The peppermint plant grows throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The United States harvests 75 percent of the world's supply of peppermint oil during the dry summer months just before the plant blooms and the oil content peaks. Valued for centuries as both an aromatic and medicinal herb, current research further endorses peppermint oil as a treatment option for irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.
History
Carbon dating places peppermint leaves in ancient Egyptian pyramids. The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that the ancient Greeks probably used the peppermint leaf internally as a digestive aid and inhaled it to reduce respiratory symptoms.
Peppermint oil's first published account came in London's "Pharmacopoeia" in 1721. Today, the properties of peppermint oil are used to ease chest congestion, act as a local anesthetic, and soothe upset stomachs, including the symptoms associated with IBS.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS effects up to 20 percent of the U.S. population and causes chronic bouts of abdominal pain and altered bowel movements. A 2008 article in the "British Medical Journal" sums up a number of medical studies that looked at fiber, antispasmodic agents, and peppermint oil, and concluded that all seemed effective in treating patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
Peppermint Oil and the GI Tract
Menthol may be the most important component of peppermint oil. Menthol interacts with the stomach's smooth muscle at the chemical level and causes it to relax. This same action also works to calm the walls of the intestine and reduce the occurrence of spasms.
Peppermint Oil and IBS
People who suffer from IBS complain primarily of flatulence, bloating, abdominal pain and stool frequency. In 1997, the Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan conducted one of the largest studies on peppermint and the treatment of IBS. The results looked promising. As published in "The American Journal of Gastroenterology," physicians reported significant improvement in these particular IBS symptoms in patients who received peppermint.
More recent studies concluded with less promising data, although critics point out that the generalized and wide criteria used in the recent studies perhaps skewed the results downward.
Enteric Coating
Peppermint oil, as it relaxes the smooth muscles in the stomach and intestines, also releases the sphincter muscle in the esophagus. This allows stomach acid to flow back up the esophagus and cause indigestion or, in more severe cases, gasteresophageal reflux disease, or GERD. To avoid this backflow of acid, always take enteric-coated peppermint. Enteric coating prevents peppermint from dissolving in the stomach.
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