Apigenin: What the Sleep and Anxiety Research Shows

What is apigenin?

Apigenin is a plant compound found in chamomile, parsley, and celery. It is not a vitamin, and the body does not need it for routine function.

Food and tea provide small amounts. Supplements sell apigenin as isolated capsules, usually 35 to 50 mg, or as chamomile extract standardized to a percentage of apigenin.

People take apigenin mainly for sleep, often as part of a nighttime supplement stack. Most relevant clinical evidence concerns chamomile extract or tea. A newer trial tested 50 mg apigenin in an evening blend with magnesium and L-theanine, without a clear sleep benefit from that blend. We found no published trial establishing a sleep or anxiety benefit from apigenin taken alone.

What people take apigenin for

When to ask a doctor before taking apigenin

• You take warfarin or any regular prescription medicine. Warfarin interactions have been reported, as have interactions with some medicines processed by the liver. Ask a pharmacist to check the exact product and medication list.
• You take sedatives or sleep medicine. Chamomile might add to their effects.
• You take birth control pills or have a condition affected by estrogen (such as some breast cancers or endometriosis). Chamomile might have estrogen-like effects and could make birth control pills less effective.

What you can buy

Apigenin comes as isolated capsules, standardized chamomile extract, and high-strength powders. Retail products in this table provide about 1.5 to 196 mg of apigenin.

What to pay attention to on the label

The number to find is milligrams of apigenin itself, which on chamomile products is the extract weight times the apigenin percentage.

Which number on the label is the amount?

One isolated capsule lists 50 mg of apigenin sourced from chamomile flower. That source wording does not make it ordinary chamomile extract: the listed active amount is 50 mg of apigenin itself. By contrast, one standardized chamomile capsule lists 125 mg of whole extract at 1.2 percent apigenin, which the label converts to 1.5 mg of apigenin. To convert a chamomile label yourself, use apigenin milligrams = extract milligrams × percentage ÷ 100. For example, 220 mg × 1.2 ÷ 100 is about 2.6 mg.

Misleading labels

A product named "Apigenin" that is mostly something else

One capsule called "Apigenin" holds 10 mg of a 98 percent apigenin extract and 190 mg of general chamomile extract. The first ingredient provides about 9.8 mg of apigenin. The label does not quantify how much apigenin the other extract contributes, so the total apigenin amount is unknown. The product name can make the 200 mg ingredient total look like an apigenin amount; most of that weight is general chamomile extract. ^[1]

Powders far above anything tested

One apigenin powder lists 200 mg per serving of a 98 percent apigenin extract made from bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) fruit, about 196 mg of apigenin a day. That is about 15 times the most apigenin given in the chamomile trial, and we found no trial establishing its long-term safety or effectiveness at that amount.

Confusing servings and items per serving

Some manufacturers put 180 capsules on the front, and the back says 3 capsules per serving and 60 servings. The amount on the Supplement Facts panel is for the whole 3-capsule serving.

Manufacturer claims and the studies they may be based on

A "promotes relaxation" or "supports a calm mood" claim may point to the chamomile anxiety trial, which used extract, not isolated apigenin. A "supports restful sleep" claim may point to the chamomile sleep reviews or to podcast advice. The study closest to a 50 mg sleep-stack claim tested apigenin with magnesium L-threonate and L-theanine. It did not establish a benefit from apigenin alone.

Common Myths about Apigenin

Is apigenin the same as chamomile tea or extract?

No. Apigenin is one of many compounds in chamomile. A chamomile extract standardized to 1.2 percent apigenin contains about 3 to 13 mg of apigenin in the trial amounts; a 50 mg isolate contains several times more apigenin and none of chamomile's other compounds. Tea contains an unmeasured, smaller amount. Results from chamomile do not transfer automatically to isolated apigenin.

Drawbacks and side effects

Understanding these risks

There is no official upper limit for apigenin. In the anxiety trial, side effects were no more common on chamomile than placebo. The safety of high-dose isolated apigenin, such as 200 mg powders, has not been studied in any trial we found.

For chamomile, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health^[2] lists uncommon nausea and dizziness. Allergic reactions are more likely in people allergic to ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, or daisies; interactions with warfarin and some liver-processed drugs have been reported; it may add to sedatives; and it may have estrogen-like effects.

People with those plant allergies, people taking warfarin, sedatives, or birth-control pills, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding should ask a clinician before using chamomile extracts or isolated apigenin. Most interaction warnings come from chamomile information; isolated high-dose apigenin has even less human safety evidence.

The science behind apigenin

The studies distinguish chamomile, a multi-ingredient evening product and apigenin's absorption. Their findings answer different questions.

Anxiety

The 2009 trial randomized 57 adults with mild to moderate generalized anxiety disorder to chamomile extract or placebo for eight weeks. Participants took one to five 220 mg extract capsules daily, standardized to 1.2% apigenin: about 2.6–13.2 mg of apigenin within the extract.

The main analysis favored chamomile on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, a clinician-rated measure of anxiety symptoms. The authors described the benefit as modest. The separate symptom-response comparison—at least a 50% reduction—was not significant. That combination supports limited, but promising evidence for the tested extract. NIH funded the study; some authors disclosed other pharmaceutical research support or consulting. ^[3]

A later trial asked whether chamomile could keep anxiety from returning after an initial improvement. Of 179 people starting 1,500 mg/day extract without a placebo comparison, 93 responders entered a 26-week randomized phase: 46 continued chamomile and 47 switched to placebo. This SHC-1 extract was standardized to sugar-linked forms of apigenin, called apigenin-7-glycosides, rather than the free apigenin in an isolated capsule.

Relapse occurred in 7 of 46 people continuing chamomile and 12 of 47 on placebo. The primary analysis of how long people remained free of relapse was too imprecise to establish a benefit. A secondary analysis favored chamomile on GAD-7, a seven-question anxiety symptom questionnaire, over follow-up, but people stopped contributing measurements after relapse, which could bias that comparison. NIH grants funded the study, and the Swedish Herbal Institute supplied the extract. The eight-week symptom signal and this uncertain maintenance result answer different questions. ^[4]

Sleep

The 2024 chamomile review included ten studies and pooled five for the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a 0–21 questionnaire where lower scores mean fewer sleep problems. Chamomile averaged 1.88 points better than control (95% confidence interval, 0.31–3.46 points better). The studies differed substantially, and nine of the ten had high risk of bias. Participants and products varied: the pooled studies included older adults, postmenopausal women and people with insomnia, using 400–800 mg/day capsule or extract products or 60 oral drops daily for 14–28 days. Some studies used placebo; two used untreated controls. These whole-product amounts do not specify equivalent apigenin doses. The everyday importance of the average questionnaire difference is uncertain. Sleep duration, efficiency and daytime functioning did not consistently improve. The review reported no specific grant and no known competing interests. ^[5]

The insomnia study within that review is useful to consider separately. It randomized 34 adults with chronic primary insomnia to 270 mg chamomile extract twice daily or placebo for 28 days. Neither total sleep time nor sleep efficiency—the main outcomes—improved significantly compared with placebo. The insomnia-severity and sleep-quality questionnaires were also inconclusive. It was a small pilot, so it leaves uncertainty rather than settling that chamomile never helps. University and NIH grants supported it; the authors said the extract maker supplied neither money nor study tablets. ^[6]

The 50 mg evening blend

A 2026 trial tested an evening product containing 50 mg apigenin, 200 mg L-theanine and 2 g magnesium L-threonate, providing 145 mg magnesium. The study randomized 115 healthy, physically active adults to receive active products in the morning only, evening only, both or neither, with matching placebo capsules for the inactive doses. The morning product contained ashwagandha and Rhodiola. Treatment lasted two weeks. The main analysis included 103 participants who took more than 80% of their assigned supplements.

The researchers analyzed the morning and evening assignments together, including whether their effects depended on each other. That analysis found no significant sleep-disturbance benefit attributable to the evening product; the overall Pittsburgh sleep score also showed no significant group difference. Exploratory device measurements recorded more wakefulness after falling asleep among people receiving only the active evening product in the second treatment week, but the paper did not present that change as a comparison with placebo. Sleep measurements from the device were incomplete for some participants, and people with diagnosed sleep disorders were excluded.

The trial was funded by Momentous, which also made the capsules. It supplies no clear reason to expect this short course of the evening blend to improve sleep in healthy adults, and it cannot identify what apigenin would do alone. ^[7]

Absorption: a capsule is different from tea

In a small absorption experiment, three healthy men drank the contents of an apigenin capsule in hot water. The assayed amount was about 52 mg. Over 24 hours, researchers recovered about 0.5% of the dose as measured apigenin metabolites in urine. Four men tested chamomile tea, which supplied mostly apigenin attached to a sugar molecule; urinary recovery was about 34% of that smaller dose.

Those percentages describe particular metabolites recovered in urine, not all the apigenin absorbed or a measure of sleep benefit. The experiment measured no sleep or anxiety outcomes. Its useful finding is that preparation changes how apigenin is handled in the body; the larger number on an isolate label does not make it equivalent to tea. Mars funded the study, and one author was an employee and another a consultant. ^[8]

What is still open

The main unanswered questions are whether isolated apigenin improves sleep or anxiety, and whether concentrated powders are safe with repeated use.

What you may have heard on podcasts

Andrew Huberman (Huberman Lab, 29 July 2024, with Peter Attia) said that before sleep he takes magnesium threonate and 50 mg of apigenin, which he described as essentially chamomile extract. He has described apigenin as part of a nightly stack with magnesium, theanine, and inositol since early 2023.

Calling it essentially chamomile extract overstates the match: 50 mg of apigenin is about four times the most apigenin in the chamomile anxiety trial, and it lacks chamomile's other compounds. The 2026 evening-product trial included apigenin, magnesium L-threonate and L-theanine, but not the inositol in his four-ingredient stack.

The bottom line

The appealing idea behind apigenin capsules is ahead of the human evidence. Chamomile extract has a modest eight-week anxiety-score signal and mixed sleep findings; its longer-term relapse-prevention trial was inconclusive. The trial of a 50 mg apigenin evening blend did not establish a sleep benefit, while the absorption study shows why an isolate and tea are different exposures. A label's apigenin amount helps identify what is in the product; it does not yet identify an effective sleep dose.

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