Mugwort Dosage: What Studies Used and What Homes Should

With mugwort, more is not more. Here is the working range practitioners and studies tend to agree on, and the signs you have gone past it.

The working range

Mostly used as moxa or in external washes and foot baths; internally only short courses.

Stay at food level: a few cups of tea, a spoon of powder, the amounts a cook would use. Concentrated extracts compress several servings into one capsule, so follow the label rather than free-pouring.

What the studies used

A few cautions from the research literature: there’s not enough evidence to know whether it’s safe to take mugwort orally or to use it topically. Mugwort should not be used during pregnancy.

Signs you have overdone it

Mugwort is warm in nature. Push a warming herb hard and you feel flushed, restless, dry-mouthed; push a cooling herb and digestion turns sluggish. Either way, the fix is the same: stop, let things settle, restart at half the amount.

A practical note: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they are sold to the public. When public health concerns arise about the safety of a dietary supplement or an ingredient including an herb, the FDA can take action to protect the public.

Consistency beats dose. A modest amount taken regularly usually does more than a heroic amount taken twice.