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Ayurveda

AsafoetidaFerula assa-foetida (also written Ferula asafoetida)

Pungent Ferula root resin, an Ayurvedic remedy for gas. One 43-person dyspepsia trial: symptom score fell 54% on asafoetida versus 14% on placebo in 30 days.

Botanical name
Ferula assa-foetida (also written Ferula asafoetida)
Part used
oleo-gum-resin tapped from the root
Also called
Sanskrit Hingu; Hindi Hing; Asafetida, Anghuzeh (Persian)
Used in
Ayurveda
Taken for
Gas, Bloating, Indigestion, Cramping and pain
Sold as
resin, powder, capsules, tincture, tablets

What is meant by asafoetida

Asafoetida is the dried milky sap of the roots of Ferula plants, giant members of the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grow in Iran and Afghanistan. The sap hardens into a brown resin with a powerful sulfur smell, which softens to an onion-and-garlic flavor when cooked in oil. It is sold as lumps of resin or as a powder compounded with flour or gum, and as capsules, tablets and tinctures.

In Indian cooking, and in the digestive powders of Ayurveda, a pinch is added to beans, lentils and vegetable dishes. A 2012 review notes that in Persia the resin was a condiment called the “food of the gods” and mixed into almost all dishes, and that Unani medicine has esteemed it from early times; that review is also the source for its Persian name, anghuzeh. The best-known recent trial used a capsule of asafoetida gum microencapsulated in fenugreek fiber, and the older European trials used a diluted alcoholic tincture, so these are different preparations from the cooking spice.

In the traditions

Ayurveda (about Ayurveda)

Ayurvedic texts class hingu as deepaniya, an appetite and digestion stimulant, and as pungent and bitter in taste (rasa), with light, sharp, unctuous and hot qualities (guna) in the account of a 2012 review. The thirteenth-century Rajanighantu calls it pungent and hot, says it eases vata (the principle the tradition links to wind and movement) and names colic, gulma (abdominal lumps attributed to wind), bloating, constipation and worms among its uses. A modern textbook summary says it pacifies kapha and vata, raises pitta and promotes digestive fire. The Madhavacikitsa, a seventh-century text, uses it in atisara, the tradition’s term for acute loose stools.

Practices recorded in the 2012 review include dissolving the resin in hot water and applying it to the abdomen on a cloth for flatulence and distension, and including it in most digestive powders. A college monograph for cumin lists a classical formula named Hingvastak Churna, used as a carminative (a wind-relieving preparation).

What the plant contains

Asafoetida resin is about 40 to 64% resin, around 25% gum and 3 to 17% volatile oil, according to a 2012 review. The resin fraction contains ferulic acid, umbelliferone, asaresinotannols and farnesiferols; the oil is made mostly of sulfur compounds, chiefly 2-butyl propenyl disulfide, which supply the smell, plus pinenes. In rats, the resin protected the stomach against ulcers caused by cold stress, aspirin and pylorus ligation at 50 mg/kg, and in mouse cells coumarin constituents were linked to chromosome damage. These are animal and laboratory findings, not results in people.

What has been tested in people

The headline human trial is from 2018, and it studied functional dyspepsia, not irritable bowel syndrome. Mala and colleagues randomized adults with Rome III functional dyspepsia in India to a capsule called Asafin or placebo for 30 days. Each Asafin capsule held 90 mg of asafoetida gum, and two capsules a day made about 180 mg a day. Of 43 people analyzed (21 on Asafin, 22 on placebo), the dyspepsia severity score (0 to 20) fell from 10.45 to 4.80, a 54% reduction, against 10.79 to 9.22, or 14%, on placebo; the overall GI symptom rating score fell from 44.19 to 18.90 against 45.09 to 39.09. The paper reports 66% of the Asafin group as symptom-free at the end. It is a pilot with limits: small, 30 days, registered retrospectively, with several inconsistent figures, and three authors worked for the capsule’s maker, which funded it.

For irritable bowel syndrome the evidence is older. A 1979 German double-blind trial of two groups of 50 people with irritable colon, of whom 91 could be evaluated, found asafoetida effective at the 1% significance level. A 1976 multicenter trial of a 0.1% alcoholic dilution reported a marked superiority over placebo that just missed the 5% significance level, with about half the planned number of patients. We found no recent IBS trial of asafoetida.

StudyDoseWhat it found
Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled pilot, 43 analyzed adults with functional dyspepsia (21 asafoetida, 22 placebo) PMID 30224930About 180 mg asafoetida gum a day (two 90 mg capsules), 30 daysSeverity score 10.45 to 4.80 (54% fall) versus 10.79 to 9.22 (14%) on placebo; 66% of the asafoetida group symptom-free
Double-blind trial in irritable colon, two groups of 50, 91 evaluable (German, 1979) PMID 365493Not stated in the abstractAsafoetida effective at the 1% significance level
Multicenter placebo-controlled double-blind trial in irritable colon (German, 1976) PMID 7985920.1% alcoholic dilution; or asafoetida plus nux vomica at 0.01%Both active groups clearly better than placebo but just short of the 5% significance level; about half the planned patients were reached

Doses used in trials and traditional preparations

The 2018 dyspepsia trial used capsules holding 90 mg of asafoetida gum, one before breakfast and one before dinner, for 30 days, about 180 mg a day. The 1976 trial used a 0.1% alcoholic dilution, and its abstract gives no amount per day. In cooking the amount is a pinch.

The 2012 review records traditional uses, including a hot-water solution applied to the abdomen as a cloth fomentation for flatulence and distension, but it does not give a standard oral dose for the gut.

Treat these figures as a record of what was studied. Whether any amount of asafoetida suits a particular person is a question for a clinician or pharmacist who knows their history.

Safety

The 2018 trial reported no adverse events and no clinically significant blood-test changes, although its table lists between-group differences in the liver enzyme SGPT (p = 0.001), alkaline phosphatase (p = 0.027) and creatinine (p = 0.006). The most serious reports concern infants: a 1984 case describes methemoglobinemia (blood that carries less oxygen) in an infant treated for colic with a glycerited asafoetida folk remedy, and a 2020 case report describes severe methemoglobinemia in an infant after Ferula asafoetida ingestion. The 2012 review also lists allergic skin reactions on patch testing and chromosome damage in mouse cells. We found no pregnancy or breastfeeding data in the sources we read.

Drug interactions

The 2012 review reports that asafoetida may enhance the anticoagulant effect of warfarin, and that ether extracts given with butter showed fibrinolytic (clot-dissolving) activity in ten healthy volunteers. Together these point to possible additive effects with blood-thinning medicines. The sources describe this as an observation, not a controlled interaction study, and we found no trial that measured it in people taking a blood thinner.

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Common questions

Was the 2018 asafoetida trial about irritable bowel syndrome?

No, it was in functional dyspepsia (upper-abdominal fullness, pain and early satiety). In 43 people over 30 days the severity score fell 54% on asafoetida and 14% on placebo. The older irritable-colon trials are from 1976 and 1979.

Is cooking with hing the same as the trial capsule?

Not necessarily. The capsule delivered about 180 mg a day of asafoetida gum microencapsulated in fenugreek fiber, and the 1976 trial used a diluted alcoholic tincture. A pinch of cooking powder is a different preparation, and no trial has tested it.

What does Ayurveda say hingu is for?

Ayurvedic texts class it as a digestion stimulant that relieves wind, colic, bloating and worms, and as an ingredient in digestive powders. These are the tradition’s statements, and the modern trials are small.

Why is asafoetida a concern for babies?

A 1984 report and a 2020 case report each describe infants developing methemoglobinemia after asafoetida folk remedies for colic. These are case reports, and the sources give no pregnancy or breastfeeding data.

Does asafoetida interact with blood thinners?

A 2012 review says it may enhance warfarin’s effect and describes clot-dissolving activity in ten healthy volunteers. This comes from observations and small studies, not a controlled interaction trial.

Sources