Spearmint

Spearmint

• Spearmint is a mint plant that grows in Europe, Asia, and the United States. It is used as a flavoring in the food industry.

Dosage:

• Doses varied in studies but included two cups of pure spearmint tea, 900 mg daily of spearmint. Duration varied as well from weeks to months. The main use for spearmint includes:

• Cognition: When compared to placebo, spearmint may improve mood and working memory in older adults with ageassociated memory problems.

• However, there are conflicting studies that show that spearmint gum does not improve cognition. In healthy adults, attention may improve when taking spearmint but not memory.

• IBS: A small study looked at improvement in abdominal pain in patients with IBS after taking 30 drops of a combined solution containing spearmint, coriander, and lemon balm along with psyllium or loperamide. While scores improved, it was not clear if it was the individual products or the combination that improved symptoms.

• Hirsutism: There are some studies that concluded that spearmint for the dosing and duration above may improve hirsutism. One randomized-control trial showed that people with PCOS perceived their hirsutism improved with improvement in testosterone levels.

• The duration of tracked patients over 30 days and had patients report a subjective assessment of their hirsutism. However, objectively it seemed that the amount of hair was actually not reduced.

• Osteoarthritis: A study in 2014 did show that spearmint may improve pain in osteoarthritic patients. However, the study did not have a control group to compare and based the scores on subjective pain scoring.

Safety:

• The dosage used in foods is safe for adults, children, and pregnant patients. However, doses at higher doses may not be safe.

Medication Interactions:

• Spearmint may interact with drugs that can cause liver damage or CNS depression.