Holy Moly, More Like Holy Basil!
A Bite-Size Read for Your Health and Your Waistline
Basil is common. We see it on pizza, in pasta sauce and more. But this dark, leafy, green herb is for so much more than food.
Sweet basil, the one we’re most familiar with, a staple of Italian food, is ironically from Asia and Africa. Lesser known but still popular is Thai basil, which is used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Greek basil is less common, but the flavor is roughly the same as sweet basil. Lettuce basil is also similar to sweet basil but best eaten raw. Cinnamon basil, which is almost cinnamon flavored and spicy, is used most often in vegetarian dishes.
Different from all these food-type basils, is holy basil, commonly used in supplements and teas. Holy basil supplements are used for the body’s stress response, to assist with adrenal and thyroid function. Holy basil has also been shown to regulate blood sugar levels.
A study with about 60 people with type two diabetes, who were given 2,500mg of holy basil extract with a diabetes drug had an 18% decrease in average blood sugar compared to those who took the drug by itself. In another study, 150 people saw a 39% increase in improved general stress symptoms than the placebo.
Basil essential oil may help with nausea or bug bites too because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties. It may also be antifungal. Basil essential oil is often used in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine.
You may hear people talk about some health benefits of basil and make extra efforts to add it to their daily nutrition. While this is unlikely to have any drawbacks, I think it’s important to understand most studies use extracts and the essential oils which means each basil leaf we eat may not have the concentration of the nutrients needed for the benefits studied. Holy basil, however, has a multitude of human studies and, as far as I’ve seen, is only available as a supplement.
As always, consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting any supplements. Holy basil may cause adverse effects if you’re pregnant or trying to get pregnant. This goes for both men and women, some animal studies show that holy basil negatively impacts sperm and holy basil may trigger contractions in pregnant women. If you’re allergic, steer clear!
For the rest of us, if support for your stress response and blood sugar would be helpful, this adaptogenic herb may be a new one for your regimen.
