A simple and rapid method based on proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was developed for determination of trans-anethole content in fennel essential oil. Spectra of pure trans-anethole, of the pure essential oil of fennel, and of the pure oil of fennel with thymol internal standard were recorded. The signal of H-1/ was used for quantification of trans-anethole. This proton signal is well separated in the proton magnetic resonance spectrum of the compound. No reference compound is needed and cheap internal standard was used. The results obtained from spectroscopic analysis were compared with those obtained by gas chromatography. Additionally, the developed method was used for determination of the type of vegetable oil used as a carrier in commercial products, which cannot be quantified as such by gas chromatography. This study demonstrates the application of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a quality control method for estimation of essential oil components.
Chromatography, Gas ; Foeniculum* ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* ; Protons ; Quality Control ; Spectrum Analysis* ; Thymol ; Vegetables

OBJECTIVES: In this systematic review, the effectiveness of herbal medicines in improving depression and anxiety in menopausal women was assessed. METHODS: Three following databases were individually searched: MEDLINE (1966-March 2017), SCOPUS (1990-March 2017), and the Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; 2017). RESULTS: A total of 9 trials were included in this systematic review. Overall, soy was found to have a beneficial effect. Also, fennel had a significant positive effect on menopausal women with depression and anxiety disorder, but not on healthy women. Red clover showed varying effects ranging from significant to non-significant on depression and anxiety. Moreover, kava was found to have a significant beneficial effect on depression and anxiety at dose of 200 mg/days. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that herbal medicines could improve anxiety and depression in among menopausal women. However, the beneficial effect still remains indefinite due to the poor methodology.
Anxiety Disorders ; Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Female ; Foeniculum ; Humans ; Kava ; Menopause ; Phytoestrogens* ; Trifolium

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis is the exploration of the potential evidence of the effectiveness of aromatherapy products on the sexual function of menopausal women. METHODS: From inception to December 2017, the search process was performed using the MEDLINE and Scopus databases and the Cochrane Library regarding the trials on the effectiveness of herbal-medicine aromatherapy on the sexual function of menopausal women. RESULTS: Three of the trials comprise suitable data for inclusion in the meta-analysis. According to the meta-analysis, it is possible to improve the standardized mean difference (SMD) of the sexual desire up to 0.56 in the aromatherapy group compared with the control group (SMD = 0.56; P < 0.001; heterogeneity; I² = 42%; P = 0.141). According to one of the trials, the serum-estrogen level of two different doses did not change in the neroli oil inhalation group compared with the almond-oil group. CONCLUSIONS: Both aromatherapy with neroli oil or lavender (monopreparation) and combined-oil aromatherapy with lavender, fennel, geranium, and rose significantly improved human sexual function; however, a significant change of the serum-estrogen level was not detected. The findings of the present review should be presented cautiously because of the corresponding limitations such as the lack of a standardized tool, the lack of intention-to-treat reporting, the low study amount, and the short-term follow-up.
Aromatherapy ; Female ; Foeniculum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Geranium ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Lavandula ; Menopause ; Population Characteristics ; Sexuality

OBJECTIVES: The present trial aimed to assess the effects of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) on lipid profiles. METHODS: In this double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial, sixty eligible postmenopausal women were randomly assigned into the fennel and placebo groups. Total blood cholesterol, cholesterol fractions, and triglycerides were tested at the baseline, and after three-month follow-up. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in triglyceride (P = 0.679), total cholesterol (P = 0.103), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; P = 0.146) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; P = 0.266) levels between the two groups. In addition, in both groups, a paired t.test showed no significant difference in all mentioned parameters, except for HDL-C, indicating significant borderline improvement (P = 0.052) in the fennel group. CONCLUSIONS: The fennel group revealed a very slight positive change in LDL-C, triglyceride and HDL-C. Further studies with longer durations, higher doses, and larger sample sizes are recommended to validate the results.
Cholesterol ; Female ; Foeniculum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Postmenopause ; Sample Size ; Triglycerides

OBJECTIVES: Aim of present study was designed to investigate the soporific effect of fennel among menopausal women. METHODS: The present double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial examined the fennel effect on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Total score and relevant 7 components, including sleep duration, sleep latency, use of sleeping medication, subjective sleep quality, sleep disturbances, daytime dysfunction and habitual sleep efficiency among 50 menopausal women compared to control group within a 12-week follow-up. RESULTS: The patients in both groups reported no certain side effects and all subjects completed the study. The mean actual sleep duration was 5 hours and 66 minutes. Intergroup comparison revealed no statistically significant differences in the mean total PSQI score (P = 0.439), subjective sleep quality (P = 0.826), habitual sleep efficiency (P = 0.127), sleep disturbances (P = 0.130), use of sleeping medication (P = 0.52) and daytime dysfunction (P = 0.439). A tendency toward significant between 2 groups was seen concerning the sleep duration (P = 0.059). Intergroup comparison showed significantly borderline levels (P = 0.059). CONCLUSIONS: The treatment of 12 weeks with fennel caused a slight effect that did not reach to significant. These findings should be considered cautiously because of small sample size, short-term follow-up and subjective measure of sleep quality.
Female ; Foeniculum ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Menopause ; Sample Size ; Sleep Wake Disorders

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to assess the effect of fennel on bone density. METHODS: This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, which studied sixty eligible postmenopausal women, who were randomly assigned to fennel and placebo groups. Then, the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was utilized to measure bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) of the spine, femoral neck, intertrochanter, and trochanter at the baseline and after three-month follow-up. RESULTS: The mean BMD and BMC at lumbar spine (P = 0.14, P = 0.504), total hip femoral (P = 0.427, P = 0.471), trochanter (P = 0.075, P = 0.07), intertrochanter, (P = 0.864, P = 0.932) and femoral neck (P = 0.439, P = 0.641) was not significantly different between the fennel and placebo groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study did not approve the effect of fennel on bone density in post-menopausal women. However, to gain deeper insights, further studies with longer durations and larger sample sizes are recommended.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density* ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Foeniculum* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip ; Humans ; Postmenopause ; Sample Size ; Spine

Allergic contact dermatitis from aroma oils has long been recognized and with increasing frequency. Contact dermatitis of the allergic type of fragrances used for aromatherapy has been reported rarely, and only in patients exposed due to their occupation. We report herein a case of allergic contact dermatitis to aroma oils in an aroma therapist. A 25-year-old woman, an aroma therapist, had been treated with topical steroids under the impression of contact dermatitis. She had had pruritic erythematous maculopapules on the arms extending to the hands for the previous 6 months. Patch tests showed strong reactions to aroma oils(3% fennel and 3% juniper). The skin lesions were cleared after she stopped her job. However, re-exposure to aroma oils caused eczematous lesions repeatedly at the sites previously involved. We predict that increasing popularity of aromatherapy will lead to increasing number of patients developing allergic contact dermatitis from aroma oils. This has to be taken into consideration when testing patients with suspected contact dermatitis.
Adult ; Arm ; Aromatherapy ; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Female ; Foeniculum ; Hand ; Humans ; Oils ; Patch Tests ; Skin ; Steroids

There are many herbs used in the treatment of dermatophytosis as home medicine and Castanea crenata Flos (C.C.F.) is one of that used in Kyung gi-do district. With that regard we tried to examine in vitro antifungal activity of the C.C.F. with its water extract and alcohol extract as the test materials. Until now many authors have studied the antifungal activity with several plant extracts, as like the alcohol extracts of Zanthoxylum piperatum Fructus and Berberis Korea palibin or Fennel oil, and reported that these plant extrscts or essential oiI have good antifungal activities in vitro and in vivo. On that they said that the principal fractions those have strong fungistatic activity were all alikely the fatty acids chemically similar with the well known undecylenic acid. At this in vitro experiment the extracts of C.C.F. were diluted. serially in the Sabourauds dextrose agar and certain portions of fungi (the strains of Trichophyton (Tr.) mentagrophytes and Tr. rubrum) were transplanted into each medium containing different concentrations of test materials then observed its growth for 2 weeks at room temperature. After that we measured the sizes of colony grown in various conditions and compired with that of the normal medium to determine the fungistatic effectiveness. As the result, in the view of the colony sizes, Tr. mentagrophytes and Tr. rubrum equally revealed marked inhibition of its growth only in the media with water extract over the concentration of 10mg/ml in the mediurn, and the critical fungistatic dilution was 20 mg/ml. We could not identified the principal fraction in the water extract of C.C.F.which exhibited antifungal activity. In the comparison of the critical fungistatic dilution with the alcohol extract of Zanthoxylum piperaturn Fructus and Fennel oil, water extract of C.C.F. required tenfold higher concentration for the same effect. However in regarding the utilizing habits of C.C.F. in horne medicine, as topical wet dressing with water boiled solution, we might expect its effect practically. iVow there are problems to be investigated about the chemical natures and physical properties of the C.C.F. and for the antifungal fractions of it, in addition further in vivo study we thought would be interesting.
Agar ; Animals ; Bandages ; Berberis ; Fatty Acids ; Foeniculum ; Fungi ; Glucose ; Horns ; Korea ; Plant Extracts ; Plants ; Tinea ; Trichophyton ; Water ; Zanthoxylum

OBJECTIVETo analysis the changes of chemical compounds in fried Foeniculum vulgare.

METHODCleaned F. vulgare were fried with honey, Pharbitis nil, salt solution, vinegar, wine and bran, respectively, according to different Chinese medicine frying theories. Different volatile ingredints were extracted from fried products, and their contents and physical constants were detected. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for analyzing the changes of chemical compounds in different samples of fried F. vulgare.

RESULTThe experimental results showed that the content of volatile oil in F. vulgare decreased after been fried. Among these effective ingredients in fried samples, trans-anethole was the ingredient of the maximum content, and the contents of all twenty-four ingredinets had changed. Furthermore, other eighteen compounds were created; Among them, linalylacetate, farnesene, p-allyiphenyl aromatic oxide, menthone, and hexyl octanoate were detected firstly in F. vulgare.

CONCLUSIONGC-MS is effective to fleetly analyse the frying changes of herbs flectly.

Cooking ; Desiccation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Foeniculum ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Hot Temperature ; Oils, Volatile ; analysis ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the selective isolation of a single chemical component from volatile oil of Fructus foeniculi by inclucion method.

METHODThe host molecule was selected and a single chemical component isolated from volatile oil by the host-guest recognition.

RESULTX-ray single crystal analysis showed that 1,1,6,6-tetraphenylhexa-2, 4-diyne-1, 6-diol could successfully include 4-[1-propenyl] benzaldehyde from volatile oil of Fructus foeniculi.

CONCLUSIONThe host-guest inclusion technology can be used to isolate a single component selectively from mixture.

Crystallization ; Crystallography, X-Ray ; methods ; Foeniculum ; chemistry ; Molecular Conformation ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Seeds ; chemistry