Evidence Explorer · MS-N232 · Ayurvedic botanical tea · Supportive care · Appraised November 4, 2026
A four-day randomized study reported favorable anxiety and salivary-function measures with holy basil tea during radioiodine therapy. Effect sizes and clinical importance were incompletely reported.
Evidence at a glance
Benefit signal: Short-term anxiety and salivary-function signal
Certainty: Very low; 44-person, four-day comparison with distilled water and multiple outcomes
Risk context: Persistent nausea occurred in some participants; interaction and product-quality data are sparse
What was studied
Forty-four adults after thyroidectomy were randomized to holy basil tea or distilled water. The tea used 2.0 g Ocimum tenuiflorum leaves brewed in 180 mL and taken after each meal for four days starting with radioiodine therapy.
Changes in state and trait anxiety, several saliva components and salivary-gland scintigraphy washout favored the tea (reported P<.05). The publication did not provide clinically interpretable effect sizes or confidence intervals for the principal findings.
What this evidence cannot establish
The control was not a taste- and aroma-matched tea, and the study was brief with several laboratory and imaging comparisons. Anxiety and salivary measures do not establish prevention of clinically important chronic sialadenitis.
This evidence concerns supportive care during radioiodine, not thyroid-cancer control.
Practical safety context
The 2026 review noted persistent nausea in some holy-basil participants and found inadequate evidence for longer-term safety. Concentrated extracts are not equivalent to the studied tea.
Radioiodine isolation, hydration and salivary-gland instructions should come from the nuclear-medicine team; botanicals should not alter the prescribed radioiodine protocol.
Questions for the care team
- Is the proposed preparation the same leaf dose and tea used in the trial?
- Could it affect glucose, bleeding risk or other medicines?
- What salivary-gland precautions does the nuclear-medicine team recommend?
- How will anxiety and persistent dry mouth be assessed?
Funding and conflicts
The authors reported funding from the Yamazaki Spice Promotion Foundation and declared a related financial-interest disclosure. Independent replication is needed.
Sources
- Randomized holy-basil tea trial (PMID 37829808)
- 2026 systematic review of oral herbal preparations in supportive cancer care (PMID 42930516)
Sources and publication status checked November 4, 2026. Last literature search: November 4, 2026; record appraisal: November 4, 2026.
For education, not personal medical advice. Research regimens are not personal prescriptions. Symptom, laboratory or biomarker changes do not establish tumor response, recurrence prevention or longer survival.
