Frankincense
The Essentials
The joint research uses a concentrated Boswellia serrata extract.
Read the whole guide on one page →In trials for knee osteoarthritis, that extract eased pain and stiffness better than a dummy pill. Burning it smells wonderful, but smoke in a closed room isn't good for the lungs.
You may know the smell of frankincense even if you have never seen the resin itself. It's burned in mosques, churches and Persian homes on Thursday evenings. In old pharmacies, it had another life. Persian physicians ground the tears into powder and gave them for memory, a loose stomach, and especially joints that hurt to move. Modern research has followed that last use most closely. Standardised Boswellia serrata extracts have been tested in people with knee osteoarthritis, and several trials report less pain and better movement. Here, the traditional use and modern evidence point in the same direction.
Known to botanists as Boswellia sacra / Boswellia serrata.