Chamomile and Digestion: A Tea Story, Not an Oil Story

Ask anyone what chamomile is for and you will hear about a mug of tea after dinner. That reputation is old and well loved, and it belongs to the dried flowers steeped in hot water. The oil we sell is a different thing: a concentrated, steam-distilled fraction of the plant, sold undiluted for scent and for diluted use on skin.

Roman Chamomile Essential Oil bottle

Roman Chamomile Essential Oil

Our own Roman Chamomile Essential Oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $32.99

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Why a cup and a bottle are not the same

Hot water and a still pull different molecules out of the same flower. A Graz team compared the aroma compounds in German chamomile tea with those in the distilled oil, and the two came out remarkably different. The tea held far fewer of the light hydrocarbons that dominate a distillate, less chamazulene (the blue compound in German oil), and more of the heavier spiroethers, sesquiterpene lactones and coumarins that steam leaves behind (Tschiggerl and Bucar, 2012).

That is the whole story in miniature. When someone says "chamomile settles the stomach," they are almost always talking about the infusion, and anything a study finds about the infusion tells you about that infusion. It is a bit like judging a cheese by what you know about milk. Our tea bags and potency myths post goes further into why the two get mixed up.

What the health authorities actually say

The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health notes that some products combining chamomile with other herbs may help with diarrhea in children and colic in infants, but that chamomile alone has not been shown to help with those conditions (NCCIH). Its page is about tea and extracts and does not discuss the essential oil.

The European Medicines Agency takes a traditional-use view of chamomile flower: teas and similar preparations for minor stomach and gut complaints such as bloating and minor spasms. "Traditional use" has a specific meaning there. The effect is considered plausible and the product has a long safe history, at least 30 years, but clinical trial evidence is described as insufficient (EMA, Matricariae flos). Nothing in that summary extends to a distilled oil rubbed on the abdomen.

So the fair reading is this: chamomile's digestive reputation is a tea tradition with modest formal backing, and we are not aware of any authority that carries it over to essential oil.

Where our oils fit

We sell Roman and German chamomile essential oil as external-use cosmetic oils. They are not for internal use, and we do not suggest swallowing them; our swallowing guide explains why a few drops of distillate is nothing like a cup of tea. What the oils do offer is aroma. Roman is sweet, apple-like and herbaceous, and our German oil is blue and hay-like. A diluted chamomile massage oil can be a pleasant, fragrant ritual in its own right, and our massage guide covers technique. Our guidance for skin is 0.5% to 2% in a carrier oil, with a patch test first (how to patch test) and how to dilute for the carrier side.

Keep it off broken skin and away from the eyes. People who react to ragweed, daisies, marigolds or chrysanthemums are more likely to react to chamomile, according to NCCIH, and NCCIH also says too little is known about chamomile in pregnancy, so our pregnancy article is the place to start there. We sell an external cosmetic oil, not a remedy, so a stomach complaint that is persistent, keeps returning, or comes with blood, fever, vomiting or weight loss belongs with a physician.

If a warm mug is what you are really after, the tea aisle at the grocery store has you covered, and the oil is there for the days you would rather smell chamomile than sip it.

Roman Chamomile Essential Oil bottle

Roman Chamomile Essential Oil

Roman Chamomile Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $32.99

Shop Now →

Sources & Further Reading