Bitter Compounds and the Liver: How Dandelion, Artichoke and Co. May Kick-Start Your Digestion
Bitter compounds do not scrub slag out of your liver. They send a signal. Here you will learn how receptors in your mouth and gut may set bile and digestive juices in motion, and where the study situation gets thin.
Bitter is not a cleaning agent. Bitter is a message. Your digestive system has been responding to this taste for as long as there have been humans who eat plants.
Do you know the feeling? After a rich meal, everything sits in your stomach like a stone. You feel full, sluggish, almost a little poisoned. And somewhere in the back of your mind you hear your grandmother's voice: have a digestive bitter, it gets the bile going.
Today, many tea packages say something else. Cleanse your liver. Detox. Purify. It sounds as if a bitter tea were wiping through your liver with a sponge. But that is not how your body works.
The story of bitter compounds is still fascinating. It is just a different one. It is about receptors on your tongue and in your gut. About a nerve that connects the head and the belly. And about hormones that can prepare your digestion for the food that is coming.
In this article, we look at the neuro-digestive reflex behind the bitter taste. Along the way, we clearly separate what is well supported, what sounds plausible and what is mainly tradition.
What to expect in this article
- Why there is no slag for bitter compounds to flush out
- How a bitter taste can wake up your digestion via the vagus nerve
- Why your gut has its own bitter receptors
- What studies in humans show on GLP-1, CCK and hunger
- Artichoke, dandelion, gentian: the honest study situation
- When you should be careful, and three levers for everyday life
Why so many cuisines start with something bitter
In Italy, an evening often begins with a glass full of bitter herbs. On the plate there is radicchio, grilled or as a salad. In France, endive comes to the table. In the Alpine region, a gentian schnapps is waiting after the meal.
Nobody needed a study for this. Over generations, people observed that something bitter before or after a heavy meal feels good. That is experiential knowledge, not proof.
It gets exciting because physiology is now finding mechanisms that could fit this observation. And those are exactly what we will look at now.
Slag or signals: what bitter compounds have to do with your liver
Maybe you have already spent a lot of money on detox teas. And then wondered what exactly was supposedly flushed out of you. That question is a fair one.
The word slag comes from the blast furnace. There, it describes the residues left over when metal is smelted. Medicine knows of no comparable substance that is deposited in your tissue and washed out by a cleanse. Why juice cleanses are still so popular is something I describe in the article on detox cleanses and detox teas.
What does exist is a very finely tuned system. Your liver converts metabolic products and foreign substances in several steps. How this phase 1 and phase 2 of liver detoxification works, you can read in a separate article. In the end, every converted substance needs an exit.
One of these exits is bile. Your liver produces it constantly. It carries fat-soluble substances, cholesterol and bilirubin, the breakdown product of the red blood pigment, into the gut. There, it also supports the digestion of the fats in your food. Whether these substances then leave the body is decided in the gut. I have explained this in detail in the article Gut and elimination.
This is where bitter compounds come into play. They do not clean anything. But they could stimulate the flow through this exit. That is a big difference.
The question is not: Which tea will rinse my liver clean? The more helpful question is: How do I give my digestive system the starting signal so that bile and digestive juices flow at the right time?
In this picture, bitter compounds are not a cleaning crew. They are more like the gong that calls everyone to dinner.
The neuro-digestive reflex: how a bitter taste can wake up your digestion
Think of your favourite dish. Can you already smell it? Maybe your mouth is watering right now. That is exactly the beginning of digestion. And it takes place in your head.
Physiology calls this the cephalic phase. Cephalic means: coming from the head. Sight, smell and taste tell your brain that food is on its way. Via the vagus nerve, the great rest and digest nerve, saliva, gastric juice and hormonal responses can then get going. And all of this before the first calorie reaches your bloodstream.
The bitter taste is a special signal here. In technical terms, bitter receptors are called TAS2R. In evolutionary terms, they are a kind of early warning system: careful, a plant with potent compounds could be coming. One theory in herbal medicine holds that the body responds to this with a more alert digestion.
Tongue: bitter receptors respond
Bitter compounds bind to TAS2R receptors in the taste buds. The signal travels via cranial nerves to the brainstem.
Brainstem and vagus nerve: the cephalic phase
Via vagal nerve fibres, saliva, the stomach and hormone-producing cells can be prepared. The nervous system switches to digestion.
Stomach: bitter receptors in the lining
There are bitter receptors in the stomach, too. In humans, bitter compounds can influence the hunger hormone motilin and stomach movement here.
Small intestine: hormone-producing cells
Enteroendocrine cells carry TAS2R. In cell and animal studies, they release GLP-1 and CCK. CCK is the hormone that prompts the gallbladder to empty.
Liver and bile: more flow
Some bitter plants such as artichoke can additionally stimulate bile production in the liver. More bile can support fat digestion.
An honest assessment matters here. That the head prepares digestion is considered physiologically well founded. How strongly bitter compounds in particular amplify this reflex in humans has been studied far less than advertising copy would suggest.
In 2023, Wolfgang Langhans and colleagues summarised in a large review how head-related stimuli during eating can trigger hormonal responses. The signals travel via the vagus nerve and the messenger substance acetylcholine. At the same time, the authors stress how difficult it is to measure this cephalic share cleanly in humans. For you, this means: the principle is well founded, the exact size of the effect is still open.
Langhans W, Watts AG, Spector AC. Physiol Rev. 2023;103(2):1423-1485. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00025.2022 [Mechanism review]One research group looked at exactly the question that occupies many practitioners: do you have to taste something bitter for it to trigger anything?
In 2015, Michael McMullen and colleagues compared two theories. Do bitter compounds work via a reflex from the head, or purely locally in the gut? In their measurements, tasted gentian and wormwood triggered a measurable circulatory reflex after about five minutes, depending on the dose. Encapsulated, meaning without taste, no such response appeared in the gastric phase. For you, this means: the route via the tongue seems to play a role of its own.
McMullen MK, Whitehouse JM, Towell A. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:670504. DOI: 10.1155/2015/670504 [Review]And this is where the KPNI lens comes in. The vagus nerve only does its work when your nervous system is set to rest. Under stress, the sympathetic nervous system takes over. It directs blood and attention away from digestion, towards the muscles and alertness. So if you eat standing up, on your phone and in a hurry, you are sending your belly a contradictory signal.
Bitter is a wake-up call, not a cleaning agent. But a wake-up call only works if someone is there to hear it. A bitter bite eaten in calm can do more than a bitter capsule taken under stress.
Bitter receptors in the gut: why your belly tastes along
Sounds strange, doesn't it? Taste in the gut. You don't taste your food with your belly. And yet research in recent years has found exactly that: the receptors your tongue uses to detect bitterness also sit in the lining of your gut.
In 2024, Catia Sternini and Enrique Rozengurt of the University of California in Los Angeles summarised the state of knowledge. Bitter receptors are found in the hormone-producing cells of the gut, but also in Paneth and goblet cells and in so-called tuft cells. These can trigger an immune response against parasites. A high-fat diet appears to upregulate the receptors. For you, this means: your gut constantly checks what arrives and reports it to your hormonal system, immune system and brain.
Sternini C, Rozengurt E. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025;22(1):39-53. DOI: 10.1038/s41575-024-01005-z [Mechanism review]This means a bitter bite touches several KPNI lenses at once. The nervous system via the vagus. The hormonal system via gut hormones. The immune system via the tuft cells. And metabolism via bile, fat digestion and blood sugar.
One hormone in particular is getting a lot of attention right now: GLP-1. You may know the name from weight-loss injections. The obvious question is whether bitter compounds can stimulate your own GLP-1. The answer depends heavily on where the research was done.
In 2014, Ki-Suk Kim, Josephine Egan and Hyeung-Jin Jang showed in human hormone-producing gut cells in the culture dish that the bitter compound denatonium released GLP-1 and PYY via bitter receptors. In diabetic mice, blood sugar after a glucose load then fell. That is a clear mechanism, but in cells and animals. It has not yet been shown this way in humans.
Kim KS, Egan JM, Jang HJ. Diabetologia. 2014;57(10):2117-2125. DOI: 10.1007/s00125-014-3326-5 [In vitro, human cells; In vivo, mouse]In 2020, Carme Grau-Bové and a team from Tarragona tested targeted stimuli for individual bitter receptors in rats. Compounds that address the receptor TAS2R5 released GLP-1 and CCK and reduced food intake. Other receptors responded quite differently. For you, this means: bitter is not just bitter, and animal data cannot simply be transferred to you.
Grau-Bové C, Miguéns-Gómez A, González-Quilen C et al. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3784. DOI: 10.3390/nu12123784 [In vivo, rat]And in humans? Here, one research group at KU Leuven in Belgium in particular has measured very carefully. The results are exciting, but different from what the hype would lead you to expect.
Eveline Deloose and colleagues gave healthy volunteers the bitter compound denatonium through a tube directly into the stomach. Women were more sensitive to bitterness on the tongue than men. In women, hunger and the hunger hormone motilin then fell, and satiety rose after a meal. In men, this effect did not appear. Calorie intake fell only as a trend, from 796 to 720 kilocalories, without statistical certainty.
Deloose E, Janssen P, Corsetti M et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;105(3):580-588. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.116.138297 [RCT, crossover sub-studies, n=10 to 20 women]Julie Iven and colleagues gave 15 healthy women quinine into the stomach and watched with a brain scanner. Ghrelin and motilin fell, and the women afterwards ate less purely for pleasure. In the brain, activity changed in hunger and reward centres. For you, this means: the signal from your belly can reach all the way into your reward system.
Iven J, Biesiekierski JR, Zhao D et al. Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(12):850-862. DOI: 10.1080/1028415X.2018.1457841 [RCT, crossover, n=15]In 2021, Wout Verbeure and colleagues compared in 14 women whether the site of delivery matters. Given into the duodenum, bitter compounds changed neither hunger nor motilin. In the stomach, quinine tended to lower hunger. And then the decisive sentence: GLP-1 and CCK levels in the blood were too low to be measured meaningfully. For you, this means: the GLP-1 story has not been demonstrated in humans so far.
Verbeure W, Deloose E, Tóth J et al. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2021;321(1):E1-E10. DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00636.2020 [RCT, crossover, n=14]Why is motilin of all things so interesting? The Leuven group around Jan Tack describes motilin as an important pacemaker for when hunger returns after a meal. Bitter compounds are among the stimuli that can act on this pathway.
In 2021, Jan Tack and colleagues summarised how the stomach and gut regulate hunger and satiety. Alongside the stretching of the stomach, hormones such as motilin, ghrelin, GLP-1 and CCK play a role. They explicitly name bitter compounds as a food stimulus that can act on these pathways. For you, this means: your hunger is not just in your head, it is also a conversation between belly and brain.
Tack J, Verbeure W, Mori H et al. United European Gastroenterol J. 2021;9(6):727-734. DOI: 10.1002/ueg2.12097 [Review]Bitter compounds are not a natural weight-loss injection. The idea sounds tempting, but the human data on GLP-1 do not support it. What shows up in humans is quieter: less hunger and a dampened motilin, especially in women and when the bitter compound reaches the stomach.
That is no reason to be disappointed. A finely regulated sense of hunger is more valuable than an artificially suppressed one.
Artichoke: the best-studied bitter plant for bile and digestion
Imagine you regularly feel pressure in your upper abdomen after fatty food. The gastroscopy shows nothing unusual. The diagnosis is functional dyspepsia, an irritable stomach. Many people know this situation and feel somewhat left alone with it.
This is exactly where artichoke is the best-studied bitter plant. Its leaves contain bitter compounds and caffeic acid derivatives such as cynarin. And it is one of the few plants for which bile flow has been measured directly in humans.
In 1994, Kirchhoff and colleagues gave 20 people an artichoke extract directly into the duodenum in a small pilot study and measured bile flow there. After 60 minutes it was 151.5 percent above the baseline value. To be honest about it: bile flow also rose sharply under placebo after 30 minutes. The extract's lead only appeared later and lasted longer. The route is interesting: the delivery bypassed the tongue. So artichoke might also work without taste.
Kirchhoff R, Beckers C, Kirchhoff GM et al. Phytomedicine. 1994;1(2):107-115. DOI: 10.1016/S0944-7113(11)80027-9 [RCT, crossover, pilot study, n=20]Holtmann and a team from the University of Essen treated 247 people with functional dyspepsia for six weeks with artichoke leaf extract or placebo. 244 were analysed. Symptoms improved more under the extract, with a sum score of 8.3 versus 6.7. Quality of life also improved more clearly. For you, this means: for functional upper abdominal complaints, there is a real controlled study on artichoke.
Holtmann G, Adam B, Haag S et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2003;18(11-12):1099-1105. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2036.2003.01767.x [RCT, n=247]In 2015, Attilio Giacosa and colleagues gave 126 people with functional dyspepsia a combination of ginger and artichoke or placebo for four weeks. After just 14 days, symptoms improved only in the active treatment group. Nausea, fullness, upper abdominal pain and bloating decreased more. A limitation: because of the combination, the contribution of artichoke cannot be separated out, and some of the authors worked for the manufacturer.
Giacosa A, Guido D, Grassi M et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:915087. DOI: 10.1155/2015/915087 [RCT, n=126]with 4,477 participants on 27 herbal remedies were analysed in the Cochrane review on functional dyspepsia.
is how Cochrane rates the certainty of the evidence for artichoke, because it rests on a single study.
In 2023, Germán Báez and colleagues reviewed all studies on non-Chinese herbal remedies for functional dyspepsia for the Cochrane Collaboration. Artichoke might improve symptoms compared with placebo, but the evidence is of low certainty. The data were strongest for peppermint and caraway oil. For you, this means: artichoke is a reasonable option with an honest question mark, not a miracle remedy.
Báez G, Vargas C, Arancibia M et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023;6(6):CD013323. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013323.pub2 [Systematic review, k=41, n=4477]Artichoke shows how the bitter compound story can be told responsibly. Not: it detoxifies your liver. But: it can stimulate bile flow and may ease functional upper abdominal complaints, with a moderate study situation. That is less spectacular. But it is accurate.
Dandelion, gentian and co.: where the study situation gets thin
Dandelion is probably the best-known bitter plant in Central Europe. It grows outside almost every front door. In folk medicine, it is regarded as a plant for the liver, bile and water balance. Its French name pissenlit alludes to this quite directly.
All the more surprising is how little human research there is. In our research, we did not find any controlled study in humans that examined dandelion and bile flow or liver values. The best-known human study concerns something else.
In 2009, Bevin Clare and colleagues gave 17 volunteers an extract of fresh dandelion leaves over one day. After the first dose, the frequency of urination rose, after the second, the ratio of urine output to fluid intake. The third dose changed nothing further. The authors themselves speak of initial human data that need further studies.
Clare BA, Conroy RS, Spelman K. J Altern Complement Med. 2009;15(8):929-934. DOI: 10.1089/acm.2008.0152 [Case series, pilot study without control group, n=17]It is similar with gentian. Its root is among the most bitter substances we know. It is a fixed ingredient of many traditional digestive bitters. McMullen's measurements show that tasted gentian can trigger reflexes. Large clinical studies on digestive complaints, however, are lacking.
So that you can place the plants correctly, here is the data situation at a glance.
Supported by RCTs
- Artichoke leaf extract for functional dyspepsia, moderate to low certainty
- Bitter compounds in the stomach can lower hunger and motilin in women
Plausible, human data thin
- Cephalic phase: taste can wake up digestion via the vagus
- Gut bitter receptors release GLP-1 and CCK, shown in cells and animals
- Artichoke may increase bile flow, one small pilot study
Mainly tradition
- Dandelion for the liver and bile
- Gentian and wormwood for a feeling of fullness
- Bitter as detox or cleansing
A lack of studies does not mean a plant is useless. It only means we don't know. Dandelion leaves in a salad are a wonderful bitter vegetable. By today's standards, they are not a liver remedy with proven effects.
When you should be careful with bitter compounds
Plant-based does not automatically mean harmless. Precisely because bitter compounds can stimulate bile flow, there are situations in which exactly that is unfavourable.
- Gallstones or blocked bile ducts: If the outflow is blocked, more bile can promote pressure and colic.
- Allergy to the daisy family (Asteraceae): Like chamomile and arnica, artichoke and dandelion belong to this plant family.
- Heartburn, gastritis or a stomach ulcer: Bitter compounds are traditionally considered to stimulate the production of gastric juice.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: There are insufficient safety data for concentrated extracts.
- Regular medication: Especially with diuretics or blood thinners, it is worth consulting a doctor.
- New, persistent symptoms: Weight loss, yellowing of the skin, difficulty swallowing or blood in the stool always need to be examined by a doctor.
The Danish dermatologist Evy Paulsen describes how people with an allergy to the daisy family are often warned against vegetables, teas and herbal remedies from this family. For systemic reactions after eating, the evidence is mostly anecdotal. Artichoke and dandelion, however, are among the suspected plants. In a second review, she cites a frequency of about one percent positive test reactions in Europe among people undergoing allergy testing.
Paulsen E. Contact Dermatitis. 2017;76(1):1-10. DOI: 10.1111/cod.12671 [Review] · Paulsen E. Contact Dermatitis. 2023;89(6):434-441. DOI: 10.1111/cod.14419 [Review]Feeling light after a meal is not a luxury. If you struggle with pressure in your belly after every meal, you lose energy, the joy of eating and sometimes a piece of your zest for life. That is exactly why it is worth taking digestion seriously.
Shukri Jarmoukli, ViveCura BerlinWhat this means for your everyday life
You don't need a cleanse or an expensive product to benefit from bitter compounds. The most important levers are on your plate and in the way you eat. I am deliberately not giving you dosages, but directions. Which extracts in which amounts are right for you belongs in a personal consultation.
Start your meal with something bitter and taste it consciously
A small plate of radicchio, chicory or rocket before the main course picks up the old culinary tradition. Chew slowly and let the taste work on your tongue. According to the data on the cephalic phase, tasting in particular seems to send a signal of its own.
Bring bitterness back to your plate
Many vegetables have been bred to be milder over decades. Deliberately reach for the more bitter varieties: endive, young dandelion leaves, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, kale. Herbs such as mugwort, yarrow or sage add further bitter notes. A side effect: these plants also provide fibre, which your gut bacteria live on.
Eat in rest mode
The vagus nerve needs calm to steer digestion. Sit down, put your phone away, breathe out slowly a few times before the first bite. This way, your nervous system can switch from alarm to digestion. You can find more ideas for a less burdened everyday life in the article Gentle everyday detoxification.
Bitter compounds do not detoxify your liver. They talk to it, via the tongue, the vagus nerve, gut hormones and bile. Bitter is the language a plant uses to tell your digestive system: here we go. Whether your body listens is something you help decide, through what you eat and through the calm in which you eat it.
If you want to do more than read and would like to have your digestion looked at thoroughly, you will find the option to book an appointment below this article. Often the answer does not lie in a single remedy, but in the interplay between the liver, gut and nervous system.
Read more in the Detox Guide
Liver detox: what counts and what is marketing
The overview: how your liver works and which promises you can safely ignore.
Phase 1 and phase 2 of liver detoxification, simply explained
How your liver converts substances before they leave the body via bile and kidneys.
Gut and elimination
Why bile only fulfils its task in the gut, and what decides about excretion there.
Gentle everyday detoxification
A realistic concept for every day, instead of the next cleanse.
Detox cure: what juice cleanses and detox teas actually do
A critical look at the slag promise and the longing behind it.
Glutathione and detoxification
Why the most important protective molecule in your cells is a system that you look after.
Digestive enzymes: when they make sense
The neighbouring question to bitter compounds: when enzymes are supported by evidence and when they are not.
Frequently asked questions
What are bitter compounds, actually?
Do bitter compounds detoxify the liver?
How can bitter compounds stimulate digestion?
Should I taste bitter compounds or take them as a capsule?
What is the cephalic phase of digestion?
Can artichoke extract help with a feeling of fullness?
What is known about dandelion?
Who should be careful with bitter compounds?
Are bitter compounds a natural weight-loss injection because they release GLP-1?
Is there such a thing as slag in the body?
Which bitter foods are suitable for everyday life?
Sources
All studies were researched via Consensus and PubMed and checked against the PubMed metadata (title, authors, year, journal, DOI). Key DOIs were additionally resolved via doi.org. The study type is given in square brackets.
- Sternini C, Rozengurt E. Bitter taste receptors as sensors of gut luminal contents. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025;22(1):39-53. DOI: 10.1038/s41575-024-01005-z [Mechanism review]
- Langhans W, Watts AG, Spector AC. The elusive cephalic phase insulin response: triggers, mechanisms, and functions. Physiol Rev. 2023;103(2):1423-1485. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00025.2022 [Mechanism review]
- McMullen MK, Whitehouse JM, Towell A. Bitters: Time for a New Paradigm. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:670504. DOI: 10.1155/2015/670504 [Review]
- Kim KS, Egan JM, Jang HJ. Denatonium induces secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 through activation of bitter taste receptor pathways. Diabetologia. 2014;57(10):2117-2125. DOI: 10.1007/s00125-014-3326-5 [In vitro, human cells; In vivo, mouse]
- Grau-Bové C, Miguéns-Gómez A, González-Quilen C et al. Modulation of Food Intake by Differential TAS2R Stimulation in Rat. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3784. DOI: 10.3390/nu12123784 [In vivo, rat]
- Deloose E, Janssen P, Corsetti M et al. Intragastric infusion of denatonium benzoate attenuates interdigestive gastric motility and hunger scores in healthy female volunteers. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;105(3):580-588. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.116.138297 [RCT, crossover sub-studies, n=10 to 20 women]
- Iven J, Biesiekierski JR, Zhao D et al. Intragastric quinine administration decreases hedonic eating in healthy women through peptide-mediated gut-brain signaling mechanisms. Nutr Neurosci. 2019;22(12):850-862. DOI: 10.1080/1028415X.2018.1457841 [RCT, crossover, n=15]
- Verbeure W, Deloose E, Tóth J et al. The endocrine effects of bitter tastant administration in the gastrointestinal system: intragastric versus intraduodenal administration. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2021;321(1):E1-E10. DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00636.2020 [RCT, crossover, n=14]
- Tack J, Verbeure W, Mori H et al. The gastrointestinal tract in hunger and satiety signalling. United European Gastroenterol J. 2021;9(6):727-734. DOI: 10.1002/ueg2.12097 [Review]
- Kirchhoff R, Beckers C, Kirchhoff GM et al. Increase in choleresis by means of artichoke extract. Phytomedicine. 1994;1(2):107-115. DOI: 10.1016/S0944-7113(11)80027-9 [RCT, crossover, pilot study, n=20]
- Holtmann G, Adam B, Haag S et al. Efficacy of artichoke leaf extract in the treatment of patients with functional dyspepsia: a six-week placebo-controlled, double-blind, multicentre trial. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2003;18(11-12):1099-1105. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2036.2003.01767.x [RCT, n=247]
- Giacosa A, Guido D, Grassi M et al. The Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) and Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus) Extract Supplementation on Functional Dyspepsia: A Randomised, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:915087. DOI: 10.1155/2015/915087 [RCT, n=126]
- Báez G, Vargas C, Arancibia M et al. Non-Chinese herbal medicines for functional dyspepsia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023;6(6):CD013323. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013323.pub2 [Systematic review, k=41, n=4477]
- Clare BA, Conroy RS, Spelman K. The diuretic effect in human subjects of an extract of Taraxacum officinale folium over a single day. J Altern Complement Med. 2009;15(8):929-934. DOI: 10.1089/acm.2008.0152 [Case series, pilot study without control group, n=17]
- Paulsen E. Systemic allergic dermatitis caused by sesquiterpene lactones. Contact Dermatitis. 2017;76(1):1-10. DOI: 10.1111/cod.12671 [Review]
- Paulsen E. The sesquiterpene lactone mix: A review of past, present and future aspects. Contact Dermatitis. 2023;89(6):434-441. DOI: 10.1111/cod.14419 [Review]
Transparency note: Some of the connections described here, particularly the release of GLP-1 and CCK by bitter compounds, are based on cell culture and animal studies. This is biologically plausible, but has not yet been demonstrated in humans with the same certainty as through large randomised studies. This article is for information purposes and does not replace medical advice. It describes connections from research and clinical experience, not individual treatment instructions. If you would like to take herbal extracts, take medication or have pre-existing conditions of the gallbladder, liver or stomach, please discuss this with a doctor in person.