phudina :

General Use:

Peppermint is mostly used as a flavouring agent for foods like meat, fish, sauces, soups, tea, tobacco, cordials etc. Peppermint oil is used for flavouring in mouth washes, tooth pastes etc. Peppermint is commonly used as a home remedy to treat stomach disorders, theumatism. It is also used in ointments for headaches, cough drops etc. Peppermint oil and dried Peppermint leaves are antiseptic, carminative, refrigerant, stimulant and diuretic.

Therapeutic Uses:

The leaves are used with their intense minty scent, which is clearly notable when rubbed - it comes from the essential oil contained in the leaves.

Systemic Use:

Peppermint leaves

Internally for spasms and cramps in the stomach-intestinal tract and bile ducts, associated with flatulence (Commission E, ESCOP). The HMPC has classified peppermint leaves as a traditional herbal medicinal product (see "traditional use").

Peppermint oil

Internal use as described for the drug, the oil is applied externally in particular for irritable bowel syndrome and catarrh of the upper respiratory tracts, but also as an inhalant (Commission E, ESCOP).

Externally as a rub for myalgia (muscle pain) and neuralgia (nerve pain), particularly for tension headaches and skin symptoms such as itching, hives, painful skin irritation (ESCOP).

The HMPC has accepted peppermint oil for internal use as being effective against cramp pains in the gastrointestinal tract (especially irritable bowel syndrome), and for external use only the action against tension headaches for "well-established medicinal use"

Administration:

Peppermint leaves (Mentha piperitae folium)

Peppermint leaves dried extract (Menthae piperitae folii extractum siccum)

Peppermint oil (Menthae piperitae aetheroleum)

Pharmacological:

Herbalists consider peppermint as an astringent, antiseptic, antipruritic, antiemetic, carminative, vermifuge, diaphoretic, analgestic. The plant extract possesses radioprotective, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antitumorgenic,antinociceptive,antiandrogenic,antiallergic, antispasmodic, anticatarrhal properties amongst others.

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