# Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) *Bird’s foot, Greek hay-seed; Latin *foenum-graecum*, Greek hay; the Greek *telis*, the Egyptian *itasin* and the Egyptian preparation *helba*; *Trigonella foenum-graecum* of Linnaeus* **Known today as.** *Trigonella foenum-graecum*, an erect annual of the legume family about two feet high, like lucerne in habit, native to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and grown in India, Africa, Egypt, and Morocco. Its brownish seeds, about an eighth of an inch long and furrowed into two unequal lobes, lie “ten to twenty together, in long, narrow, sickle-like pods,” with a bitter taste like lovage or celery. The seed is the medicine. Kind: Plant > **Caution.** Animal studies have shown harm to reproduction, including male and female fertility, so the European agency does not recommend fenugreek in pregnancy, while breast-feeding, or for women who could become pregnant and are not using contraception, nor for anyone under eighteen. It is not for those allergic to peanut, soya, or other legumes; allergic reactions, including facial swelling and asthma, have been reported. Because it may lower blood sugar, people treated for diabetes should watch their glucose closely. LiverTox finds no case of liver injury, but notes a potential for interactions, “particularly if taken in high doses with antiplatelet drugs and warfarin.” ## What was it used for? Softening and soothing, inside and out. Dioscorides made the flour a poultice with honey for inflammation, a plaster with saltpetre and vinegar for the spleen, a bath for women’s complaints, and a wash for dandruff. Grieve gives the mucilage for inflamed stomach and intestines and as a poultice for abscesses, boils, and carbuncles, and records the Egyptian *helba*, seeds soaked into a thick paste, “Said to be equal to quinine in preventing fevers; is comforting to the stomach and has been utilized for diabetes.” She proposed it as a cheap substitute for cod-liver oil in rickets, anaemia, and debility. ## What does modern science say? The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the seed as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for temporary loss of appetite and, applied to the skin, for minor skin inflammation (monograph of 2021). Its assessment report finds the seed rich in mucilage, galactomannans making up 25 to 45 per cent, with trigonelline, saponins derived from diosgenin, and about 30 per cent protein. Grieve’s note on diabetes has been tested: a 2023 meta-analysis of ten trials in 706 people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes found that fenugreek significantly reduced fasting and after-meal blood sugar and HbA1c. Other claims fare worse: a 2026 meta-analysis found the evidence for raising testosterone in men “very uncertain,” and that it “does not support clinical or commercial testosterone-boosting claims,” and a review of period pain found the effect “highly uncertain.” ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **galactomannans**: the mucilage, 25 to 45 per cent of the seed - **trigonelline**: - **diosgenin**: the aglycone of its saponins **Mechanism.** Not established in the sources read for this entry. **Standing.** European Union herbal monograph (2021): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for temporary loss of appetite and, on the skin, minor inflammation. A 2023 meta-analysis found lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. ## What lore surrounds it? Its name is Latin, Greek hay, “the plant being used to scent inferior hay,” and its genus, *Trigonella*, Grieve explains, is from an old Greek name meaning three-angled, for the shape of the flower. The ground seed gave a maple flavour to confectionery, and nearly all cattle, she says, like its flavour in their forage. The seeds were also sprouted, she says, and the green eaten raw with the seeds when two or three inches high. ## What did the older authorities say? **Dioscorides.** Fenugreek meal is softening and dispersing; pounded with boiled honey it helps inflammation within and without; its decoction serves for straining at stool or urine and for the stinking looseness of dysentery, and its cream, boiled in water and strained, cleans the hair of dandruff and scaly scalps. The Latins, he notes, call it *foenumgraecum*, and the Egyptians *itasin*. **Mrs. M. Grieve.** The seeds “were held in high repute among the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans for medicinal and culinary purposes.” In her own day they were ground into curry and into condition powders for horses and cattle, “the principal ingredient in most of the quack nostrums which find so much favour among grooms and horsekeepers,” and used to make damaged hay palatable. ## Sources - Grieve, M. *A Modern Herbal*, “Fenugreek.” As published on botanical.com. - Dioscorides. *De materia medica*, 2-124, in the modern English version of T. A. Osbaldeston and R. P. A. Wood (Johannesburg: Ibidis, 2000), after Goodyer’s translation of 1655. Internet Archive. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Trigonellae foenugraeci semen (Fenugreek seed)*. EMA/HMPC/179591/2018, 24 November 2021. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Trigonellae foenugraeci semen*. EMA/HMPC/179590/2018, 24 November 2021. - Kim J, et al. (2023). The Effect of Fenugreek in Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. *International journal of molecular sciences*. PMID 37762302. - Yang P, et al. (2026). Effects of oral fenugreek-derived preparations on testosterone-related outcomes in adult men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. *Frontiers in nutrition*. PMID 42688439. - Hassanzadeh R, et al. (2024). The Effect of Fenugreek on the Severity of Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. *Current drug research reviews*. PMID 37594100. - LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury, “Fenugreek.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, updated 2018. NCBI Bookshelf. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Trigonellae foenugraeci semen (Fenugreek seed)*. EMA/HMPC/179591/2018, 24 November 2021. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Trigonellae foenugraeci semen*. EMA/HMPC/179590/2018, 24 November 2021. - Kim J, et al. (2023). The Effect of Fenugreek in Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. *International journal of molecular sciences*. PMID 37762302. - LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury, “Fenugreek.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, updated 2018. NCBI Bookshelf. --- *Fenugreek.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/fenugreek Historical description, not medical advice.