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Chapter 1 of 18

Peppermint

The Essentials

A flowering peppermint plant in a garden bed, toothed dark green leaves in pairs along square stems topped with pale flower spikes
Peppermint (na'na felfeli) grows as a spreading plant of toothed leaves on square stems — crush one leaf to know it.

Enteric-coated peppermint oil is the best-supported non-prescription therapy for irritable bowel syndrome — multiple meta-analyses (a study that pools the results of many trials) of RCTs show reduced global IBS symptoms and abdominal pain.

The cooling aroma of menthol is the classical Persian remedy for a queasy stomach, a heavy head, and a bloated evening.

Peppermint tea is the household form; enteric-coated capsules are the therapeutic form. Concentrated essential oil (the concentrated aromatic oil of the plant) is external only.

Peppermint relaxes the lower oesophageal sphincter — the one setting where the same mechanism that helps IBS can worsen reflux (GERD).