Home Ingredients Dill Seed and Leaf
Metabolic Health

Dill Seed and Leaf

Anethum graveolens
Evidence Level
Limited
3 Clinical Trials
4 Documented Benefits
2/5 Evidence Score

Dill seed, the dried fruit of the Mediterranean herb Anethum graveolens, has been used as a culinary spice and gentle digestive remedy for centuries. The volatile oil is rich in carvone and limonene, while the seed also provides flavonoids, coumarins, and small amounts of minerals. The carminative use for bloating and gas is traditional, not tested: the one controlled trial of dill alone that recorded digestive symptoms found reflux, dyspepsia, esophageal motility and gastric motility all unchanged. The human trials that do exist are small Iranian studies in people already diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes, and where they state a plant part they used dried leaf or aerial parts, not seed. The results are mixed. A meta-analysis of 7 trials (330 people) found LDL-cholesterol 15.64 mg/dL lower but no change in total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL or fasting glucose, while the largest placebo-controlled trial (50 people on dill inside a 150-person, 6-week study) found no lipid effect at all.

Studied Dose 3 g/day dried dill leaf powder for 8 weeks (type 2 diabetes trial); 600 mg/day aerial-part extract for 12 weeks (metabolic syndrome trial); 650 mg twice daily for 6 weeks in a hyperlipidemia trial that found no lipid effect; six tablets a day of unstated strength in a second hyperlipidemia trial.
Active Compound Essential oil (seed oil is dominated by carvone; leaf oil carries proportionally more alpha-phellandrene and limonene), flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol), coumarins, and dietary fiber. None of the trials on this page reports a standardized marker content for the preparation used.

Benefits

Traditional Digestive Support

Dill's use as a carminative for bloating, fullness and gas is traditional and culinary. It has been tested once in a controlled trial of dill on its own: in 42 adults with type 2 diabetes taking 3 g/day of dill leaf powder for 8 weeks, reflux, dyspepsia, esophageal motility and gastric motility were all unchanged, and only self-reported colonic motility complaints fell, measured against each person's own baseline rather than against the control group. The dill-containing products tested for dyspepsia and irritable bowel also contained Zataria multiflora and Trachyspermum ammi, so nothing they achieved can be credited to dill.

Supported by Trial 1, Trial 2

LDL-Cholesterol: Mixed Results in Small Trials

Every dill lipid trial was run in people with diagnosed hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes, not in people whose levels were already in the normal range, so nothing here has been tested in a healthy reader. A meta-analysis of 7 trials (330 people) found LDL-cholesterol 15.64 mg/dL lower with dill (95% CI 6.73 to 24.55 mg/dL lower, p = 0.001) but no change in total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL or fasting glucose. In the trial with the largest dill group, 50 people took 650 mg twice daily against placebo for 6 weeks and the authors concluded dill had no significant effect on the lipid profile.

Supported by Trial 3, Trial 2

Insulin Markers Improved, Fasting Glucose Largely Unchanged

Fasting blood glucose has generally not moved. It was unchanged in the pooled analysis of 7 trials, unchanged against placebo in the metabolic syndrome trial (p = 0.6), and unchanged against control in the type 2 diabetes trial (p = 0.17). The one positive signal is a dose-response calculation inside the meta-analysis suggesting a reduction at 1500 mg/day, which is a model of pooled data rather than a trial result. What did move was fasting insulin, 2.28 microIU/mL lower in the pooled analysis (95% CI 0.93 to 3.62 lower, p = 0.001), with HOMA-IR 1.06 lower. All of this was measured in people already diagnosed and mostly taking medication, over 8 to 12 weeks.

Supported by Trial 3

Provides Aromatic Antioxidant Phytochemicals

The volatile oil and flavonoid fraction contribute carvone, limonene and quercetin-class polyphenols. These behave as antioxidants in laboratory assays. In people the evidence is one small trial: in 42 adults with type 2 diabetes, 8 weeks of 3 g/day dill leaf powder lowered malondialdehyde, a marker of fat oxidation, more than the control group (p = 0.021) and left the dill group with higher total antioxidant capacity at the end of the study (p = 0.001). What a culinary amount of dill does to antioxidant status has not been tested.

Supported by Trial 3, Trial 2

Mechanism of action

1

Smooth-Muscle Relaxation in Gut

Carvone and limonene from dill essential oil have antispasmodic effects on intestinal smooth muscle in preclinical models, consistent with the herb's traditional carminative use for cramping and gas.

2

Modulation of Lipid Metabolism

Animal data suggest dill extract may inhibit HMG-CoA reductase activity and upregulate LDL-receptor expression. This is an animal finding, and it has not carried through consistently in people: the trial with the largest dill group found no significant change in any lipid, and the pooled human data show a change in LDL but not in total cholesterol, triglycerides or HDL.

3

Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Handling

Preclinical work indicates dill phytochemicals act on insulin signaling and oxidative stress in pancreatic and hepatic tissue. In people, fasting glucose has not changed in any trial on this page, so this mechanism has not translated into a measurable glucose effect.

Clinical trials

1
Dill Tablets in Hyperlipidemia: Quasi-Randomized, No Placebo Arm
PubMed

Single-blind study with no placebo arm. Allocation was by order of entry (first patient to group one, second to group two, and so on), which is alternation rather than true randomization. Dill tablets, six daily; the authors report neither the tablet strength nor which part of the plant was used. Active comparator gemfibrozil 900 mg/day, 2 months. LDL was not measured, because triglycerides above 400 mg/dL made the standard calculation unreliable

91 adults with hyperlipidemia enrolled in Iran; 77 completed (35 on dill, 42 on the comparator)

Dill lowered total cholesterol by 18% and triglycerides by 7.38%. The comparator lowered total cholesterol by 9.41% and triglycerides by 32.7% and raised HDL by 3.91%, while HDL did not rise on dill. Because there was no placebo group, none of these figures can be separated from diet change or regression to the mean, and low-fat diet adherence was unequal between the groups (21% on dill, 34% on the comparator). No side effects were reported in the dill group, while 21.4% of the comparator group reported gastrointestinal complaints. A study with no placebo arm cannot show that a supplement substitutes for a prescription medicine, and dill should not be used in place of one.

2
12-Week Dill Extract in Metabolic Syndrome: No Benefit Over Placebo
PubMed

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. One 600 mg capsule daily of a hydroalcoholic extract of dried dill aerial parts (leaves and stems), not seed, versus placebo for 12 weeks

24 adults meeting ATP III metabolic syndrome criteria were randomized; 20 completed, 10 per group

Triglycerides fell within the dill group from baseline (257.0 to 201.5 mg/dL, p = 0.01), but the placebo group's triglycerides fell by almost exactly the same amount (55.7 mg/dL, versus 55.44 mg/dL on dill), which is why the comparison between the groups came out flat. Every metabolic comparison against placebo was null: triglycerides p = 0.9, total cholesterol p = 0.3, LDL p = 0.1, HDL p = 0.3, fasting blood sugar p = 0.6, waist circumference p = 0.7, systolic blood pressure p = 0.7, diastolic blood pressure p = 0.8. The only measure that differed between the groups was platelet count (p = 0.004), reported by the authors under safety and tracking a baseline imbalance. With 10 people per group, only a very large effect could have been detected, and the authors said larger studies would be needed to show efficacy or long-term safety.

3
Meta-Analysis of 7 Small Trials: an Evidence Summary, Not a Trial
PubMed

Systematic review and meta-analysis pooling 7 randomized controlled trials of Anethum graveolens supplementation. This card summarizes trials listed elsewhere on this page; it did not study any new participants

330 participants pooled from 7 separate trials, mostly adults already diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes

LDL-cholesterol was 15.64 mg/dL lower with dill (95% CI 6.73 to 24.55 mg/dL lower, p = 0.001), fasting insulin was 2.28 microIU/mL lower (95% CI 0.93 to 3.62 lower, p = 0.001) and HOMA-IR was 1.06 lower (95% CI 0.20 to 1.91 lower, p = 0.01). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and fasting blood glucose all showed no significant change in the main analysis, though a dose-response model within the same paper suggested a fasting-glucose reduction at 1500 mg/day. Seven trials totaling 330 people is a small base, and a separate 2022 systematic review of overlapping trials found the opposite pattern: reductions in total cholesterol and triglycerides, and also a reduction in HDL-cholesterol, which is the unwanted direction for HDL. Pooled estimates that disagree this sharply are unstable.

Side effects and drug interactions

Common Potential side effects

Generally well tolerated at culinary and supplemental doses in healthy adults.
Mild GI upset, heartburn, or nausea are occasionally reported.
Allergy to dill is documented in case reports, most often as contact urticaria or occupational contact dermatitis from handling fresh dill rather than from eating it. In one allergy workup, IgE cross-reactivity was demonstrated between dill and aniseed, caraway, coriander and fennel, so people who react to those spices should be cautious with dill.
Keep concentrated dill preparations out of pregnancy unless a clinician is supervising. This is not simply a gap in the data: a systematic review of two randomized trials and two cohort studies found that oral dill seed given in labor shortened the first stage by about 44 minutes, the second by about 16 minutes and the third by about 2 minutes. That evidence comes from supervised obstetric use at term and is not a reason to take dill earlier in pregnancy. Ordinary culinary amounts in food are a separate matter and are not a concern.

Important Drug interactions

May have additive effects with prescription lipid-lowering or glucose-lowering medications.
Theoretical additive risk with diuretics due to mild diuretic activity reported preclinically.
Discuss high-dose extracts with a clinician if you take chronic prescription therapy.

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Frequently asked questions about Dill Seed and Leaf

What is dill seed used for?

Dill seed is a culinary spice with a long traditional use for gas, colic and for milk supply in breastfeeding. None of those traditional uses has been confirmed in a controlled trial of dill on its own. The measured human research on dill is about blood lipids and insulin, and it was done with dill leaf or whole aerial parts rather than with seed.

Does dill help with digestion or colic?

That use is traditional and has not been confirmed. Gripe waters contain several herbs at once, so nothing they do can be credited to dill. The two controlled trials in functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel used a combined oil of dill, Zataria multiflora and Trachyspermum ammi, so they cannot separate dill out either. The one controlled trial of dill on its own that recorded digestive symptoms found reflux, dyspepsia, esophageal motility and gastric motility all unchanged after 8 weeks.

How much dill should I take?

The trials used 3 g/day of dried dill leaf powder for 8 weeks, 600 mg/day of an aerial-part extract for 12 weeks, and 650 mg twice daily for 6 weeks. All of those were in people already diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes. No dose has been tested in otherwise healthy adults for lipids or blood sugar, and no supplemental dose of dill seed specifically has been established for any of these outcomes.

Is dill safe?

As a food and culinary herb, dill is generally very safe, and the US Food and Drug Administration treats it as generally recognized as safe. No side effects were reported in the dill group of the hyperlipidemia trial. Concentrated dill oil should be used cautiously. Skip concentrated dill preparations in pregnancy unless a clinician is supervising, because oral dill seed given in labor shortens the stages of labor. People allergic to other Apiaceae spices such as aniseed, caraway, coriander or fennel may react to dill.

What is Dill Seed and Leaf?

Dill seed, the dried fruit of the Mediterranean herb Anethum graveolens, has been used as a culinary spice and gentle digestive remedy for centuries. The volatile oil is rich in carvone and limonene, while the seed also provides flavonoids, coumarins, and small amounts of minerals.

What is Dill Seed and Leaf used for?

Dill Seed and Leaf is researched primarily for Metabolic Health. Dill's use as a carminative for bloating, fullness and gas is traditional and culinary. It has been tested once in a controlled trial of dill on its own: in 42 adults with type 2 diabetes taking 3 g/day of dill leaf powder for 8 weeks, refl…

What is the recommended dosage of Dill Seed and Leaf?

The clinically studied dose is 3 g/day dried dill leaf powder for 8 weeks (type 2 diabetes trial); 600 mg/day aerial-part extract for 12 weeks (metabolic syndrome trial); 650 mg twice daily for 6 weeks in a hyperlipidemia trial that found no lipid effect; six tablets a day of unstated stren… Always follow the product label and check with a healthcare provider for personal advice.

Is Dill Seed and Leaf safe, and does it have side effects?

For most healthy adults, Dill Seed and Leaf is well tolerated at studied doses. Reported effects can include: Generally well tolerated at culinary and supplemental doses in healthy adults. Mild GI upset, heartburn, or nausea are occasionally reported. It may also interact with some medications. Dill Seed and Leaf is not right for everyone, so check with a healthcare provider first if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a medical condition, or take prescription medication.

Does Dill Seed and Leaf interact with any medications?

Possible interactions include: May have additive effects with prescription lipid-lowering or glucose-lowering medications. Theoretical additive risk with diuretics due to mild diuretic activity reported preclinically. If you take prescription medication, check with a pharmacist or doctor before using it.

How strong is the scientific evidence for Dill Seed and Leaf?

NutraSmarts rates the evidence for Dill Seed and Leaf as Limited (2 out of 5). It is backed by 3 clinical trials and 7 cited references summarized on this page. A higher rating reflects more, larger, and better-designed human studies.

References(7 citations)

Evidence ratings on NutraSmarts are based on the totality of human clinical research, with emphasis on randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews. The references below directly support claims made throughout this page.

  1. Mirhosseini M, Baradaran A, Rafieian-Kopaei M. Anethum graveolens and hyperlipidemia: a randomized clinical trial. J Res Med Sci. 2014;19(8):758-61.PubMedUsed to support: Single-blind study in 91 adults with hyperlipidemia in Iran, 77 of whom completed (35 on dill, 42 on gemfibrozil), with no placebo arm and with patients assigned by order of entry rather than by true randomization. Over 2 months, dill tablets lowered total cholesterol by 18% and triglycerides by 7.38% with no rise in HDL, while the gemfibrozil arm lowered total cholesterol by 9.41% and triglycerides by 32.7% and raised HDL by 3.91%; the between-group comparison for total cholesterol favored dill. LDL was not measured, because triglycerides above 400 mg/dL made the standard calculation unreliable. Low-fat diet adherence differed between the groups (21% versus 34%), no side effects were reported in the dill group, and 21.4% of the gemfibrozil group reported gastrointestinal complaints.
  2. Mansouri M, Nayebi N, Keshtkar A, et al. The effect of 12 weeks Anethum graveolens (dill) on metabolic markers in patients with metabolic syndrome; a randomized double blind controlled trial. Daru. 2012;20(1):47. doi: 10.1186/2008-2231-20-47.PubMedUsed to support: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 600 mg/day of a hydroalcoholic extract of dried dill aerial parts (leaves and stems) for 12 weeks in adults with metabolic syndrome; 24 were randomized and 20 completed, 10 per group. Triglycerides fell within the dill group (257.0 to 201.5 mg/dL, p = 0.01), but the placebo group's triglycerides fell by essentially the same amount (55.7 mg/dL, versus 55.44 mg/dL on dill), and every metabolic comparison against placebo was null: triglycerides p = 0.9, total cholesterol p = 0.3, LDL p = 0.1, HDL p = 0.3, fasting blood sugar p = 0.6, waist circumference p = 0.7, systolic blood pressure p = 0.7, diastolic blood pressure p = 0.8. Platelet count was the one measure that differed between the groups (p = 0.004), reported by the authors under safety alongside a baseline imbalance. The authors concluded that larger studies would be needed to show efficacy or long-term safety.
  3. Mousavi SM, Pizarro AB, Akhgarjand C, et al. The effects of Anethum graveolens (dill) supplementation on lipid profile and glycemic control: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022;62(21):5705-5716. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1889459.PubMedUsed to support: Meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials in 330 people, mostly adults already diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes. LDL-cholesterol was 15.64 mg/dL lower with dill (95% CI 6.73 to 24.55 mg/dL lower, p = 0.001), fasting insulin 2.28 microIU/mL lower (95% CI 0.93 to 3.62 lower, p = 0.001) and HOMA-IR 1.06 lower (95% CI 0.20 to 1.91 lower, p = 0.01). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and fasting blood glucose showed no significant change in the main analysis, although a dose-response model within the same paper indicated a fasting-glucose reduction at 1500 mg/day and a subgroup analysis suggested larger lipid effects at higher doses and longer durations.
  4. Kojuri J, Vosoughi AR, Akrami M. Effects of anethum graveolens and garlic on lipid profile in hyperlipidemic patients. Lipids Health Dis. 2007;6:5. doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-6-5.PubMedUsed to support: Single-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 150 adults with hyperlipidemia in Shiraz, randomized to three arms of 50 (garlic, dill, placebo) on an NCEP diet. Dill 650 mg twice daily for 6 weeks did not change total cholesterol (down 1.12 mg/dL, 0.4%, p = 0.828), LDL-cholesterol (down 9.34 mg/dL, 6.3%, p = 0.210) or HDL-cholesterol (down 1.4 mg/dL, 3.1%, p = 0.334), and triglycerides rose 14.74 mg/dL (6.0%, p = 0.163); these are within-group paired comparisons. The authors concluded that dill has no significant effect on the lipid profile. Its 50-person dill group is the largest in any published dill lipid trial.
  5. Haidari F, Zakerkish M, Borazjani F, Ahmadi Angali K, Amoochi Foroushani G. The effects of Anethum graveolens (dill) powder supplementation on clinical and metabolic status in patients with type 2 diabetes. Trials. 2020;21(1):483. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04401-3.PubMedUsed to support: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in adults with type 2 diabetes: 48 were randomized and 42 completed, 21 per group. Three grams a day of dried dill leaf powder for 8 weeks lowered LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.017), fasting insulin (p = 0.015) and malondialdehyde (p = 0.021) and raised HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.004) compared with the control group, while fasting blood glucose (p = 0.17), HOMA-IR (p = 0.101) and triglycerides (p = 0.376) did not change. Total cholesterol was not significantly different between groups in the unadjusted analysis (p = 0.064) and reached significance only after adjustment for age, disease duration, BMI change, diet and activity (p = 0.033); the insulin result ran the other way, losing significance after that adjustment (p = 0.05). Of five groups of digestive symptoms recorded, reflux, dyspepsia, esophageal motility and gastric motility were unchanged and only colonic motility complaints fell, measured against the participants' own baseline rather than against the control group.
  6. Talebi F, Malchi F, Abedi P, Jahanfar S. Effect of dill (Anethum Graveolens Linn) seed on the duration of labor: A systematic review. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2020;41:101251. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2020.101251.PubMedUsed to support: Systematic review of two randomized trials and two retrospective cohort studies in low-risk pregnancies. Oral dill seed given in labor shortened the first stage by about 44 minutes (95% CI 34 to 53 minutes), the second stage by about 16 minutes and the third stage by about 2 minutes. This is the only setting in which oral dill SEED specifically, rather than dill leaf or aerial parts, has been tested in randomized trials, and it is the reason the page advises against concentrated dill preparations in pregnancy outside obstetric supervision.
  7. Sadeghi M, Kabiri S, Amerizadeh A, Heshmat-Ghahdarijani K, Masoumi G, Teimouri-Jervekani Z, Amirpour A. Anethum graveolens L. (Dill) Effect on Human Lipid Profile: An Updated Systematic Review. Curr Probl Cardiol. 2022;47(11):101072. doi: 10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2021.101072.PubMedUsed to support: Systematic review pooling 6 randomized trials covering 171 people taking dill. It reported significant reductions in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, with the triglyceride effect concentrated in hyperlipidemia and type 2 diabetes, and it also reported a significant reduction in HDL-cholesterol, which is the unwanted direction for that marker. This is a different pattern from the 7-trial meta-analysis published the same year, which found total cholesterol and triglycerides unchanged, and the authors state that higher quality controlled trials in humans are needed before a firm conclusion can be drawn.