Did you know that peppermint, one of the most widely known and popular herbs available in the world today, is a hybrid of spearmint and watermint plant? Its essential oil is derived from steam distillation of the aerial parts of the plant and it is probably the most versatile essential oil, together with lavender oil!

Peppermint oil has wide-ranging benefits and medicinal properties, from being able to augment your health to being used as a flavoring agent in foods and beverages. In fact, it is one of the oldest European herbs used for medicinal purposes, but its use does not stop in the European world. Even the ancient Chinese and Japanese used peppermint as part of their folk medicine.

Read on to find out why peppermint oil is so potent and useful for your health, and you just might be convinced to get one bottle for yourself to add in your essential oils collection.

Health Benefits of Peppermint Essential Oil:

1. Offers Pain Relief

Peppermint oil is especially useful in soothing aching muscles, stiff joints, a sore back and even a throbbing headache. It is a very effective natural painkiller and it relaxes your muscles. Not only that, it has cooling properties which helps to soothe the pain away and even reduce swelling arising from such soreness, stiffness and ache.

A 2009 study published in the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia found that a topical application of a combination of essential oils, that is of menthol, peppermint, eucalyptus, capsaicin and other herbal preparations may be helpful in relieving painful muscular conditions such as fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome.

A 1994 study published in Cephalalgia: An International Journal of Headache also found that peppermint oil led to increased cognitive performance and had a muscle-relaxing and mentally relaxing effect, with a significant analgesic effect that saw a reduction in sensitivity to headache in the 32 healthy test subjects. This thus illustrates how peppermint oil is an exceptional painkiller agent.

How to Use it: For headaches, dilute peppermint oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil and rub on your forehead and temples for pain relief. For sore joints and muscular aches, you can mix peppermint oil and lavender oil together in a tub of warm, bathing water to soak inside. Alternatively, you can mix peppermint oil with a carrier oil and massage topically onto affected areas.

2. Offers Respiratory Comfort

Peppermint oil is also a great aid for your respiratory health, as it is able to alleviate most of the problems of the nasal and respiratory passageways. With its expectorant properties, it can help clear out excess phlegm and mucus, thus promoting freer and an unobstructed breathing passageway. This ultimately helps to provide relief from colds, cough, sinusitis, asthma and even bronchitis.

If you are suffering from nasal allergies, then using peppermint oil also helps in relaxing the muscles in the nasal passageways and clear out the mucus and pollen which are discomforting.

A 2010 study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology notes that peppermint oil exhibited antispasmodic activity on rat trachea, thus illustrating its expectorant and anti-congestive properties.

How to Use it: To clear seasonal allergies, try diffusing peppermint oil along with clove oil and eucalyptus oil to reduce the symptoms. Likewise, for other respiratory problems, diffusing peppermint oil in your diffuser or vaporizer would drastically help to alleviate the conditions.

3. Supports Mental Health

Peppermint oil is also known to be able to improve memory and concentration levels. It helps to alleviate fatigue levels and soothes away stress, tension and anxiety. This will undoubtedly help you to concentrate and focus better for an important test or work decision. Therefore, instead of relying on unhealthy energy drinks, try inhaling peppermint oil instead for a natural pick-me-up to last you as you need to burn some midnight oil!

Since it has the ability to boost concentration and make you more alert, it is also a great support for children who have Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They may have trouble concentrating on a given task, so using peppermint oil might potentially be a great help in getting them to focus and to stay alert.

How to Use it: Diffuse peppermint oil in a diffuser or vaporizer and put it on your work desk table. Alternatively, you can spritz some peppermint oil onto your child’s shirt before he/she needs to do some serious studying or rub a small amount of diluted peppermint oil under her nose.

4. To Promote a Smoother Skin Complexion

One of the most popular and best uses of peppermint oil is its ability to alleviate skin problems, such as acne, psoriasis and eczema naturally. It has calming effects on skin inflammation, thus helping to soothe redness and inflamed skin. With antibacterial properties, it also helps to get rid of the bacteria lingering on the skin, which is the main cause of acne growing and spreading on your face.

How to Use it: To relieve eczema and psoriasis, try mixing lavender and peppermint essential oils together and apply. To relieve acne, you can mix peppermint oil with coconut or jojoba oils and apply onto the affected areas.

5. Supports the Digestive System

Peppermint oil is also a helpful agent when it comes to digestion. It is a carminative that works to remove excess gas in the stomach and intestines and its antispasmodic nature greatly helps to relax the gastrointestinal muscles, which thus prevents any unnecessary convulsions and cramps resulting in pain. Thus, this helps to get rid of bloating and indigestion symptoms.

Peppermint oil is also widely researched to be efficacious in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This is supported by a 2007 research study published in the Official Journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology whereby 75% of the patients in the peppermint oil group showed a >50% reduction of basal total irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, as compared to 38% in the placebo control group. As such, the researchers concluded that a 4 weeks treatment with peppermint oil actually helped improve abdominal symptoms in patients with IBS.

Not only that, the essential oil of peppermint is a great tonic in treating motion sickness, nausea and upset stomachs.

How to Use it: Try adding 1 drop of peppermint oil into a glass of water and ensure proper dilution with the water before drinking it. To reduce nausea, you can diffuse it or rub 1-2 drops of diluted peppermint oil behind your ears.

6. Promotes Hair Growth

Did you know that peppermint oil is frequently added to a variety of high quality hair care products? Indeed, because peppermint oil helps to remove dandruff and lice as well as nourishes dry and damaged hair. Its antiseptic and soothing qualities help to relieve irritation of the scalp while its regenerative qualities facilitate hair growth. This thus makes your hair much healthier and more radiant.

How to Use it: Simply add 2-3 drops of peppermint oil into your current shampoo and conditioner and use as per normal.

7. Helps to Reduce Bacteria in the Mouth

The essential oil of peppermint also helps to augment oral health as its antimicrobial qualities kill off bacteria in the mouth, thus preventing bad breath and freshening up your breath. According to a 2013 study published in the European Journal of Dentistry, peppermint oil exhibited significant inhibitory effects against four common oral pathogens - S. aureus, Enterococcus fecalis, E. coli and C. albicans bacterial strains.

It also helps to reduce cavities and peppermint oil is widely believed to be able to perform better than the mouthwash chemicals chlorhexidine!

How to Use it: Add 2-3 drops of peppermint oil into your toothpaste or you can even add it to a cup of water to be used as a mouthwash solution to get rid of bad breath and reduce the prevalence of oral infections/diseases.

8. May Potentially Help In Cancer Treatments

A 2009 study carried out by researchers from the Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea found that menthol, a naturally occurring compound from peppermint oil, actually induces cell death associated with prostate cancer. This hence helps to inhibit prostate cancer growth.

Of course, more research still needs to be done to determine the oil’s efficacy in preventing cancer in the human body but such initial results are undoubtedly promising!

Other benefits and uses of peppermint essential oil include its ability to provide relief from sunburns, to repel bugs, insects and other harmful parasites and as a potent anti-itch agent.

Safety Precautions:

• When applying topically, it is necessary to dilute peppermint oil with carrier oils in a 1:1 ratio, because undiluted peppermint oil is highly concentrated and can cause skin irritations.

• Perform a skin patch test first to ensure that you do not have any allergic or sensitive reactions.

• Peppermint oil is generally safe to be ingested, but always purchase a high-quality, top-grade and 100% pure peppermint essential oil from a reliable and reputable seller.

• Always consult your doctor before proceeding to take peppermint oil internally, especially if you have preexisting medical conditions and are under prescribed medication, because such medications can potentially interact with peppermint oil to produce unwanted consequences.

• Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid using peppermint essential oil because not enough research has been done about its safety during pregnancy and lactation.

References:

H C Chandola, Arunangshu Chakraborty, “Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome-A Dilemma”, Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (2009); 53(5)

Gobel H, Schmidt G, Soyka D, “Effect of peppermint and eucalyptus oil preparations on neurophysiological and experimental algesimetric headache parameters”, Cephalalgia (1994); 14(3)

Albertina Antonielly Sydney de Sousa, et al., “Antispasmodic effect of Mentha piperita essential oil on tracheal smooth muscle of rats”, Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2010); 130(2)

Cappello G, et al., “Peppermint oil (Mintoil) in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective double blind placebo-controlled randomized trial”, Digestive and Liver Disease (2007); 39(6)

Nilima Thosar, et al., “Antimicrobial efficacy of five essential oils against oral pathogens: An in vitro study”, European Journal of Dentistry (2013)

Kim SH, et al., “Menthol regulates TRPM8-independent processes in PC-3 prostate cancer cells”, PubMed (2009); 1792(1)