Fenugreek seed has been used medicinally and for culinary purposes for millennia. It is most often utilized in Indian, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern cuisine, but is used commercially as a flavoring agent in much of the world. Its delicate maple-like flavor makes it perfect for baked goods and confectionaries and also for creating imitation maple syrups. Medicinally, it has been utilized in traditional herbalism to support digestion, support lactation in nursing mothers, and as a soothing topical application.

HERBAL ACTIONS

Nutritive, digestive, galactagogue, hypoglycaemic, demulcent,4,5 emollient,1,2 secretolytic, hyperemic, expectorant,3,5emmenagogue6

CONSTITUENTS

Carbohydrates, mucilaginous fiber (galactomannans), proteins (high in lysine and tryptophan), fixed oils pyridine-type alkaloids (such as trigonelline, choline, gentianine, and carpaine), flavonoids such as apigenin, luteolin, orientin, quercetin, vitexin, and isovitexin, free amino acids, such as 4-hydroxyisoleucine, arginine, histidine, and lysine; calcium and iron; saponins, glycosides (yielding steroidal sapogenins such as diosgenin, yamogenin, tigogenin, neotigogenin on hydrolysis), cholesterol and sitosterol, vitamins A, B1, C, and nicotinic acid, and volatile oils.2

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

The Commission E approved internal use of fenugreek as an appetite stimulant and for use externally as a poultice.