Healthy Aromas

Can you identify what plant this essential oil comes from?

 

 

 

I was the first LifeSavers flavor.

 

 

 

Joey Dee and The Starlighters sang a Top-10 hit about me called “______ Twist” in 1962.

 

 

 

Traditional folk remedy uses me as a digestive aid.

 

 

 

Clinical studies have shown that I significantly reduced the pain in irritable bowel syndrome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My leaves were given as an “after dinner mint.”

 

 

 

 

In India they hang fresh bunches in doorways and open windows allowing the breeze to carry the scent throughout the house. The aroma is said to symbolize hospitality.

 

I am a popular toothpaste flavor.

 

 

 

Even one of Charlie Brown’s friend’s is named after me!

 

 

 

Some people rub me on their foreheads and temples to ease a headache.

 

I am one of the world’s oldest medicinal herbs, with use documented in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

 

 

A red and white striped candy is made with me during the Christmas holidays.

 

 

If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m the ever popular, peppermint oil. This oil is used both for health benefits as well as for flavoring. Many people think it is not safe to eat any essential oils, and they are partially correct. Just as there are some plants that are poisonous, there are some essential oils that should never be eaten. Peppermint, however, is not one of them. Not only is peppermint oil safe to eat, assuming that you buy a pure grade oil, it is one of the most popular flavorings around. Think that is a coincidence? Think again. There is a reason after dinner mints are so popular.

Peppermint oil helps to stimulate bile, thereby aiding digestion. It reduces indigestion and colonic spasms by reducing the gastro colic reflex. So next time you eat something that doesn’t agree with you, consider the health benefits of peppermint oil. Something as simple as a strong breath mint or a drop of peppermint oil in water just might feel as refreshing to your body as it does to your breathe.

Resources:

1. Dew MJ, Evans BK, Rhodes J. Peppermint oil for the irritable bowel syndrome: a multicentre trial. Br J Clin Pract. 1984;(11-12):394, 398.

2. Spirling LI, Daniels IR. Botanical perspectives on health peppermint: more than just an after-dinner mint. J R Soc Health. 2001 Mar;121(1):62-3.