They are said to help with flatulence and a feeling of fullness and lower cholesterol levels: dietary supplements made from artichoke extract. Can this work?
In ancient times, the artichoke was very popular as a food. The Roman scholar Pliny (1st century AD) mentioned them in his “Naturalis historia”. It is unclear whether the plant already appears in the “Materia medica” of the Greek physician Dioskonides (also 1st century AD). The daisy family found its way into monastic medicine via the Romans. Hieronymus Bock first explained around 1539 that the brew could cleanse the “clogged” liver and kidneys.