Three Completely Different Plants Are All Called “Bay Leaf” — Only One Ever Crowned a Roman Victor
Daun salam, Laurus nobilis, and Indian tejpatta are three unrelated plants sharing one English name — and the clinical evidence, the traditional uses, and the actual chemistry are not interchangeable between them.
Here’s the tangle almost nobody unpicks: the laurel wreath crowning Roman emperors and Olympic victors, the leaf the Oracle of Delphi is said to have chewed for prophetic visions, and the leaf sitting in your rendang pot tonight are, most of the time, three completely different plants. “Bay leaf” is not one herb wearing different hats — it’s at least three unrelated species (two entirely different plant families) sharing a single lazy English translation. The blood sugar study everyone shares online used one of them. The traditional gout remedy uses a different one entirely. And the actual mythology belongs to a third plant that may not even be in your kitchen.
Two mechanisms carry this article — worth defining plainly before we lean on them.
A xanthine oxidase inhibitor blocks the enzyme your body uses to produce uric acid. Less of this enzyme working means less uric acid built up — which matters directly for gout, a condition caused by uric acid crystallising in the joints.
Insulin receptor tyrosine kinase activation is a way of describing a compound that makes your cells more responsive to insulin — effectively turning up the “listening volume” on the receptors that let insulin do its job of clearing glucose from the blood.
Five Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Bay Leaves
“Bay leaf is bay leaf — they’re all the same herb”
At least three unrelated plants share the name, from two different plant families, with different active compounds and different evidence bases.
“Bay leaf tea cures diabetes”
A real clinical trial showed real improvement — in fasting glucose and cholesterol, not a cure, and specifically using one species.
“Bay leaf tea dissolves kidney stones”
There is no mechanism by which any bay leaf compound dissolves a formed kidney stone. This claim can delay care that’s actually needed.
“It’s just a garnish — no real chemistry happening”
Eugenol, cineole, and documented polyphenols are doing real anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial work in every pot.
“Leaving a whole leaf in the dish by accident is harmless”
Whole bay leaves never soften in cooking and have documented cases of causing throat and gut injury. Fish them out before serving.
Three Plants, One Confusing Name
Daun Salam
Bay Laurel
Indian Bay / Tejpatta
In the Malaysian Kitchen
Daun salam is the bay leaf that actually belongs to Malaysia — a Myrtaceae native folded into soto, rendang, nasi ulam, and virtually every long-simmered savoury dish. In many households, the daun salam tree in the garden was as ordinary a fixture as the kitchen knife: always there, always free, always dropped fresh into the pot rather than bought dried in a packet. Traditional Malay medicine (Perubatan Melayu) documents daun salam specifically for kencing manis (diabetes), asam urat (gout), and digestive complaints — applications that align precisely with its documented pharmacology.
Laurus nobilis, by contrast, arrived through trade and colonial-era kitchens and now sits in most Malaysian pantries as the dried, imported “bay leaf” from the supermarket spice aisle — used interchangeably with daun salam in recipes despite being an entirely different plant. Indian bay (tejpatta) shows up specifically in biryani and other dishes with South Asian influence, prized for an aroma closer to cinnamon than to either of the other two.
I used to reach for whichever dried bay leaf was in the pantry without a second thought — they all seemed to do the same quiet job in a pot of soup. Writing this properly meant admitting I’d been treating three different plants as interchangeable my whole life, and that the traditional Malay use for asam urat only really lines up with one of them. The daun salam tree in the garden was never “just” a bay leaf. It was the specific one doing specific work.
A Wreath, an Oracle, and a Kitchen Mix-Up
The mythology behind “bay leaf” belongs almost entirely to one of the three plants — and most people cooking with it today have never touched that one.
In Greek mythology, the nymph Daphne begged her father, the river god Peneus, to save her from Apollo’s pursuit. He turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo, still devoted, declared the laurel sacred and wore its leaves as a crown from then on — which is why laurel wreaths became the reward for victorious poets, athletes, and generals across the Greek and Roman world, and why we still talk about someone “resting on their laurels.”
The Pythia, the priestess of the Oracle of Delphi, is popularly said to have chewed laurel leaves before delivering her prophecies, entering a trance-like state to speak for Apollo. Modern historians disagree on exactly what induced her visions — some point to geological gases rising through the temple floor rather than the leaves themselves — but the laurel-chewing image has persisted in popular retelling for over two thousand years regardless.
A famous story with a genuinely uncertain mechanism behind it.
Here’s the twist: the laurel of Apollo, Daphne, and the Oracle is Laurus nobilis — and it is not the bay leaf native to Malaysia. The plant with actual roots in the Malay Archipelago, daun salam, has none of that classical mythology attached to it, despite carrying the stronger traditional-medicine record for conditions like gout in this region. The famous story and the useful plant, in other words, are frequently not the same leaf.
The Science
Same Target as Allopurinol
Daun salam extracts show documented xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity through quercetin and myricetin — the same enzyme target as the standard pharmaceutical gout medication.
Khan et al., 2009 RCT
1–3g Laurus nobilis powder daily for 30 days in Type 2 diabetes patients produced significant reductions in fasting glucose, total cholesterol, and LDL, with improved HDL.
Shared Compound With Cloves
Daun salam and cloves are both Myrtaceae and both contain eugenol — the same COX-2 inhibitory, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial compound, working through the same mechanism.
Shared Compound With Cardamom
Laurus nobilis contains 1,8-cineole, acting on the same TRPV1 pathway documented for cardamom’s anti-inflammatory activity.
Liver Fat Reduction (2025)
A 2025 study found Laurus nobilis leaf water extract reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and inflammation markers in a fatty liver disease model.
Myth-Busting Bay Leaves
“Bay leaf is bay leaf — they’re all the same herb.”
At least three different plants are sold and used as “bay leaf”: daun salam (Syzygium polyanthum, Myrtaceae), Laurus nobilis (Lauraceae), and Indian tejpatta (Cinnamomum tamala, Lauraceae). Different families, different compounds, different traditional uses, and different clinical evidence bases. The blood sugar trial cited online used Laurus nobilis. The gout mechanism research primarily documents daun salam. Matching the right leaf to the right claim actually matters.
“Bay leaf tea cures diabetes.”
The Khan et al. (2009) trial on Laurus nobilis documented real, significant improvements in fasting glucose, cholesterol, and LDL in Type 2 diabetes patients over 30 days. That is genuine evidence. “Cures diabetes” overstates it considerably — this is a documented adjunct effect in a single trial, not a replacement for diagnosis, monitoring, or prescribed treatment.
“Bay leaf tea dissolves kidney stones.”
There is no documented mechanism by which any bay leaf compound — from any of the three species — dissolves a kidney stone that has already formed. Kidney stones require proper medical evaluation and, depending on size and location, medical or surgical intervention. Relying on this petua can delay care that is genuinely needed and allow complications to progress.
“It’s just a garnish — bay leaf doesn’t really do anything chemically.”
Eugenol, 1,8-cineole, quercetin, myricetin, and kaempferol are all documented bioactive compounds present across the three bay leaf species, with real anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activity. The leaf sitting in the pot is doing pharmacological work with every simmer, whether or not it gets eaten.
Petua Corner
Daun salam tea for asam urat (gout). Documented xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity through quercetin and myricetin — the same enzyme target as allopurinol, supported by a small Indonesian clinical study.
Laurus nobilis tea for blood sugar. Real RCT evidence for meaningful improvement in fasting glucose and lipids — a documented complement to management, not a diabetes cure.
Bay leaf tea for kidney stones. No plausible mechanism exists. This petua can delay medical care that is actually needed.
Burning bay leaves for mood or anxiety. Linalool has documented mild anxiolytic activity in animal studies; dedicated human evidence for burning bay leaves specifically is limited.
Daun salam in everyday cooking for digestive comfort. Eugenol’s carminative and anti-inflammatory activity, delivered in normal culinary doses with every pot of rendang or soto.
Honest Limitations
- The strongest human clinical trial evidence (Khan et al., 2009) is specific to Laurus nobilis; daun salam’s evidence base leans more heavily on animal and in vitro studies plus smaller regional trials.
- Commercial “bay leaf” products rarely specify species on the label, which means online reviews and anecdotal claims routinely conflate evidence across three unrelated plants.
- There is no large-scale human research specifically on burning bay leaves for anxiety; the plausibility rests on linalool content and animal studies, not dedicated human trials.
- Traditional uses documented in Perubatan Melayu are specific to daun salam and should not be assumed to transfer automatically to Laurus nobilis or tejpatta.
⚠ Caution
Whole bay leaves — from any of the three species — do not soften during cooking and retain sharp edges and points. Documented cases exist of bay leaves causing throat injury, gastrointestinal perforation, or choking, particularly in children and the elderly. Always remove whole leaves before serving, or use ground/powdered forms where the whole-leaf risk applies.
Kidney stones require proper medical evaluation; do not use bay leaf tea as a substitute for that care. Those on diabetes or gout medication should consult a doctor before combining therapeutic-dose bay leaf preparations with prescribed treatment, given the documented and potentially additive mechanisms.
References
- Studies on xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of Syzygium polyanthum (daun salam) extracts, and Indonesian clinical research on uric acid reduction.
- Khan, A. et al. (2009). Cinnamon and bay leaves improve glucose and lipid profile of people with type 2 diabetes.
- Studies on eugenol’s COX-2 inhibitory and anti-inflammatory activity in Myrtaceae species, including cloves and daun salam.
- Studies on 1,8-cineole and its TRPV1-mediated anti-inflammatory activity in Laurus nobilis and cardamom.
- 2025 study on Laurus nobilis leaf water extract and hepatic lipid accumulation in a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease model.
- Case reports on gastrointestinal and pharyngeal injury from ingested whole bay leaves.