Gardenia Benefits and Uses
Some of the many uses of gardenia plants and essential oil include treating:
- Fighting free radical damage and formation of tumors, thanks to its antiangiogenic activities (3)
- Infections, including urinary tract and bladder infections
- Insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, obesity, and other risk factors tied to diabetes and heart disease
- Acid reflux, vomiting, gas IBS and other digestive issues
- Depression and anxiety
- Fatigue and brain fog
- Abscesses
- Muscle spasms
- Fever
- Menstrual pains
- Headaches
- Low libido
- Poor milk production in nursing women
- Slow healing wounds
- Liver damage, liver disease and jaundice
- Blood in the urine or bloody stools
What active compounds are responsible for the beneficial effects of gardenia extract?
Studies have found that gardenia contains at least 20 active compounds, including a number of powerful antioxidants. Some of compounds that have been isolated from the edible flowers of wild Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis include benzyl and phenyl acetates, linalool, terpineol, ursolic acid, rutin, stigmasterol, crociniridoids (including coumaroylshanzhiside, butylgardenoside and methoxygenipin) and phenylpropanoid glucosides (such as gardenoside B and geniposide). (4 ,5)
What are the uses of gardenia? Below are some of the many medicinal benefits that the flowers, extract and essential oil have:
1. Helps Fight Inflammatory Diseases and Obesity
Gardenia essential oil contains many antioxidants that fight free radical damage, plus two compounds called geniposide and genipin that have been shown to have anti-inflammatory actions. It’s been found that it may also help reduce high cholesterol, insulin resistance/glucose intolerance and liver damage, potentially offering some protection against diabetes, heart disease and liver disease. (6)
Certain studies have also found evidence that gardenia jasminoide may be effective in reducing obesity, especially when combined with exercise and a healthy diet. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Exercise Nutrition and Biochemistry states, “Geniposide, one of the main ingredients of Gardenia jasminoides, is known to be effective in inhibiting body weight gain as well as improving abnormal lipid levels, high insulin levels, impaired glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance.” (7)
2. May Help Reduce Depression and Anxiety
The smell of gardenia flowers is known to promote relaxation and help people who are feeling wound up de-stress. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, gardenia is included in aromatherapy and herbal formulas that are used to treat mood disorders, including depression, anxiety and restlessness. One study out of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that the extract (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects via instant enhancement of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the limbic system (the “emotional center” of the brain). The antidepressant response started roughly two hours after administration. (8)
3. Helps Soothe the Digestive Tract
Ingredients isolated from Gardenia jasminoides, including ursolic acid and genipin, have been shown to have antigastritic activities, antioxidant activities and acid-neutralizing capacities that protect against a number of gastrointestinal issues. For example, research conducted at Duksung Women’s University’s Plant Resources Research Institute in Seoul, Korea, and published in Food and Chemical Toxicology, found that genipin and ursolic acid may be useful in the treatment and/or protection of gastritis, acid reflux, ulcers, lesions and infections caused by H. pylori action. (9)
Genipin has also been shown to help with digestion of fats by enhancing production of certain enzymes. It also seems to support other digestive processes even in a gastrointestinal environment that has an “unstable” pH balance, according to research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and conducted at Nanjing Agricultural University’s College of Food Science and Technology and Laboratory of Electron Microscopy in China.