An Exposure to the Health benefits of eating thyme

Thyme: Used for it's Culinary and Medicinal purposes 

We all add thyme to our meals as a spice, majorly for culinary popurse, but the big question is, do you know it has medicinal/health benefits? Well, today I'm going to be exposing the health benefits of eating thyme leaves/oils. 

How do I get thyme leaves/oils? 

It is gotten from a perennial herb known as Thymus Vulgaris (Lamiaceae). 

Medicinal Uses

Both the leaves and the oils are being used by us. 

The oil (which is gotten from the leaves however) contains an essential oil called Thymus. This essential oil also contains a range of compounds, which are:

• P-cymene

• Myrcene

• Borneol

• Linalool

Thymol, an antiseptic, is an active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes such as Listerine. 

Before the advent of antibiotics, thymol was used to medicate bandages. It also has an antifungal effect, especially to that which affects toe nails.

An infusion of thyme leaves in hot water for a period of 10-15mins can be used as herbal remedy for cough and bronchitis.

It is also known to treat other conditions such as: whooping cough, flatulence, sore throat, stomach ache, arthritis, bed-wetting and diarrhea 

A study in Serbia, also found that thymus oil reduced high blood pressure in the test rats, but hasn't been confirmed on Human test subjects. 

Another study in Lisbon, Portugal, suggests that eating thymus may prevent you from having colon cancer. 

A research from Leeds, UK, confirmed that a tincture of thymus oil, marigold and myrrh was shown to be effective in the treatment of Acne. Thymus oil is said to be more effective than Benzyl Peroxide,BP in acne treatment as it doesn't also cause skin irritations (unlike BP).