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Ayurveda · Western herbalism

CarawayCarum carvi

The oil, paired with peppermint oil in coated capsules, beat placebo for functional dyspepsia (5 trials, 578 people); caraway alone has little oral trial data.

Botanical name
Carum carvi
Part used
fruit (the seed) and its essential oil
Also called
Zeera siyah (Unani), Carvi fructus
Used in
Ayurveda, Western herbalism
Taken for
Gas, Bloating, Cramping and pain, Indigestion
Sold as
tea, whole seed, capsules, essential oil

What caraway is

Caraway is the small, curved, ridged fruit (called the seed in cooking) of Carum carvi, a biennial of the carrot family grown from northern Europe through the Mediterranean to western Asia. Its volatile oil is the form most used for the gut.

Two forms matter. The dried fruit is chewed, crushed into hot water as a tea, or powdered into capsules. The essential oil, steam-distilled from the fruit, is mostly d-carvone and limonene (the European Pharmacopoeia sets d-carvone at 50 to 65% and limonene up to 45%), and the ratio varies with where the plant grows and how the oil is made. Taken for the gut, the oil comes in enteric-coated capsules designed to open past the stomach.

Almost all of the controlled trials test caraway oil combined with peppermint oil in a fixed capsule, usually for functional dyspepsia. Caraway alone has been trialed mainly as a topical poultice. When a product is described as caraway-based, check whether it is the fruit, the oil, or a peppermint combination, because the evidence below belongs to the combination.

What the traditions use it for

Ayurveda (about Ayurveda)

A review from India’s Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine states that in Ayurveda, and in the related Siddha and Unani systems, cumin and caraway seeds are considered carminative (relieving wind), eupeptic (aiding digestion), antispasmodic and astringent, and are used for mild digestive disorders, diarrhea, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic and bloating. The review treats the two seeds together and does not separate caraway’s Ayurvedic properties from cumin’s, so we cannot give a caraway-specific classification. These are the tradition’s categories, not findings about the body.

Western herbalism

Caraway has been a household wind remedy across Europe and the Middle East. The same review reports that in Poland it is used for indigestion, flatulence and lack of appetite, that in Great Britain and the USA it is regarded as a stomachic and carminative, and that Persian scholars advised it for flatulence. The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee lists caraway fruit as a traditional herbal medicine for the symptomatic relief of digestive disorders such as bloating and flatulence, a listing based on long-standing use alone.

The constituents

The oil is dominated by two terpenes, d-carvone (50 to 65% under the European Pharmacopoeia standard) and limonene (up to 45%). A review reports commercial samples ranging from 44.5% to 95.9% carvone and from 1.5% to 51.3% limonene, and a Chinese sample in which limonene (43.5%) exceeded carvone (32.6%). Harvest, extraction and origin shift these ratios. The review cites animal studies of antispasmodic activity but notes that caraway is usually studied combined with peppermint or menthol. A trial of caraway oil with menthol did not separate from placebo on the global impression score (P = 0.23), so the contribution of caraway to the combination trials is not established.

The human evidence

The strongest caraway evidence is for a fixed combination with peppermint oil in functional dyspepsia (upper-abdominal pain and fullness without a structural cause). A meta-analysis of 5 placebo-controlled trials (578 participants) found a risk ratio of 0.59 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.71) for not improving globally and 1.61 for improved epigastric pain, with a number needed to treat of 3 for both, and no significant difference in adverse events. The Cochrane review of non-Chinese herbal medicines for functional dyspepsia rated peppermint and caraway oil as probably giving a large improvement in global symptoms at four weeks (SMD −0.87, 95% CI −1.15 to −0.58; 2 studies, 210 participants, moderate certainty).

Individual trials: in 96 outpatients taking one capsule (90 mg peppermint oil and 50 mg caraway oil) twice daily for 28 days, pain fell 40% against 22% on placebo, and 67% against 21% were rated much or very much improved. In 114 outpatients on a similar preparation for 4 weeks, pain and discomfort scores improved by 7.6 and 3.6 points against 3.4 and 1.3 on placebo. In 118 patients the combination matched the prokinetic drug cisapride for pain over four weeks.

Evidence for caraway alone is thin. In a crossover trial of 48 people with diarrhea-predominant IBS, a caraway oil poultice (applied to the skin of the abdomen) produced a response in 43.9% against 20% and 18.9% for two olive oil comparators. We could not find a placebo-controlled trial of caraway tea or caraway oil taken by mouth on its own.

StudyDoseWhat it found
Meta-analysis of 5 randomized placebo-controlled trials, 578 people with functional dyspepsia (peppermint plus caraway oil) PMID 31827561Fixed combination capsulesNot improving globally RR 0.59 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.71), NNT 3; epigastric pain RR 1.61; adverse events not different
Cochrane review of non-Chinese herbal medicines for functional dyspepsia (peppermint and caraway oil: 2 to 3 studies, 210 to 305 people) PMID 37323050Fixed combination, 4 weeksGlobal symptoms SMD -0.87 (95% CI -1.15 to -0.58), moderate certainty; improvement rate RR 1.53 (1.30 to 1.81)
Randomized placebo-controlled trial, 96 outpatients with functional dyspepsia PMID 1112191790 mg peppermint oil + 50 mg caraway oil, one capsule twice daily for 28 daysPain down 40% vs 22% placebo; much or very much improved 67% vs 21%
Randomized placebo-controlled trial, 114 outpatients with functional dyspepsia PMID 28695660Menthacarin (peppermint and caraway oil), 2 capsules a day for 4 weeksPain and discomfort scores improved 7.6 and 3.6 points vs 3.4 and 1.3 on placebo (P < 0.001)
Randomized double-blind equivalence trial, 118 patients, vs cisapride PMID 1060404690 mg peppermint oil + 50 mg caraway oil, two capsules a day, 4 weeksPain score reduction 4.62 vs 4.60 points on cisapride (equivalent)
Review of clinical trials of caraway, including a crossover trial of caraway oil poultice in 48 people with diarrhea-predominant IBS PMID 30374904Abdominal poultice, topicalResponse 43.9% vs 20% (hot olive oil) and 18.9% (cold olive oil); no adverse effects

Doses, in trials and in practice

The European monograph’s traditional-use dose for adults and adolescents is a tea of 0.5 to 2 g of caraway fruit in 150 ml of boiling water, one to three times daily, for no more than 2 weeks before seeing a practitioner. It does not advise use under age 12. A review gives an oral oil dose of 0.15 to 0.3 ml a day in three divided doses.

The dyspepsia trials used enteric-coated capsules with 90 mg of peppermint oil and 50 mg of caraway oil, one capsule twice daily, for 28 days. The poultice trial of caraway oil in IBS was topical, not oral.

The amounts above are what trials and pharmacopoeias record, not a dose for you; your medicines and conditions change the answer, and a clinician or pharmacist who knows them is the person to ask.

What is known about safety

The European monograph reports no known adverse reactions to the fruit and no overdose cases. It contraindicates caraway for people hypersensitive to the carrot family (fennel, anise, celery, coriander, dill), to mugwort or to birch, and does not advise it for people with liver disease, bile duct inflammation, achlorhydria, gallstones or other biliary disorders. Safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established, and the monograph does not advise use then. A review adds that animal studies reported estrogenic effects at high doses of extracts and mentions reports of kidney and liver damage with long-term overdose of the oil, so the oil should not be confused with tea. In trials of the peppermint and caraway combination, adverse events were not significantly more frequent than on placebo in the meta-analysis (NNH 40).

Where it meets prescription medicines

The European monograph reports no known interactions for caraway fruit. The trial capsules also contain peppermint oil, so the peppermint monograph’s warnings apply to them: food or antacids taken at the same time can release an enteric-coated capsule early, and acid reducers such as histamine-2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors can dissolve the coating prematurely. Peppermint oil also increased the exposure to the drug felodipine in volunteers. We could not find an interaction study of caraway oil on its own. The catalog’s own drug rules for caraway oil are listed automatically on this page.

Medicines the site’s own interaction rules flag with caraway

The quiz applies these rules when someone names a medicine. They come from published interaction references and are a reason to ask a pharmacist, not a diagnosis:

Catalog entries that list caraway

If you want caraway in a product rather than as a loose herb, these are the entries that carry it, with the label amounts and the reviews read.

FDgard Caraway Oil and L-Menthol Capsules 4.5 out of 5 from 3,144 ratings from Amazon · $3.00 a day Traditional Medicinals Organic Gas Relief Tea 4.5 out of 5 from 1,766 ratings from Amazon · $0.44 per cup on Amazon and iHerb; the brand directs one to four cups a day Iberogast Liquid Drops 4.1 out of 5 from 421 ratings from Walmart · $4.30 per 20 mL bottle

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Herbs that sit beside it

Ayurvedic / TCM / Western Fennel Foeniculum vulgare Western Anise Pimpinella anisum Western Peppermint Mentha x piperita Ayurvedic Cumin Cuminum cyminum Ayurvedic Coriander Coriandrum sativum

Common questions

Does caraway oil help indigestion?

The trials tested caraway oil together with peppermint oil. A meta-analysis of 5 placebo-controlled trials (578 people) found fewer people failed to improve than on placebo (RR 0.59). We could not find a trial of caraway oil alone taken by mouth.

Is caraway tea the same as the capsules used in trials?

No. The trial capsules were enteric-coated and held 50 mg of caraway oil with 90 mg of peppermint oil. The European monograph lists caraway fruit tea as a traditional medicine for bloating and flatulence, based on long-standing use rather than trials.

Is caraway the same as cumin?

No. They are separate plants of the carrot family, and some labels and reviews treat their seeds together. The review we cite on Ayurveda describes cumin and caraway seeds together and does not separate them.

Who should avoid caraway?

The European monograph contraindicates it for people allergic to the carrot family, mugwort or birch, and does not advise it with liver disease, bile duct problems or gallstones. It states that safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding is not established.

Sources