After indulging on Christmas dinner, are you in search of a simple & delicious remedy to enhance your digestion? Look no further than peppermint. Traditional medicines from the east and west have long used peppermint to ease an upset stomach. I love this simple (and sweet!) addition to help soothe your gut and improve your digestion.
How does it work? The power of the peppermint plant comes from the alcohol menthol found within its leaves.
Peppermint works as a digestive aide because menthol impairs calcium transmembrane transit and relaxes intestinal smooth muscle (1, 2).
Calcium and magnesium work as a team to contract and relax the muscles in our bodies. Calcium signals for muscles contraction, while magnesium is necessary to promote muscle relaxation. Peppermint is interacting with this dynamic duo to enhance the relaxed phase of the muscle.
By relaxing the muscles of your intestine, nutrients can be more effectively digested and absorbed into the cells of your body. Think about trying to analyze and process important information while you are in a heightened state of stress. It’s just NOT HAPPENING! Your immediate response is to freak out and reject added stimuli. In a state of stress your body is not able to analyze and process information in the clear way you can when your body is relaxed. Same goes for the intestine. Instead of reacting to food with reflux (a.k.a. heartburn) / nausea / stomach cramping / gas / constipation / diarrhea, your gut can embrace and assimilate nutrients with ease.
Who doesn’t want to chill out on the inside? The best part is that peppermint doesn’t have the undesirable side effects that accompany our standard, over-the-counter medicines. In a review of scientific literature on the subject, Natural Medicines cite that peppermint is well tolerated by patients and likely effective for use in the management of irritable bowel (3). With so much to offer, I encourage you to try introducing this sweet little plant to your diet.
Easy ways to add peppermint to your diet:
- Infuse your water with mint leaves.
- Sip on peppermint tea after meals.
- Ingest small amounts of peppermint oil* – 550 mg once daily or 187 mg three times per day (1). Add a drop or two to your water, or a drop under your tongue.
This list ranges from least potent (infused water) to most (pure peppermint oil). My personal favorite is the mint tea – it’s a sweet, refreshing treat after meals and really helps to settle my stomach. I have even tried adding a drop of peppermint oil under my nose and find the smell alone to be relaxing.
Although plant remedies are often overlooked in our culture, they can be very effective in improving your gut health. Your gut is constantly working for you – it acts as a direct connection between the external world and your internal being. Show this major organ some love this season by trying some seasonally appropriate peppermint.
*Remember that these products are not FDA-regulated, so there will be product variability between different brands and between different batches produced by the same company. Even without product regulation, peppermint oil has been well studied and found to be well tolerated by patients for the treatment of IBS (1,3).
References:
1. Trinkley K and Nahata M. Medication management of irritable bowel syndrome. Digestion. 2014; 89:253-267.
2. Valussi M. Functional foods with digestion-enhancing properties. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 2012; 63(S1):82-89.
3. Natural Medicines. Peppermint Professional Monograph. https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/databases/food,-herbs-supplements/professional.aspx?productid=705.
The possible benefit of peppermint to ease symptoms of IBS is also cited in: Katz DL, Friedman RSC, Lucan SC. Nutrition in Clinical Practice. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer; 2015.