About Wormwood
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is the bitter sister of sweet wormwood (A. annua, source of artemisinin). A. absinthium contains absinthin, anabsinthin, and thujone — but NOT artemisinin, despite frequent label confusion. Marketed primarily for anti-parasitic effects (driving its use in 'parasite cleanse' blends) and as a digestive bitter, but human RCT evidence for intestinal helminth eradication is essentially absent. The one notable positive trial is Omer 2007 (n=40, RCT) showing symptomatic improvement in Crohn's disease at 1500 mg/day; one smaller trial replicated this. SAFETY: thujone is a GABA-A antagonist with documented neurotoxicity — seizures, hallucinations, and convulsions at higher doses. The 'absinthe ban' from 1900–2007 was driven by thujone. EU caps food/beverage thujone at 35 mg/L; many supplements exceed daily thujone safety thresholds. Contraindicated in pregnancy (uterine stimulant), epilepsy, and renal/hepatic impairment. Most retailers do not standardize for thujone content.
What Wormwood supports
- Modest Crohn's disease symptom improvement in two small RCTs (Omer 2007 et al.)
- Thujone content is neurotoxic — seizure risk, contraindicated in pregnancy/epilepsy
How much Wormwood to take
The RDA prevents deficiency. The effective range is what clinical trials used to actually move the outcome.
Effective
500–1500
mg
Traditional decoction-equivalent range. The only positive modern RCT (Omer 2007, Crohn's disease) used a standardized extract delivering ~1500 mg/day. No validated therapeutic dose for the anti-parasitic claim that drives most supplement marketing.
Clinical evidence
Limited clinical evidence. Omer 2007 RCT (n=40) showed Crohn's symptom benefit at 1500 mg/day; anti-parasitic human RCT evidence is essentially absent despite heavy marketing.
Reference