A study that is the first if its kind, published in January this year (2023), has demonstrated that aniseed (Pimpinella anisum) tea can be used for increasing the volume of human breast milk. The study also revealed that there were “no specific side effects” reported so the Iranian researchers recommended that aniseed tea “may be incorporated easily, cheaply, and effectively in practice where appropriate to the benefit of preterm infant nutrition worldwide.”
Mother’s milk production can be inhibited when infants are born prematurely yet breast milk production supports pre-term infants to thrive. Therefore, breastfeeding support, protection and promotion are of high importance in this context. Consumption of aniseed in lactating women works as a galactagogue to increase milk supply and also gives relief to their infants from gastrointestinal problems. Aniseed has been evidenced to increase milk production and infant weight gain in previous animal studies so in this study the researchers aimed to determine the effect of aniseed in human populations.
The study population included breast feeders and premature infants, whose gestational age was less than 32 weeks and who were hospitalised in a neonatal intensive care unit. Participants in the intervention group (45 women) received aniseed herbal tea (2g of dried aniseed plus 1 g of black tea). Those in the placebo group (45 women) received black tea containing 3g of dried black tea only. In both groups tea was ingested three times a day for a week at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those in the control group (39 women) did not receive any galactagogues. Participants placed a tea bag in a cup, added 150ml of boiling water, and sipped the tea after 10 minutes of infusion. Maternal food consumption known to increase human milk production such as lettuce, basil leaves, dill, fenugreek, carrot juice, spinach, sesame and fennel was also monitored. Participants in all groups used a Medela electronic machine to pump their milk at least six times a day (three to four hourly upon waking at approximately 8am) for a period of seven days. Excess milk was stored in the milk bank.
The intervention period was limited to seven days because typically after this time the preterm infant is fed human milk directly (rather than being tube fed), and thus the recording of milk production/volume became impossible. At the end of the intervention period those in the control group were offered aniseed herbal tea also. On the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh days, the mean volume of pumped milk in the intervention group was significantly higher than the placebo and control groups.
References
Khalili S, Amiri-Farahani L, Haghani S, Bordbar A, Shojaii A, Pezaro S. The effect of Pimpinella Anisum herbal tea on human milk volume and weight gain in the preterm infant: a randomized controlled clinical trial. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2023 Jan 21;23(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12906-023-03848-6. PMID: 36681821; PMCID: PMC9862552.
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