Ayurveda

AjwainTrachyspermum ammi (also written Carum copticum)

Q: Has ajwain itself been tested against bloating or indigestion?

We could not find a trial of ajwain alone. Three Iranian trials tested formulas that contain it: ajwain with ginger and black pepper in 106 people with bloating, and a three-oil softgel in dyspepsia and in irritable bowel syndrome.

Q: Are ajwain and Carum copticum the same plant?

Yes. Trachyspermum ammi and Carum copticum are two Latin names for the same crop, which is why a search under either name can return different papers. Ayurvedic texts call it Yavani.

Q: What is the difference between Yavani and Ajamoda?

Yavani is the usual Ayurvedic name for ajwain. Ajamoda is applied in Sanskrit sources to several celery-family plants, including ajwain, celery and caraway, so a formula that lists Ajamoda may not contain ajwain.

Q: Why do the labels vary so much in strength?

Thymol makes up 35 to 60% of the oil in one institute’s figures and 59.92 to 96.4% in an Iranian study of 14 seed sources. The same weight of seed or oil can therefore differ a lot in thymol content depending on origin.

Q: Is ajwain water the same as the softgels used in the trials?

No. The softgel trials used a measured blend of three essential oils, 180 mg a day in total, while ajwain water or tea is a water infusion of the seed, which none of the trials tested. The results apply only to the preparation tested.

Thymol-rich carom seed, used in Ayurveda for colic and gas. No trial of ajwain alone; three Iranian formula trials include it, one in 106 people with bloating.

Botanical name: Trachyspermum ammi (also written Carum copticum)
Part used: seed (the small dried fruit)
Also called: Sanskrit Yavani (Ajamoda is also used, see below); Hindi Ajwain, Ajowan; Carom seed, Bishop's weed
Used in: Ayurveda
Taken for: Gas, Bloating, Indigestion, Cramping and pain
Sold as: whole seed, tea, powder, essential oil softgel, capsules

Ajwain, the plant and the part used

Ajwain is the small, ridged, grayish seed of Trachyspermum ammi, an annual plant of the carrot and celery family (Apiaceae). The plant has two Latin names in the literature, Trachyspermum ammi and Carum copticum, which refer to the same crop; we searched both. Crushed, the seed smells like thyme because its oil is rich in thymol. It is used whole as a cooking spice, chewed, steeped as a tea or seed water, ground into powders, and distilled into an essential oil that is sold in softgel capsules.

The Sanskrit name needs a note. Yavani is the usual Ayurvedic name for ajwain, while Ajamoda is a name that Sanskrit texts and a lexicon apply to several celery-family plants, including celery itself, ajwain and caraway, so a formula that lists Ajamoda may not mean ajwain. Ajwain is also used in Unani and Iranian herbal practice, where the human gut trials below were run.

Traditional uses, in their own terms

Ayurveda (about Ayurveda)

Classical Sanskrit texts, as translated in a reference library, describe yavani as pungent and bitter in taste (rasa) and hot in potency (virya). A verse from the Bhavaprakasha calls it sharp, pungent and light, digestive and palatable. The thirteenth-century Rajanighantu says it quells vitiated kapha, cures the vata type of piles, and works against colic, bloating, worms and vomiting, and that it stimulates digestion.

Other texts apply it to specific digestive complaints: the Bhojanakutuhala gives a liquid yavani preparation for indigestion from heavy cakes or beaten rice, and the seventh-century Madhavacikitsa includes yavani in preparations for atisara, the tradition’s term for acute loose stools. A spice-research institute in India summarizes the traditional uses as aiding digestion, easing gas and colic, and acting as a carminative and antispasmodic. Those are the tradition’s uses; the trials below are the modern test.

Compounds, and what the laboratory says about them

Thymol, the phenol that gives thyme its smell, is the main constituent of ajwain oil. The Indian spice-research institute gives 35 to 60% of the essential oil, while an Iranian study of seeds from 14 regions found thymol at 59.92 to 96.4% of the oil, so a product’s strength depends on where the seed was grown. Ajwain is also described in reviews as carminative (gas-relieving) and antispasmodic (reducing gut-muscle spasm); those descriptions come mostly from traditional use and from laboratory work, and the trials below did not isolate thymol’s role.

Trials in people, with the numbers

We could not find a human gut trial of ajwain on its own. Three randomized trials, all from Iran, tested formulas that contain it, and the abstracts of all three report positive results; the formulas’ other ingredients mean the effect cannot be assigned to ajwain.

The first, in 2019, studied a capsule called KAASER (ajwain seed, ginger rhizome and black pepper berry) in 106 people with functional bloating. Participants took 500 mg of placebo, dimethicone or KAASER three times a day for 2 weeks. Bloating frequency and severity improved more with KAASER than with either comparator (P less than 0.001), as did belching, defecation frequency and gut noises (P = 0.03), and the differences persisted at 2 and 8 weeks after stopping. Early fullness did not differ among groups.

In two 2020 trials by Bordbar and colleagues, a softgel of three essential oils (ajwain, dill and Zataria multiflora) was taken as two 250 mg capsules containing 180 mg of oil a day. Against omeprazole 20 mg once daily for 2 weeks in functional dyspepsia, a sufficient response was reported in 78.3% (18 of 23) versus 36.4% (8 of 22) for the postprandial distress symptoms and 73.7% (14 of 19) versus 40.9% (9 of 22) for epigastric pain. Against hyoscine butylbromide in irritable bowel syndrome, improvement was 83.9%, 75% and 87% on three scales versus 37.9%, 27.5% and 34.4% (P less than 0.001). The authors report a patent application for the softgel.

Study	Dose	What it found
Randomized double-blind trial, 106 people with functional bloating (ajwain, ginger and black pepper capsule) PMID 31201146	500 mg three times daily for 2 weeks	Less bloating frequency and severity than placebo or dimethicone (P < 0.001); also less belching and gut noises; benefit held 2 and 8 weeks after stopping
Randomized double-blind trial, functional dyspepsia (softgel of ajwain, dill and Zataria multiflora oils) versus omeprazole PMID 33273914	Two 250 mg softgels a day containing 180 mg oils; 2 weeks	Sufficient response 78.3% vs 36.4% (postprandial distress) and 73.7% vs 40.9% (epigastric pain)
Randomized double-blind trial, irritable bowel syndrome (same three-oil softgel) versus hyoscine butylbromide PMID 32565786	Two 250 mg softgels a day containing 180 mg oils; 2 weeks	Improvement 83.9%, 75% and 87% on three IBS scales versus 37.9%, 27.5% and 34.4% (P < 0.001)

The doses on record

The bloating trial used a 500 mg capsule of the three-herb powder three times a day for 2 weeks. The two softgel trials used two 250 mg capsules a day, together containing 180 mg of a three-oil blend, for 2 weeks; the share of ajwain oil in the blend is not in the abstracts.

For traditional use, the Sanskrit texts we read describe a liquid yavani preparation for indigestion, and they do not give a gram dose in the passages translated online.

None of this is a dose recommendation. It is what the literature used, set down so a label can be compared with it; a pharmacist or clinician decides what applies to you.

The safety record

The three trial abstracts do not report numbers for adverse events, although the 2020 papers say safety and tolerability were assessed. Because oil strength varies, with thymol from 35 to 96% in the figures above, a seed, a tea and an essential-oil softgel are not interchangeable. We found no pregnancy or breastfeeding data in the sources we read. The two 2020 trials are from one research group, both involve a patented product, and the formulas contain other ingredients, so their safety record cannot be applied to ajwain taken alone.

Medicines it can interact with

We did not find an interaction study of ajwain with any medicine. The 2020 trials compared the softgel with omeprazole and with hyoscine butylbromide in separate arms and did not test the combinations, and the bloating trial compared its capsule with dimethicone the same way. Whether ajwain changes the effect of those drugs, or others, has not been reported in the sources we read.

Which product, for your symptoms?

The quiz weighs your symptoms and medicines against every product researched here, ajwain products included, and shows its working.

Take the quiz

Common questions

Has ajwain itself been tested against bloating or indigestion?