When you cook for yourself, which herb do you reach for first? Could it be that your body is telling you what it wants? There may be more to your preferences than the flavor of the ingredient alone. Each herb has a unique flavor that could easily enhance a meal, and sage stands out. Sage is a staple in a variety of cultures’ medicinal and culinary practices and it deserves a closer look.

Getting to Know Sage

Sage (Salvia Officinalis) was likely to have been used as early as ancient Sumeria which is dated at about 5000 BCE. In the height of Sumeria’s successful farming technology, sage was cultivated and traded regularly making it available for nearby tribes to share and enjoy. Soon they would discover what this herb’s benefits were! This plant became well known in Africa, Rome/Greece (Italy), France, China, and the North Americas. When sage was first discovered, it was chewed, cooked, or steeped in hot water to help symptoms of sore throat and upset stomach. It even helped ease sunburns! By 800 AD, herbalists observed and claimed that sage improved memory and cognitive thinking. I wouldn’t be surprised if sage was elected the philosopher’s herb! (1)

What Does Sage do for the Body?

Can you imagine how attentive humans must have been to notice significant differences after using sage? The flavor was enough to encourage room in traditional dishes all over the globe. Unexpectedly, humans had a knack for noticing patterns, and soon a stockpile of knowledge flung sage into the medicinal spotlight. Perhaps it isn’t as simple as taste. 

Recently, focused research had found that sage consistently benefited the mind beyond a mood change. Sage was soon proven to have a high amount of antioxidants and by association, believed to fight aging and breakdown of cells. There seemed to also be a direct link to heavy menopausal symptoms that were reduced after taking the herb. Sage was also considered a women’s herb, meaning sage helped address female-specific bodily issues. The most commonly recorded discovery of using sage claimed that sweating and hot flashes from menopause were reduced or stopped. Now herbalists became more aware of what sage could do for the body’s heat regulation and glands. (2)

Sage and Serotonin

Another breakthrough showed that fresh sage had a noticeable impact on how the central nervous system (CNS) transported serotonin throughout the brain. Serotonin controls your mood and can have a huge part to play with how happy you are in general. Quite a few of us aren’t aware of what kinds of foods could influence this, and with each passing day, it becomes even more apparent that we need to pay attention to what we eat! Who knew that a meal could assist in how your brain processes information and handles stress.

Sometimes people have a hard time getting the right amount of serotonin, and with hormones added to meat and dairy, imbalances are more common than ever before! Sage may be a great supplement to regulate and moderate serotonin, and it could be a game-changer in how we approach depression, anxiety, and even brain degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. If you could imagine sage as a healthy beneficial friend to your brain’s activity, it gives parameters to your brain’s choices and helps steer it away from imbalance and stress. (2)(3)

Additional Benefits of Sage

To review, serotonin and sage seem to have a whole plethora of incredible connections in the body, and we have barely scratched the surface of its uses! What we know now is that serotonin also regulates sleep, bowel movements, nausea, mood, and bone health. Whereas sage helps the central nervous system move serotonin throughout the brain (specifically when the herb is freshly eaten). It prevents cell damage, breakdown, and regulates oral health to boot. Under the right circumstances, sage can also encourage better hormone communication in the brain and could deliver a great deal of relief involving some mental imbalances like stress. As a bonus, it can also prevent massive cellular breakdown. This plant looks like best friend material to me! (4)(5)(6)

It is no wonder that so many cultures noticed this herb to be one of the few reliable and versatile plants of the ancient world. It would be silly not to have this one in our modern medicine cabinet. I think from now on, I’ll make room for sage right next to my sea salt and black pepper when I cook. Now is the time to pay attention to what we eat, and make our choices work for us!