Orally, fennel is used for increasing lactation, promoting menstruation, facilitating birth, and increasing libido. It is also used for upper respiratory tract infections, coughs, bronchitis, cholera, backache, bedwetting, dyspepsia, flatulence, bloating, loss of appetite, visual problems, and for colic in infants.

Fennel’s usage as a digestive aid is consistent throughout, and as a result there should be no confusion about its specific uses. Fennel is an excellent example of an aromatic herb that works to re-establish normal digestive activity. In general, aromatic herbs act to open the channels to allow the vital energy to flow. Fennel is commonly used in gastric hyperacidity, or in greenish diarrhea from excessive bile. Fennel however also acts in asthenic states, stimulating the appetite, used in the treatment of anorexia, constipation, with dry hard feces and spasm. The wide range of its regulatory activity is seen in its somewhat contradictory but traditional use in obesity, where enkindling the digestion and metabolism are also warranted. Perhaps this effect is also due in part to anethole as a catacholamine analogue.