Purchase, NY—Healthy individuals who occasionally feel stomach rumbling, bloating and other signs of gastrointestinal (GI) distress may have another natural option at their disposal with perilla extract.

In a pilot study of healthy subjects experiencing GI issues like constipation, researchers gave 50 volunteers (ages 30–70 years) 150 mg of a branded perilla extract (Benegut from Maypro Industries, based here) twice daily for a month. The subjects tracked their GI symptoms and bowel movements in a journal. At the study’s end, taking perilla was associated with less bloating, flatulence, over-fullness and abdominal discomfort; only abdominal discomfort improved in the placebo group. The perilla’s benefits were clear in 80% of the patients, some of which showed improvement before the four-week study ended.

These data are published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, September 2014