CHAPTER 29: Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)

Tarragon is a common household plant with licorice-like aroma, used for culinary and medicinal purposes. Tarragon was used in Western folk medicine for oral hygiene and insomnia and it is part of traditional Chinese medicine, but not approved in Western herbal medicine due to lack of proven efficacy. Research carried out in North America, Europe and also the Middle East has identified a number of bioactive properties exhibited by tarragon. These are its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, chemopreventive/anti-cancer, glucose lowering, anti-diabetic, lipid lowering, anti-platelet activity, hepato and gastro-protective, neurological, and anti-microbial properties. However, the body of evidence concerning these properties is small and is based primarily on in vitro and animal studies.