Business

4 health benefits of rosemary, including a hidden compound scientists could potentially use to fight Alzheimer’s

Published

9 months ago

March 18, 2025

As you place sprigs of rosemary on a pan to roast alongside chicken or in a garlicky loaf of bread, you may not be thinking about the potential health properties this common herb is wielding.

It turns out, rosemary is a well-studied herb with myriad benefits—from boosting hair growth to potentially helping fight cancer.

Here’s how to take advantage of this natural health powerhouse.

Stimulate hair growth

While there are countless hair-growth supplements and hacks that circulate social media, rosemary oil, extracted from rosemary plants, is a tried-and-true tool to boost hair growth, backed by science.

In one study comparing the effectiveness of rosemary oil compared to minoxidil—a common medication used to stimulate hair growth in men and women—participants saw significant hair growth from both products after six months, with no difference between the two treatments’ effectiveness.

A comprehensive review of studies on the hair loss condition alopecia demonstrated that rosemary oil is an effective treatment due to its ability to improve scalp blood flow and enhance the regeneration of the hair follicles.

Improve skin health

Rosemary also has the potential to help heal the skin, according to a 2023 review of studies. Oxidative stress to the skin, caused by things like ultraviolet (UV) light, environmental pollution and chronic psychological stress, can damage the skin and lead to further skin aging and may play a role in skin cancer, according to researchers.

But thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, rosemary could help treat some skin diseases either when ingested or applied to the skin.

Anticancer properties

Rosemary’s anticancer potential is more than skin deep: Ingesting rosemary was found to help stop the activation of carcinogens, increase antioxidant enzyme activities, reduce tumor-stimulating inflammation, decrease cell growth (which can lead to the production of cancerous cells), stimulate programmed cell death, and suppress tumor growth and invasion, according to a 2020 study.

Brain health and Alzheimer’s treatment

The benefits of rosemary extend to your nervous system, according to a 2020 review of studies. Rosemary extract showed anti-spasm, pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory, anti-anxiety and memory-boosting properties.

The study concluded that components of rosemary show promise in the treatment of anxiety, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and withdrawal syndrome, researchers found.

For Alzheimer’s in particular, a January 2025 study in mice linked a compound found in rosemary to boosts in memory, more neuron synapses, reduced inflammation, and greater removal of toxic proteins that are linked to Alzheimer’s. It was administered to mice three times a week for three months, with no observable toxic effects.

How to use rosemary for your health

All of the studies on rosemary have limitations: The use different a dose as well as different methods of extracting and administering rosemary, making it difficult to put the findings into clinical practice. In the anticancer study, authors also raised concerns about chronic use of rosemary extract becoming toxic.

While the Food and Drug Administration designates rosemary extract as generally recognized as safe (GRaS), there is no recommended daily allowance. Talk to your doctor before taking any supplement to make sure it’s safe for you.

The most common forms of rosemary are the herb or as an essential oil. You should not ingest the essential oil as it is highly concentrated and can be toxic when ingested, according to Poison Control. If you want to apply it to your skin, they recommend diluting it with a carrier oil like jojoba or argan oil. Rosemary essential oil is generally safe when inhaled through an aroma diffuser.

To reap the benefits of rosemary, you can steep the herb in boiling water and drink it as a tea, or make it a regular part of your cooking.

Mount Sinai Hospital advises, however, that pregnant and nursing women avoid taking rosemary as a supplement, as higher doses can potentially cause miscarriage—but, it is still safe to consume as an herb in food. Additionally, people with high blood pressure, ulcers, Crohn’s disease, or ulcerative colitis should not take rosemary.

For more on supplements:

4 best supplements for an energy boost, according to experts
The dietary supplements you think are improving your health may be damaging your liver, research warns
The 5 best supplements for healthy aging, according to a longevity expert
Vitamin D may improve your energy levels. Here’s how much you need each day

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Source link

Up Next

Reeves to squeeze public spending further in Spring Statement

Don't Miss

What are Pip disability payments and how are they changing?

Click to comment

Business

Sam Altman on AI bubble: ‘People make some dumb capital allocations’ from time to time

Published

2 months ago

October 3, 2025

Matt O'Brien, The Associated Press

OpenAI could now be the world’s most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker.

Current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion in shares to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company’s valuation to $500 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The investors buying the shares included Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price, along with Japanese tech giant SoftBank and the United Arab Emirates’ MGX, the source said Thursday.

The valuation reflects high expectations for the future of AI technology and continues OpenAI’s remarkable trajectory from its start as a nonprofit research lab in 2015.

But with the San Francisco-based company not yet turning a profit, it could also amplify concerns about an AI bubble if the generative AI products made by OpenAI and its competitors don’t meet the expectations of investors pouring billions of dollars into research and development.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sought to dismiss those concerns, most recently last week, when he toured a massive data center complex being built to run the company’s AI systems in Abilene, Texas.

“Between the ten years we’ve already been operating and the many decades ahead of us, there will be booms and busts,” Altman said after being asked about a bubble. “People will overinvest and lose money, and underinvest and lose a lot of revenue.”

He added that “we’ll make some dumb capital allocations” and there will be short-term ups and downs but that “over the arc that we have to plan over, we are confident that this technology will drive a new wave of unprecedented economic growth,” along with scientific breakthroughs, improvements to quality of life and “new ways to express creativity.”

Just this week, the company launched two different business ventures, one a partnership with Etsy and Shopify for online shopping through ChatGPT and another a social media app, Sora, for generating and sharing AI videos.

OpenAI has been struggling to offer investors and staff the same perks and compensation as the publicly traded tech giants with which it competes. Facebook parent Meta Platforms, in particular, has been on a hiring spree for elite AI engineers and in June made a $14.3 billion investment in AI company Scale that recruited its CEO Alexandr Wang.

OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary, valued at $500 billion, is technically controlled by the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit and both are still bound to pursue the nonprofit’s charitable purpose.

OpenAI’s partnerships with major companies and its plans to change its corporate structure have drawn the scrutiny of regulators, including the attorneys general of California and Delaware, who oversee charitable organizations that operate or are incorporated in their states.

The company has made big deals in recent weeks with Oracle and SoftBank, its partners on a data center venture called Stargate, and with chipmaker Nvidia, which makes the specialized AI chips those data centers need. At the same time, it has lessened its reliance on longtime backer Microsoft.

In September, OpenAI announced it had reached a tentative agreement with Microsoft about the future stake of its nonprofit in its for-profit corporation but released few details.

It also opened applications for nonprofits to apply for $50 million in funding from OpenAI, an effort it launched in response to the recommendations of an advisory board. The grants will go toward projects that increase public understanding of AI, support the design of AI for uses that communities want and increase economic opportunity. The deadline to apply closes on Oct. 8.

——

AP Philanthropy Writer Thalia Beaty contributed to this report.

———-

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

Source link

Business

Munich airport reopens after drone sightings force closure

Published

2 months ago

October 3, 2025

Harry Sekulich

Germany’s Munich airport has reopened after several drone sightings forced it to close and cancel more than a dozen flights on Thursday night.

At least 17 flights were grounded in Munich, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers, while the airport said it diverted a further 15 flights to nearby cities.

On Friday, a spokesperson for German flag carrier Lufthansa said “flight operations have since resumed according to schedule”.

There was no immediate confirmation of where the drones had come from. Several airports across Europe have closed down in recent weeks because of unidentified drones.

Munich airport alerted authorities after the drones were detected.

Departing flights were “suspended”, the airport said, and it closed two hours ahead of its usual midnight to 05:00 curfew.

Air traffic control redirected flights that were due to land in Munich to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna, and Frankfurt.

“Nineteen Lufthansa flights were affected, either cancelled or re-routed, because of the the airport suspension,” the spokesperson said.

Because it was dark, no information on the type, size or origins of the drones was confirmed, Federal Police spokesperson Stefan Bayer told the Bild Newspaper. The drones were first seen at 21:30 local time (19:30 GMT), and then again an hour later, police said.

The BBC has contacted Germany’s federal police.

Meanwhile authorities in Belgium are investigating sightings of 15 drones, which were seen above the Elsenborn military site near the German border, Belgian media reports.

After the sighting, the drones reportedly flew from Belgium to Germany, where they were also observed by the police in the small German town of Düren.

It is not yet clear where the drones originated or who operated them.

Recent drone sightings across the European Union prompted a leaders’ summit in Copenhagen this week.

20 Russian drones crossed into Poland and Russian MiG-31 jets entered Estonian airspace in separate recent incidents.

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were forced to close after unidentified drones were spotted near airport and military airspaces.

Russia has denied any involvement, while Danish authorities say there was no evidence Moscow was involved.

Speaking to a summit in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed off suggestions he ordered drones to Denmark.

“I won’t do it again. I won’t do it again – not to France or Denmark or Copenhagen”, Putin said.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at Munich overnight.

“Camp beds were set up, and blankets, drinks, and snacks were provided,” the airport said.

The city is currently hosting the annual Oktoberfest festival, which is due to end on 5 October. It attracts more than six million people a year, according to the official website.

The annual beer festival had already closed for half a day on Wednesday after a bomb scare.

Source link