Herbal Anise, the Anti- Fungal Functional Remedy

By Kyle J. Norton

Herbal Anise may be used for the prevention and treatment of fungal infection with no side effects, according to studies.

Yeasts, molds and mushrooms are types of fungi. The tiny microorganisms have cells with nuclear.

Most common fungal infections start from the lungs or the skin. Long-term use of antibiotics and people with the weakened immune system are susceptible to fungal infection, epidemiologically.

However, some researchers suggested that common risk factors for fungal infection also include pregnancy, diabetes mellitus, oral contraceptives, and inadequate therapy.

Candida albicans is the common cause of fungal infection in the Western world. It is  a member of a large group of an organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within the membranes, including yeast and mold that live among the gut flora in the human mouth and gastrointestinal tract. 

Under normal circumstances, Candida albicans that do cause harmful effects, but overgrowth results in candidiasis.

Dr. M. Mar Rodríguez and colleagues in the examined the obesity in the change of the human gut mycobiome, wrote, "The human intestine is home to a diverse range of bacterial and fungal species, forming an ecological community that contributes to normal physiology and disease susceptibility".

And, "Mucor racemosus and M. fuscus were the species more represented in non-obese subjects compared to obese counterparts. Interestingly, the decreased relative abundance of the Mucor genus in obese subjects was reversible upon weight loss".

These results clearly suggested that obese people are more susceptible to fungal infection due to reduced levels of healthy gut mycobiome in the gut.  Weight loss can reverse this change.


Anise is a flowering plant of the species of Pimpinella anisum, genus Pimpinella, belonging to the family Apiaceae native to Egypt and the Mediterranean region.

The popular herb has been used in traditional herbal medicine as a fragrance in soaps, oils, and mouth fresheners and stomachic, antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, carminative, digestive, expectorant, stimulant, and tonic agent to treat head-lice and mites, increase blood pressure, prevent formation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract and menstrual cramps, etc.

Besides the main ingredient Anethole, the herbal plant also contains D-pinene, I-phellandrene, Alpha-terpineol, Safrol, Methyl chavicol, Resin, Shikimic acid, etc.

On examing the antifungal activity of p-anisaldehyde (1), o-anisaldehyde (2) and m-anisaldehyde isolated from the herbal Anise in thirty-six fluconazole-sensitive and eleven fluconazole-resistant Candida isolates, researchers showed that all compounds exerted a significant effect in inhibiting the growth and sensitivity of the organisms at different concentrations.

The compound-1, compound-2, and compound-3 exerted a rapid irreversible action on fungal cells through the fungal membrane-located target.

All the compounds inhibited the electrochemical gradients creation in the plasma membrane of the fungi, at their respective MIC(90) values, leading to intracellular acidification and cell death observed by the expression of deep wrinkles, deformity and flowed content in the fungal membrane.

These results indicate that compound-1, compound-2, and compound-3 have significant antifungal activity against Candida.

In vitro, researchers examined the antifungal activities of fluid extract and essential oil obtained from anise fruits Pimpinella anisum L. (Apiaceae) on clinical isolates of seven species of yeasts and four species of dermatophytes.

Anise fluid extract showed antimycotic activity against Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. pseudotropicalis and C. krusei with MIC values between 17 and 20%.

Anis fruits extracts also showed growth promotion activity on Geotrichum spp, a fungus associated with skin, sputum and feces.

Furthermore, Anise fruits extract inhibited the growth of dermatophyte species (Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis and M. gypseum) with MIC values between 1.5 and 9.0%.

Anise essential oil showed strong antifungal activity against yeasts with MIC lower than 1.56% (V/V) and dermatophytes with MIC lower than 0.78%, compared to the water extract.

These findings once again suggested that Anise essential oil exhibited stronger antifungal activities against yeasts and dermatophytes with MIC values between 0.10 and 1.56% (V/V), respectively, compared to the water extract.

Taken altogether, herbal Anise may be considered a functional food for the prevention and treatment of fungal infection with no side effects, pending to the confirmation of a large and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.References
(1) Interesting anticandidal effects of anisic aldehydes on growth and proton-pumping-ATPase-targeted activity by Shreaz S, Bhatia R, Khan N, Ahmad SI, Muralidhar S, Basir SF, Manzoor N, Khan LA.(PubMed)
(2) Antifungal activity of fluid extract and essential oil from anise fruits (Pimpinella anisum L., Apiaceae) by Kosalec I, Pepeljnjak S, Kustrak D.(PubMed)
(3) Obesity changes the human gut mycobiome by M. Mar Rodríguez , Daniel Pérez, Felipe Javier Chaves, Eduardo Esteve, Pablo Marin-Garcia , Gemma Xifra, Joan Vendrell, Mariona Jové, Reinald Pamplona, Wifredo Ricart, Manuel Portero-Otin, Matilde R. Chacón & José Manuel Fernández Real. (Scientific Reports)