IN SHORT: Claims about the health benefits of hot water infused with cloves range from unproven to outright myths. There’s no evidence that this home remedy can cure infertility, “clean the womb”, or provide other sexual and reproductive health benefits.
“Soak cloves in hot water and drink the water,” begins a message that has been widely shared and translated into various languages on Facebook and Instagram.
The message claims that drinking this infusion has various sexual and reproductive health benefits.
It includes an image of cloves soaking in a glass of water. While it may look like a stock photo at first glance, this image has been artificially generated. This is apparent in the image’s visual artefacts and errors, such as the misshapen cloves. The image also bears the “Imagined with AI” watermark, which is added to images generated by Meta’s image generation tool, Imagine.
But even if the image is fake, are any of the health benefits claimed in this message true? We checked.
Claims unsupported, already debunked, or impossible
A typical post claims: “Cloves cure female infertility, restores menstruation,it helps vagina tightening ,cures yeast infections, it is good for the skin, boost libido,clove water also cleans the womb of stale blood.drinking clove water boost male and female libido and desire .drink in the morning and evening.”
The typos and grammatical errors in the post are common indications of an untrustworthy source; they suggest that this message has not been carefully written or checked.
No source is cited for any of these claims, which is already a red flag. But beyond simply being unproven, some of these claims are outright falsehoods.
For example, it is a myth that the vagina can be “tightened” with herbal remedies. Africa Check previously contacted Dr Linda Rogers, a senior specialist at the University of Cape Town’s obstetrics and gynaecology department. She said: “The size of the vagina depends on the individual woman, and whether there has been any nerve, fascia or muscle damage as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, trauma or surgery.”
It is normal for the vagina to stretch during sexual intercourse, childbirth or to accommodate objects like tampons, but barring damage of the kind Rogers mentioned, this is temporary. It does not permanently affect the “tightness” of the vagina.
Africa Check has previously debunked the claim that water infused with cloves can cure infertility. There is no evidence that cloves can cure any form of infertility, and if you have difficulty conceiving, you should consult a doctor to determine the possible causes and solutions.
Similarly, there is no evidence that clove-infused water “restores menstruation”. Amenorrhea, or an absence of menstruation, may have many causes, and there is no reason that a single treatment could address all of them.
Potential causes may be entirely natural and include pregnancy and menopause. However, amenorrhea is also a side effect of some medications, conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, and lifestyle factors such as stress. Like infertility, the treatment for a lack of menstruation should be decided based on medical advice from a doctor or other professional after assessing possible causes.
Existing research into cloves and sexual health is limited
Cloves have been used in traditional medicines in several countries, and some research has been done into whether they actually have reproductive health benefits. However, the results are inconclusive and extremely limited.
Even where the results are promising, most of this research has overwhelmingly been conducted on small groups of rats and other animals. This is poor evidence to determine the effects of a substance on human health.
As Africa Check wrote in this guide to evaluating health claims: “To determine whether a treatment is safe and effective, it must undergo an extensive protocol of clinical testing where it is first deemed safe for human consumption and is then given to a large sample of people to determine whether it is effective.”
Until conclusive evidence exists to confirm them, claims that cloves can do things like boost libido or cure yeast infections should be treated as unproven.
Even if cloves have some health benefits, trials would be required to know what dosages are effective, whether they are safe, and whether they are more effective than other treatments. If you are concerned about your health, consult a doctor.
