Ayurveda · Traditional Chinese medicine · Western herbalism

CardamomElettaria cardamomum (small or green cardamom); Amomum species in Chinese medicine

A fragrant spice pod. In two small postoperative trials, cardamom oil (inhaled or sublingual) lessened nausea; we found no trial of it for indigestion.

Botanical name

Elettaria cardamomum (small or green cardamom); Amomum species in Chinese medicine

Part used

dried fruit capsule and its seeds

Also called

Sanskrit Ela (Sukshma ela); Hindi Elaichi, Choti elaichi; pinyin Bai dou kou (Amomum kravanh, round cardamom); Xiao dou kou (Elettaria) (白豆蔻 / 小豆蔻); Green cardamom, Lesser cardamom, Malabar cardamom

Used in

Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese medicine, Western herbalism

Taken for

Nausea, Indigestion, Gas, Bloating, Appetite

Sold as

whole pods, ground seed, tea, capsules, essential oil

Cardamom, the plant and the part used

Small cardamom is the dried fruit capsule of Elettaria cardamomum, a plant in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). The green pods hold small dark seeds with a strong aroma. The pod is widely used as a cooking spice.

As a supplement or herbal product it is sold as whole pods or seeds, ground seed for tea and chai, capsules of the powder, an essential oil distilled from the seed, and in blends. The oil is used for inhalation and, diluted, on the skin; it is a different material from the ground spice.

Names cause confusion. Small or green cardamom is Elettaria; “round” or white cardamom (bai dou kou, Amomum kravanh) and Chinese black cardamom are other genera in the same family, and Chinese medicine uses the Amomum fruits more than Elettaria. A critical review of the plant notes that the capsules have been used in traditional medicine for asthma, teeth and gum infections, nausea, diarrhea, and cardiac, digestive and kidney disorders.

Traditional uses, in their own terms

Ayurveda (about Ayurveda)

In Ayurveda small cardamom is ela. A Charaka Samhita database entry gives its taste as pungent and sweet, its qualities as light and rough, its potency as cold, and its post-digestive effect as sweet, and says it reduces vata, pitta and kapha. That entry lists it for breathing disorders, mouth-held preparations, emetic and purgative formulas, and not under digestive complaints. Separately, a critical review of cardamom records traditional use of the capsules for nausea, diarrhea and digestive disorders.

Traditional Chinese medicine (about TCM)

Chinese medicine mostly uses the round cardamom Amomum kravanh (bai dou kou) rather than Elettaria. A practitioner reference classes it as warm and acrid, entering the lung, spleen and stomach channels. The actions given are to transform damp and revive the spleen, warm the middle and stop vomiting, and move qi in the chest and middle burner. The patterns listed are damp-cold obstructing the middle burner, with epigastric distension, loss of appetite and a thick greasy tongue coating, and nausea and vomiting from stomach cold and damp. It is contraindicated in yin-deficient heat and used cautiously in pregnancy. See also the amomum page.

Western herbalism

We found no European Medicines Agency herbal monograph for cardamom, so there is no regulator’s statement of traditional indications to cite for Europe. In the Western literature cardamom appears mainly as a culinary spice and in aromatherapy, and the human trials below test the essential oil for nausea, not a traditional carminative tea.

Compounds, and what the laboratory says about them

Cardamom seeds contain an essential oil rich in terpenes, along with flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, lipids and carotenoids. A critical review reports that cardamom essential oil and extracts show antioxidant, antibacterial, gastroprotective and other effects, but the evidence cited is laboratory and animal work, and the review states that more research is needed to understand mechanisms. The nausea trials use the essential oil, not the ground spice, so their results speak to the aromatic fraction only.

Trials in people, with the numbers

We could find no randomized trial of cardamom for indigestion, bloating, gas or appetite, the uses the traditions list. The human trials on file test nausea and metabolic outcomes.

In a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 70 women undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia, inhaling cardamom essential oil on gauze at the first episode of nausea was compared with placebo. Nausea episodes were 37.1 percent in the cardamom group versus 65.7 percent with placebo (P = 0.006), retching 20 versus 45.7 percent (P = 0.028), and antiemetic use 37.1 versus 65.7 percent (P = 0.009). In a triple-blind trial of 105 patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, ice cubes with 10 percent peppermint or cardamom essential oil, given sublingually four times in an hour, improved nausea versus placebo; the difference between peppermint and cardamom was not significant. These are postoperative aromatherapy trials, not tests of cardamom as a spice or for chronic digestive complaints.

Outside nausea, an 87-patient randomized trial in fatty liver disease gave two 500 mg capsules of green cardamom three times a day for 3 months and reported lower triglycerides, lower insulin resistance and a better ultrasound fatty-liver grade than placebo. A meta-analysis of 12 trials with 989 participants found lower total cholesterol (by 8.56 mg/dL), triglycerides (14.09 mg/dL), C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 with cardamom, with no clear effect on LDL cholesterol.

The doses on record

Food use has no standardized amount. In the NAFLD trial the dose was 3 g of green cardamom powder a day (two 500 mg capsules three times daily) for 3 months. The nausea trials used the volatile oil: gauze pads moistened with the oil for inhalation, or six drops of a 10 percent oil extract in a sublingual ice cube. Chinese medicine prescribes bai dou kou inside a formula, with the practitioner setting the amount. There is no EMA or WHO monograph that sets a posology for cardamom.

The safety record

Cardamom is a common culinary spice, and the abstracts of the trials above do not report serious harm, but we could find no systematic safety review. Practitioner references for the Chinese herb advise against it in yin-deficient heat and caution in pregnancy. The essential oil is concentrated and is not the same exposure as a spice.

We found no heavy-metal or adulteration surveys specific to cardamom. Safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding at supplement doses has not been established by trials.

Medicines it can interact with

We found no clinical interaction study of cardamom and no regulator’s interaction statement, since there is no monograph. A critical review reports antidiabetic activity for cardamom extracts in laboratory work, and the metabolic meta-analysis above found lower triglycerides and cholesterol, so people on blood sugar or lipid medicines are the group worth raising it with a prescriber. That is an inference from the effects measured, not a documented mechanism of interaction.

Where cardamom turns up in the catalog

Cardamom appears on the labels below, alone or inside a blend; each product page gives the printed amount, the evidence for that product and the review picture.

Read next

Questions people ask

Sources

• Ashokkumar K et al., "Botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry and biological activities of cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton] - A critical review", J Ethnopharmacol 2020;246:112244 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31541721
• Khatiban M et al., "Effect of Cardamom Inhalation Therapy on Intra- and Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting of Mothers Undergoing Spinal Anesthesia for Elective Cesarean Section", J Perianesth Nurs 2022;37:452-7 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35581106
• Kamalvand N et al., "Comparison of the effect of ice sucking containing peppermint with cardamom extract on nausea, vomiting, and drug request after laparoscopic cholecystectomy", Explore (NY) 2025;21:103261 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40967081
• Daneshi-Maskooni M et al., "Green cardamom supplementation improves serum irisin, glucose indices, and lipid profiles in overweight or obese non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients", BMC Complement Altern Med 2019;19:59 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30871514
• Zhang X et al., "Cardamom consumption may improve cardiovascular metabolic biomarkers in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials", Nutr Res 2024;125:101-12 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38593657
• Ela (Elettaria cardamomum), Charaka Samhita online database entry carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Ela
• Bai Dou Kou (Amomum kravanh), Chinese herbal medicine materia medica entry (practitioner reference) www.attiliodalberto.com/chinese-herbal-medicine/herbs/bai-dou-kou.php