Anise Essential Oil Uses

Its sweet aroma comparable to licorice, flavor, and the effects on your digestive system, place anise essential oil at the top of the list of best essential oils. Our anise oil comes from the Illicium verum plant fruit seed (also known as Star Anise) which produce a sweet aromatic taste and odor. This plant is native to southeast Asia and southwestern China. The star-shaped seed contains fragrance properties used in beauty and washing products. It is also used as a digestive and flavorful spice in many Asian cuisines. Traditionally believed to have health benefits, its content of shikimic acid has more recently been discovered by modern medicine as a precursor for the synthesis of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu. While generally suitable for your body’s well-being, star anise contains other powerful bioactive compounds that may not be right for you, so it is best to introduce yourself to it gradually. 

10 Foremost Anise Essential Oil Benefits

The following are the proven benefits that you get from the use of anise oil.

Improves Skin Health

It's clear to you that your skin needs quality oil to look and feel well-taken care-off. With natural properties that help your body fight off infections, anise provides you with an oil option good for your skin. It will deep clean your skin such that possible pores that cause acne get eliminated. It also has active ingredients that support the repair and healing process of your body skin. Anise, therefore, helps your skin to:

• Fight-off acne in a way that you don’t require to use medications or any laser procedures. It’s helpful when you add about 5 drops of anise oil to your facial toner.
• Healing your wounds by repairing your skin when you get burns, injury, acne scars, and wounds.
• The oil acts as a good antiseptic which you can use in case of small abrasions or minor cuts.
• It acts as a good skin product to ward off fungal and microbial infections.

Anise Oil use in Aromatherapy

If you have ever held black licorice near your nose, you're then aware of the kind of aroma anise produces. A small drop of the anise seed's essential oil can make a notable change to any dull inhaler blend. That's why it's useful when it comes to easing colds, flu, and bronchitis when mixed with other inhaler blends. The fragrance properties found in anise gives it a rich and sweet scent good for aromatherapy products.

Aromatherapy refers to several traditional therapy processes that use essential oils and other known plant compounds with aromatic properties. Annette Davis, the President of the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy defined aromatherapy as the medicinal use of essential oil healing to achieve holistic healing. Anise oil, like other essential oils is ideal for Aromatherapy applications like inhalation and massage. Anise is also used to make Aromatherapy products like cosmetics, perfumes, and pharmaceuticals.                                             

Anise Essential Oil Young Living

As you start using anise, you will find a big difference in your life. You will start feeling healthier, calmer, happier, and finally younger. The main reasons for those feelings are:

• Anise like other essential oils contains high-density nutrients. According to nutrient density experts like Dr Mat Lalonde, essential oils like anise have more nutrients when compared to other world plants foods. That's what gets packed in your recommended anise oil bottle.
• It's proven that essential oil contains a high level of oxygenated molecules. Those molecules help to remove chemicals out of your body which helps in detoxification. That further leads to your better nourishment and health.
• The fragrance and the flavor effects of anise completely change your home’s environment improving your moods and energy. Even people walking into your room notice the difference and talks about it.

Healing Properties for Hysterics and Epilepsy

As part of the aromatic plants family, anise's use dates back to ancient traditions. It was used both as conventional and folk medicine and is currently in use in the pharmaceutical industries. Just like other essential oils, it contains sedative effects which make it bring down hysterical and epileptic strikes. It achieves that by slowing down the respiration, nervous, and circulation processes.

The above happens when anise oil is taken in higher dosages. If in lower dosages, it will show cordial and stimulating properties. Anise oil can also prove effective for nervous afflictions sedations, convulsions, and even hyper reactions. However, utilizing higher dosages to get desired results needs care as there’re possible side effects, especially for children.

Improve Immune System

With a healthy immune system, your body is capable of fighting-off diseases making it remain healthy. Your immune system comprises a complex and wide network of cells spread out throughout the body. The cells are responsible for watching out viruses, pathogens, and diseases that may invade your body and cause harm. When the immune system detects any of those harmful invaders, it immediately springs into action and clears them.

Your main focus then, is to make sure you do everything possible to improve your natural defense mechanism. Essential oils, anise among them, are a great way of promoting your immune system health. Anise oil contains anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-bacteria, and antioxidant properties. All those properties are important in making your body maintain harmony and balance within your immune system.

Respiratory Disorders Treatment

If you suffer from respiratory disorders, anise with its expectorant properties may act as the right remedy. It may effectively act against the phlegm or mucus deposits in your lungs and make them loose. It, therefore, gives you much-needed relief from coughs, breathing problems, chest heaviness, asthma, congestion, bronchitis, and other kinds of respiratory issues. The essential oils found in the aniseed can get inhaled leading to the loosening of your phlegm or catarrh.

The healing properties of anise oil for respiratory disorders got proved through research findings by Kamilla Acs and Gyorgyi Horvath from the University of Pecs, Hungary.  They researched respiratory tract disorders treatment using essential oils which highlighted the oils' role concerning their preventive effects on bacterial infections and inflammation. The report’s conclusion stated that essential oils, anise included, help to fight bacteria that cause respiratory problems.

Effective Agent in Pain Relief

Anise seed essential oil acts effectively to relieve your pain offering soothing effects to your muscles and joints. It can get used by people with rheumatism and arthritis conditions and also by sportspeople suffering from muscle and joint injuries. It has anethole, a property that gives it relaxant and anti-inflammatory effects.  In 2014, tests carried out with anise oil on animals were clear about its pain lessening without sedation side effects.

You should ensure to dilute it before you apply it on your skin due to inflammation and skin irritation if used undiluted. It's recommended you use it with common oils like sweet almond, jojoba, sesame, coconut, avocado, grape seed, and avocado. You also ensure to add just a few drops to the carrier oil and do a test on small skin areas before full application. You can then apply if you don't experience any discomfort within one to two days.

Reduces Symptoms of Depression        

Health experts report that current adult depression cases in the United States alone stands at 26 percent. That’s a serious state that requires maximum efforts to eradicate it as the scenario can lead to other negative effects like on individual economic input and output. Depression is a kind of a mental disorder with an adverse effect on your physical health and overall well-being. Some of the symptoms are lack of sleep, abnormal tiredness, energy loss, and lack of concentration.

A PMC article on a research carried out on anise seed extract indicated that it has notable antidepressant properties on mice. It was concluded that, anise can prove a good prescription medication for treating depression. Other studies, although on animals have shown that the oil can to help in relieving physical and psychological symptoms related to depression.

Boosts your Oral Health

Although not a complete replacement to your daily regular hygiene habits like mouth brushing and flossing, anise can help in supplementing their benefits. According to Dr Maestri of Maestri Family Dental, essential oils like anise are beneficial to your oral health in the following ways.

• Removes bad breath from your mouth using their anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungi properties and keeps you feeling fresh all day.
• It can aid in removing bad oral bacteria that cause teeth cavities, plaque buildup, and bad breath.
• It has antibacterial properties that can effectively fight against bacteria that cause gum disease thus eradicating gingivitis.
• The germicidal properties found in anise may disinfect your root canals thus relieving your toothache. 

Used as an Insecticide

You may find commercial use of pest control loaded with chemicals harmful to yourself, your pets, and the environment. Your pest control concerns may get a big boost from the use of the anise plant as it contains pest repellant properties. That also applies to anise oil as proved through research carried out by Roman Pavela of Crop Research Institute.

Pavela’s research used samples of anise oil and its trans-anethole properties which were applied on eggs, the larvae, and adults of the Culex Quinquefaciatus. There was no effect on the eggs, but the other growth stages acted sensitively to the application. On that basis, the use of anise as a potential botanical insecticide is recommended.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s star anise essential oil?

You may confuse between anise and star anise because of the similarity in names. While anise comes from the Pimpinella anisum plant, star anise comes from a tree belonging to the magnolia family. Their composition has a difference in that aniseed is potent and spicy flavored while star anise seems milder. But, they serve almost the same uses and the star anise essential-oil benefits are similar to that of anise.

What’s anise essential oil used for?

The oil comes with so many uses in various fields including medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetology, food, and dental fields. You can use it for medicinal use, flavoring agent for foods, pest and insects control, oral health, for fragrance, Aphrodisiac, Skin disease treatments, relaxation, and extra.

What does star anise essential oil blend with?

It’s recommended you dilute the oil well and put systematic drops to the blends until you reach the desired level. You can blend star anise with Caraway, Cedarwood, Ambrette, Cinnamon, Coriander, Mandarin, Mimosa, Lavender, Orange, Rose, Fennel, Clove, Cardamom, Cypress, Ginger, Pine, Jasmine, Dill, and Petitgrain.

How do you use anise essential oil internally?

Anise, with many health beneficial properties, can get used internally to prevent many ailments. However, you need proper care when applying as it's a mild narcotic and excess usage can slow down your circulatory system. You, therefore require a health professional's guidelines when using it for various health issues like pain relief, healing injuries, sedating, curing spasms, reduce fatigue, digestion issues, respiratory health, loosening mucus, eliminating worms, and extra.

How is essential oil of anise made?

For commercial use, anise oil gets extracted from anise seed using the steam distillation process. You can make it at home by toasting anise pods in a heated stainless-steel pan for about 5 minutes. The next step is to grind the pods with a mortar and spice grinder. Mix the ground anise with neutral oil in a container and low heat for about 10 minutes and then store in a dry and cool place.

Is anise oil good for the skin?

With high vitamin C and antioxidants content, there’s enough evidence to show that anise oil benefits your skin. Those natural properties make it enhance elastin and collagen production in your body. Both contain tannins highly need by your body to make your skin elastic and smooth. You can compare the composition of anise with that of botox which creates similar effects on your face.

Closing Remarks

At Roots Essential, we are committed to offering you products with wholesome body health benefits. It’s our business also to ensure that all our products provide you with natural healing properties without adverse effects on the environment. Anise essential oil with all its versatility can offer you many benefits. You can use anise oil to make natural fragrances adding products like incense, perfumes, and candles or for its aromatherapy properties. It’s also not limited to the number of ailments it can heal and prevent like skin diseases, constipation, menopausal periods, diabetes, sedative action, nausea, and extra.