing of tumor cells was found in two-thirds of the patients treated with the Artemisia extract. They also found an 89 to 92 percent reduction of colon cancer cells and increased CD31 expression – which helps the body kill cancer cells among these patients.
Then 42 months later, the researchers found there was only one recurrence of the colon cancer among those given the 14-day treatment. This compares to six patients that had recurrences among the placebo group.
The researchers concluded:
“Artesunate has anti-proliferative properties in colorectal cancer and is generally well tolerated.”
In a 2017 study, medical researchers from Korea’s Hannam University found that Artemisia annua extract inhibited growth of human colon cancer cells. The extract did this using a number of different processes, including cotton off its ability to make DNA. The Artemisia also interrupted the cancer cells’ immunity activities and metabolism tasks.
Artemisia for breast cancer
Several studies, including some of the above, have found that human breast cancer cells are inhibited and even killed with Artemisia treatment.
In a 2017 study from Germany’s University of Heidelberg and Johannes Gutenberg University, 23 breast cancer patients were tested in a Phase I clinical study on the Artemisia extract Artesunate. A Phase I clinical study focuses on establishing safe doses for further clinical studies.
The researchers gave the patients either 100, 150 or 200 milligrams of Artesunate per day for -8 weeks. This was in addition to their ongoing cancer therapy.
The researchers found that 200 milligrams of Artesunate per day was safe and tolerated. They recommended 200 milligrams per day for future clinical study.
Wormwood for leukemia
Another 2017 study tested Artemisia extract against K562 and HL-60 human leukemia cells. This study found the Artemisia extract killed the leukemia cells of both types within 48 hours of contact.
Researchers from Israel’s Kaplan Medical Center obtained B chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells from seven leukemia patients. They were each at different stages of their disease.
The researchers found in this 2017 study Artemisia absinthium killed 75 percent of the leukemia cells, with 70 percent killed within the first 48 hours.
Liver cancer
Researchers from Korea’s Kyung Hee University tested Artemisia capillaries extract against liver cancer cells. They found that the Artemisia extract blocked tumor growth by activating IL-6 cytokines. This blocked the transcription 3 signal pathway that these cancer cells use to form tumors.
Research from China’s Yanbian University studied Artemisia extracts against liver cancer cells along with cervical cancer cells.
They also found the extract stimulated cancer inhibition among both of these cancer cell types.
Artemisia combination therapy
The research has found that Artemisia seems to work quite well when combined with other treatments – even conventional chemotherapy. The research has found it to have a synergizing effect.
Dr. Thomas Efferth and associates from the Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University and his team also found that Artemisia annua extracts successfully inhibit cancer cells of different types.
In a 2017 paper, Dr. Efferth outlined a comprehensive methodology of combining Artemisia with drug therapies that have already shown success in inhibiting cancer and associated symptoms. His research found many of these conventional drugs to be synergistic with Artemisia.
Other uses of Wormwood
In a 2022 study of 76 women, researchers found that wormwood increased sexual function among women.
In a 2023 study, researchers from the University of Maryland Medical Center tested 18 herbs that have been used for Lyme disease. They found that Wormwood reduced the B. burgdorferi bacteria that causes Lyme in their in-vitro examinations.
This finding illustrates the reasoning behind centuries of traditional use of wormwood for Lyme disease.
Forms of Wormwood
In addition, it should be mentioned that the clinical studies noted above utilized Artemisia tea rather than ingesting the whole herb plant.
Indeed, research has established that Artemisia’s active constituents are better assimilated by the digestive tract when the whole leaves or whole plant are eaten.
Researchers from Massachusetts’ Worcester Polytechnic Institute used a laboratory model that duplicated gastric digestion. Then they measured the digestive availability of Artemisia dried leaves. They found there was a significant digestive absorption opportunity for Artemisinin and associated flavonoids when the dried leaves were consumed in the model.
The researchers also tested powdered dried leaves either encapsulated or tableted, and found that the encapsulated versions only allowed for 50% of the availability of the Artemisinin. Testing of the tablets found these had similar availability as the dried leaves.
The researchers concluded that:
“This study provides evidence showing how both artemisinin and flavonoids are affected by digestion and dietary components for an orally consumed plant delivered therapeutic and that artemisinin delivered via dried leaves would likely be more bioavailable if provided as a tablet instead of a capsule.”
Scientific References
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