Wood Betony.
A traditional mint-family herb drunk as an astringent, tannin-rich infusion. Modern interest sits on its phenylethanoid glycosides, which scavenge radicals in laboratory assays.
Reviewed March 2026
- Category
- Herb
What Wood Betony is, and what it does.
- Does it work
- Suits people who enjoy traditional bitter and astringent herbal teas. With 36 papers on record, this is tradition and laboratory chemistry rather than clinical data.
- How much to take
- Start with 500 to 1,500mg a day of dried herb equivalent, as an infusion or tincture. Check the Latin name, because several plants share the common name.
- Time to feel it
- The astringent, drying mouthfeel arrives with the first sip. Nobody has measured a timeline for anything beyond that in people.
- The first dose
- You will taste it: dry, faintly bitter, close to strong black tea. Beyond that, day one is quiet.
- With regular use
- There is no human data on weeks of daily wood betony. Traditional use is an occasional cup rather than a continuous course.
- How well tolerated
- Generally well tolerated as a tea at traditional amounts. The tannins bind iron and zinc, so keep it away from mineral-rich meals and mineral supplements.
- How it feels
- Dry and astringent on the tongue, the way strong tea feels. Anything past that has not been documented in people.
- The overlooked benefit
- A water infusion and an alcohol tincture of the same herb weight are not the same product, because the tannins and glycosides pull differently into each solvent.
500 to 1,500mg a day is where Wood Betony works.
Source: Traditional European herbal use; Stachys officinalis monograph
The proof, claim by claim.
These words describe the research, not the molecule's worth. Research strength is how much work stands behind one claim, and it is never a product score.
Wood Betony has emerging evidence. Based on 36+ studies.
- radical scavenging in chemical antioxidant assaysIn vitro study
- everyday tension in traditional herbal useNarrative review
- astringent action on mucosal surfacesIn vitro study
Questions people ask about Wood Betony.
- When should I take it?
- Timing matters less than consistency. Pick a time that works for you and take it daily.
- Can I take it with other supplements?
- Usually fine. The main thing to watch is not doubling up on the same ingredient from different products. If you're on prescription meds, check with your pharmacist first.
- Any side effects to watch for?
- Most people tolerate it well at recommended doses. GI upset is the most common complaint with any supplement. Start with a lower dose and work up. If something feels off, stop and reassess.
- Who benefits most from this?
- People who've already covered the basics (diet, sleep, exercise) and want to fine-tune. It's not essential, but could be worthwhile for the right person.
Why these belong in the same formula. Each row says what the basis is, from settled biochemistry through to a trial that measured the pair.
Wood betony leaf is tannin-rich, and tannins bind non-heme iron in the gut into complexes that are not absorbed. Iron doses should sit well away from a tannin-heavy leaf preparation.
Wood betony is a tannin-bearing herb, and dietary tannins bind non-heme iron in the gut lumen so it cannot be taken up. Ascorbic acid keeps iron in the more soluble ferrous state and forms a chelate that resists tannin binding, which partly offsets that effect. This is settled nutrient-interaction pharmacology rather than a trial run with this herb.
Tannins and related polyphenols form insoluble complexes with divalent metals, and zinc is among the minerals whose uptake is reduced when a tannin-rich preparation is taken at the same meal. Separating a betony infusion from a zinc dose by a couple of hours avoids the overlap. The class effect is established even though it has not been quantified for this species.
Polyphenol-rich plant infusions can precipitate calcium salts in the gut lumen, lowering the fraction available for uptake. The effect is smaller than for iron because calcium is absorbed by more than one route. Timing the two apart is the usual formulation answer.
Tannins bind proline-rich proteins, which is the astringency people feel from a betony infusion and also the reason a tannin-rich extract will precipitate added protein in a liquid formula. In a ready-to-drink product this shows as haze or sediment. It is a formulation compatibility issue as much as a nutritional one.
Plant tannins bind digestive proteases and amylases and reduce their measured activity in vitro, so a tannin-rich herb taken in the same capsule as an enzyme blend can lower the enzyme assay over shelf life. Co-formulating them in one dosage unit is generally avoided for that reason. The interaction is chemical rather than clinical.
Wood betony has a long record in European herbal practice as a calming and head-comfort herb, and chamomile is the classic partner in that tradition. The pairing rests on traditional use and formulation convention, not on controlled data. Read it as historical rather than clinical.
Both are mint-family herbs used traditionally for calm and tension comfort, and they appear together in classical European formulas. No controlled study has measured the combination. Historical use is the whole basis here.
Betony is described in the older herbals as quieting, and it is routinely blended with valerian in evening formulas. Any calming effects would be expected to add rather than cancel. There is no combination trial, and additive drowsiness is the practical thing to watch.
Passionflower occupies the same place in evening blends as betony and the two are commonly combined. The rationale is traditional formulation practice. Effects on alertness would be expected to add.
Both are tannin-bearing European herbs used historically for head and muscle comfort and they appear together in older formulas. Their tannin loads add, which increases the mineral-binding caution rather than the benefit. This is a traditional pairing with a chemical caveat.
Marshmallow root is a mucilage-rich demulcent that is added to astringent, tannin-heavy preparations to soften their drying feel on the mouth and gut lining. The mucilage can also slow the uptake of anything taken alongside it. This is longstanding formulation practice.
Like marshmallow, slippery elm supplies mucilage that coats and offsets the astringency of a tannin-rich herb such as betony. The pairing is about mouthfeel and gut tolerance rather than a measured additive effect. Mucilage may slow absorption of co-administered actives.
Magnesium is the mineral most often placed alongside calming botanicals in evening formulas, and betony appears in that same category of product. The pairing is a formulation convention, not a demonstrated interaction. Tannin binding of the mineral is the one chemical caution when they share a dose.
Peppermint is a common flavour and carminative partner for bitter, astringent infusions including betony. Its role is largely palatability. No combination data exist.
Nothing specific on file for Wood Betony. Match the label to the daily amount above, and tell your doctor what you take.
Not medical advice. Show the label to your pharmacist.What Wood Betony actually does.
Wood betony sold as a Western herb is the aerial part of Betonica officinalis, a mint-family plant whose characteristic constituents are phenylethanoid glycosides such as acteoside and betonyoside, iridoid glycosides including harpagide, and condensed tannins.
Condensed and hydrolysable tannins bind non-heme iron and other divalent minerals in the gut lumen as insoluble complexes, which is the general mechanism behind reduced mineral uptake from tannin-rich infusions taken with a meal.
Tannins also bind proline-rich salivary and dietary proteins, which is what produces the astringent, drying mouthfeel of a betony infusion and what causes haze when a tannin extract meets protein in a liquid formula.
Water infusion pulls the glycosides and tannins efficiently, while a hydroalcoholic tincture also carries the less polar constituents, so the two preparation types do not deliver the same constituent profile at the same herb weight.
Where Wood Betony comes from.
The leafy flowering tops are picked, dried, and either used as-is for tea or soaked in water or alcohol to make a concentrated extract. The thing worth checking on a label is the Latin name, because more than one plant gets called wood betony.
Made from a plant. What ends up in the capsule tracks the harvest, so batch testing and a stated marker matter more here than with a made molecule.
Wild-collected or cultivated flowering tops, leaf and upper stem, cut at or just before full flower when the phenylethanoid content is generally reported highest.
Shade or low-temperature drying to limit degradation of the glycosides, then cutting or milling to the required particle size.
For tinctures and dry extracts the milled herb is percolated or macerated; ethanol strength determines how much of the tannin and non-polar fraction comes across.
The liquid is filtered to remove particulate, and ethanol is recovered under reduced pressure before drying.
Most commercial betony is sold on a herb-to-extract ratio; a minority of suppliers declare total phenolics or an acteoside figure by HPLC. Botanical identity should be confirmed by macroscopic and HPLC comparison against an authenticated reference because several unrelated plants share the common name.
Dry extracts are usually carried on maltodextrin or rice hull for flow, which is why the declared extract weight is not all plant solids.
Harvest timing, wild versus cultivated origin and the actual phenylethanoid content are usually absent from consumer labels.
Getting Wood Betony from food.
The whole-food sources on file. A supplement closes the gap, it does not replace dinner.
A gram-for-gram figure (how much of each you would eat to match a dose) will appear here once it is sourced and reviewed. This page will not print a number it cannot cite.
The forms it comes in.
The essence, in one line each.
- A review of the Stachys genus, which includes wood betony, catalogues its traditional uses and plant compounds and finds the bioactivity work to date is largely laboratory-based rather than human.Review. Tomou et al., 2020 (Medicines (Basel, Switzerland)). PMID 33003416 ↗
- The authors optimised an extraction process for root polysaccharides from a plant sold under the wood betony common name and reported activity of the isolated fraction in a mouse model. The material is a root polysaccharide fraction, not the dried aerial part of Betonica officinalis used in Western herbal supplements, and the result is an animal measurement rather than a human one.Animal study. Feng et al., 2021 (Molecules). PMID 33921554 ↗
These are the studies our verdict leans on, chosen from the 12 we read for Wood Betony. The full linked list is below.
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.