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Herb library · Spice · Trachyspermum ammi

Ajwain (carom seed)

Small, thyme-scented seeds used in Indian breads, snacks and pickles, and the household spoonful for indigestion. Small trials of an ajwain skin cream for nerve pain point in opposite directions.

Traditional use

Dutt's 1877 compilation of the Sanskrit medical writers records that ajowan seeds were used as a spice, chewed with betel and pan leaves, and taken as a carminative, and that a teaspoonful with a little rock salt was a common household remedy for indigestion from irregular eating. Physicians powdered it with salts, asafoetida and chebulic myrobalan for colic. In Indian homes today ajwain water and roasted seeds are still given for gas and stomach aches.

What studies show

  • Limited

    Burning feet (nerve pain): in a 4-week placebo-controlled trial in 92 adults in Iran, a 10% ajwain cream eased burning, numbness and tingling more than a placebo cream.

  • Insufficient

    Nerve pain from chemotherapy: in a small 2024 pilot trial in 60 people on taxane chemotherapy, ajwain cream did no better than placebo.

  • Insufficient

    Asthma: in one small study, a boiled seed extract widened the airways of people with asthma for a few hours, less than the drug theophylline did. It has not been confirmed.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • AmountUsed as a cooking spice, ajwain is a food. The trials above used a cream or a measured extract; concentrated oils are much stronger than the seed.
  • AllergyIt belongs to the carrot family, with cumin, fennel, celery and coriander. People allergic to those may react to it.
  • PregnancyNo safety information for medicinal amounts or the oil in pregnancy or breastfeeding was found; stick to food amounts then.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using ajwain extracts or oil if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving them to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“A tea spoonful of ájowan with a little rock salt, is a common domestic remedy for indigestion from irregular diet.”
Udoy Chand Dutt, The Materia Medica of the Hindus (1877), p. 173. See the page of The Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 173 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from The Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 173

Sources

  1. Trachyspermum ammi 10 % topical cream versus placebo on neuropathic pain, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (Neurol Sci, 2016) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Exploring the Effectiveness of Ajwain Cream in Treating Taxane-induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Cancer Patients: A Pilot, Randomised and Double-blind Clinical Trial (Indian J Palliat Care, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Bronchodilatory effect of Carum copticum in airways of asthmatic patients (Therapie, 2007) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.