Mint

Peppermint

Scientific Name: Mentha piperita

Part used: Leaf

In a word: Kick Starts the Digestive System

Uses: Indigestion

It appears that just about everybody gets heartburn. In 1992, Americans spent 752 million dollars on digestives and 825 million dollars on antacids. In Britain, people spent 79 million pounds on the same over-the-counter preparations. On the prescription side of things, the picture is even grimmer. Take a look at some of the top-selling drugs prescribed for people whose upset stomachs have gotten to the point that nonprescription medications no longer work:

Zantac – 1.89 billion dollars Tagamet – 620 million dollars

Prilosec – 580 million dollars Pepcid – 481 million dollars

Axid – 330 million dollars Carafate – 160 million dollars

What is even more staggering is the fact that the figures are growing every year. Before long, the whole world will have to take pills to eat! Obviously, something is radically wrong.

There are three sorts of indigestion. The first is caused by a digestive system that doesn’t work very well. Some people end up with indigestion every time they put food in their mouths. They were born with a badly performing digestive tract. The second sort of indigestion is caused by eating something that disagrees with your system, say when you are traveling and your stomach has a run in collision with the local cuisine. The third sort is caused by eating something that you know disagrees with you. Not everything agrees with everybody; some people can eat Mexican food, for example, and others can’t. The amazing thing is that many of them go ahead and do it anyway.

Mint takes care of the problem at hand and works to improve the overall functioning of the stomach as well.

Let’s start with the third sort of indigestion, as this is one of my pet peeves. I am acquainted with an endless list of men and women who knowingly eat food that upsets their stomachs. There is nothing wrong with their stomachs – the problem is with their heads or lack thereof. If you eat food that you know is going to upset your stomach, you can consider yourself a candidate for admission into this club of morons.

People with the first sort of indigestion, on the other hand, have my full sympathy. There are different theories as to why this problem, which tends to run in families, occurs, but it is likely due to the insufficient production of some sort of necessary digestive juice or the overproduction of another. The list of potential reasons for chronic indigestion is long – poor construction of the stomach, overly active nerves, and many other factors. People who have had their gall bladders removed suffer from chronic upset stomachs for similar reasons – an imbalance of the necessary digestive juices.

The second sort just happens from time to time. There are occasions when you eat something that just doesn’t sit well. You, too, have my sympathy, and for you, I’ve got great news: there is an herb that will help you out with your problem. Indeed, for all three sorts of indigestion, peppermint will help.

The plant we will use to treat indigestion is not like the medication we purchase over the counter or by prescription. Antacids and stomach tranquilizers merely mask the problem, and in fact, they often create new ones. When you take an antacid, it neutralizes stomach acids. The trouble is, those acids are there for a reason: to digest your food. If you are already having a digestive disturbance, the last thing you want to do is disturb the balance even more my introducing chemicals into the system. With stomach tranquilizers, all you are doing is easing the pain or halting the production of stomach acids. The problem that caused the pain is still down in your belly. You just can’t feel it. With both treatments, the reason your stomach is upset in the first place is never addressed. This is great for doctors and drug companies who would just as soon have you come back for another prescription, but it is not so great for your or your stomach. With peppermint, we will depart from this symptom-treating business and attack the causes of your indigestion.

You may have noticed that almost all nonprescription acid-stomach preparations are mint flavored. Sure, mint has a nice taste, but that’s not the reason it is there. Mint is one of the oldest treatments for indigestion going, and its inclusion to this day in pharmaceutical formulas is due to the plant’s ability to settle problem stomachs. The Lewis Materia Medica published in 1799 recommends peppermint:

For flatulent colics, languor, hysterical affections, retchings and other dyspeptic symptoms, acting as a cordial and often producing immediate relief, from its stomachic, antispasmodic and carminative qualities. It seems to act as soon as taken, and extend its effect through the whole system, instantly communicating a glowing warmth. Water extracts of the whole pungency of this herb by infusion.

You will note that the plant is said to have an immediate impact on the stomach, much like a tranquilizer or antacid. The difference is that mint takes care of the problem at hand and works to improve the overall functioning of the stomach as well. It doesn’t hurt in the process of helping, and in the case of chronic indigestion, it will strengthen the stomach so it can digest food properly in the future.

What we call mint is really any number of plants belonging to the Labiatae family, all of which produce the characteristic minty scent when the leaves are crushed. The most medicinal of the mints is Mentha piperita, peppermint, and when you are looking for mint to use for the stomach, make sure you specify peppermint.

Originally native to the Mediterranean region, the plant can be found all over the planet due to its voracious growing habits and its usefulness to humankind. Though stomach abuse is currently at an all-time high, poor eating habits have been a problem throughout human history, and mint’s medicinal use predates the Bible. The ancient Romans carried it with them wherever thy colonized; the relief it offered was much needed at the end of an orgy. To this day, the Arabians brew it into tea and chop it into salads, the Asian Indians include it in chutney recipes, the British make its juice into jellies to be served with heavy meat dishes, and the Germans, famous for their light cuisine, concoct it into schnapps as an after-dinner drink. In all these cases, the motive for including mint in the diet is to improve digestion and avoid indigestion.

If you look at peppermint’s medicinal actions, you will see that it is indeed an all-purpose indigestion treatment. The list of ways in which peppermint improves the stomach’s functioning is so long that it could make a book in itself. I think a ninth-century monk put it best when he said: "If you wish to enumerate completely all the virtues, kinds, and names of mint, you would be capable of saying how many fish swim in the Red Sea." Its actions are carminative (antigas), anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antiemetic (preventing vomiting), nervine (soothing to the nerves), antimicrobial, and last but not least analgesic or painkilling. With all these actions working together, the result is an end to your misery.

Stomach upset is often due to muscle spasms in the digestive tract that cause discomfort and pain, and chemicals contained in peppermint have the ability to relax these muscles. Oils in the plant act as an anesthetic to the lining of the stomach walls, thus deadening the tissues’ sensitivity to the acids naturally present. This anaesthetic quality helps to quell the urge to vomit, which is caused by nerves in the stomach. The antimicrobial elements will knock out bacteria if that is the source of your discomfort.

As we have already learned, the digestive tract is wildly impacted by the nervous system. In some cases, this close association so necessary to life can turn around and bite us in the butt, and a disturbance in our emotional life can equally disturb our digestive life. Chemicals contained in peppermint sooth the nerves that innervate the stomach so that the pain and discomfort we feel goes away.

Most importantly, peppermint facilitates digestion by stimulating the secretion of bile and digestive juices that break down the food we eat. If these juices are not produced sufficiently, or if there has been an abnormally large intake of food, undigested food can begin to decay in the stomach, which doesn’t feel great. A cup of mint tea will get the digestive juices flowing and doing their job so that the food can move on down the line. When you have indigestion, the last thing you want to do is neutralize stomach acids – without them, your food can’t be properly processed.

If you know that you are heading into a stressful situation, make yourself a thermos full of mint tea. Start drinking it before the scene starts and keep on drinking it all the way through. This tip comes from my sister who always brings her antacids with her on trips to her in-laws’ house. She starts taking them half an hour before the visit starts and keeps at it until she is on her way home. Some day I hope to get her off the chewables and onto peppermint (my zeal for the natural is not a genetic thing). An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Isn’t that how the saying goes?

When it comes to indigestion and all the millions of people who suffer from it, we again see the extent to which we have departed from natural living. There is nothing more natural than eating, and it simply shouldn’t hurt. In 1920, Dr. Rollo Thomas observed:

 The most common causes of acute gastritis are errors in diet or method of eating. We live in an age where competition is strong and travel at a pace incompatible with health. The business man hurries through his meal, only partially masticating his food, and washing it down with large quantities of fluid. Children catch the infection, and hurry through meals in order to reach school or resume play, and this continued rush of American life is productive in a high degree of stomach disorders.

That was 75 years ago, and the pace of life certainly hasn’t gotten any slower as we approach the year 2000.

People who suffer from chronic indigestion might want to adopt a more relaxed lifestyle before resorting to any drugs, natural or otherwise. Remember, a poorly function digestive tract may have serious consequences later on down the road, as in you might not live to spend all that money you are working so hard to retire on!

Before we get into this too far, let me repeat myself. Eating foods that upset your stomach is stupid. All those advertisements on TV telling you that you can abuse yourself by eating foods that do not agree with you, take a medicine, and have it all better are lies. Those miracle drugs are simply covering up your abuse. There is a price to pay for abusing your body and it is an expensive one. Clean up your act before thinking about using peppermint.

Practically speaking, there are two instances when peppermint is used. The first is in chronic indigestion. In this case , it works when you use it on a regular basis and when you flood the gut with it. If you can keep peppermint tea around and make certain that you have at least three cups a day, great. Otherwise, you are better off using peppermint tincture. You can keep a little bottle in your bag or brief case and give yourself a dose three times a day, wherever you are. In the case of the occasional digestive drama, the peppermint should be used three times a day while you are feeling upset and should be continued for a week following the symptoms disappearing. A little time spent undoing any damage that may have been done is time well spent.

Directions: Tincture (1:5, 45% alcohol): 2.5ml three times daily after meals