Spearmint tea for wellbeing
February 24, 2016

Phytother Res. 2010. Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial.

Spearmint tea tested for hirsutism (excess body hair) help
Turkish researchers from Suleyman Demirel University in Isparta report that women with excess body hair, a condition known as hirsutism, who drank two cups of spearmint herbal tea a day for five days showed significant reductions in their levels of free testosterone. The researchers previously noted that drinking peppermint tea seemed to lower sex drive in some men, which prompted them to investigate spearmint as an anti-hirsutism treatment. The researchers had 21 women with hirsutism drink a tea prepared from a heaping teaspoon of dried spearmint leaves twice daily. Twelve of the women had polycystic ovary syndrome, while the rest had hirsutism with no known cause. After five days, the women's levels of free testosterone (the biologically active form) declined, although their total testosterone level stayed the same.
   Comments: Previous research has indicated that licorice could also be helpful. Perhaps a woman with hirsutism, in addition to weight loss and exercise, could alternate the use of spearmint tea and licorice tea or take a licorice supplement.

Indian J Biochem Biophys. 2014. In vitro anticancer activity of extracts of Mentha Spp. against human cancer cells. In vitro anticancer potential of methanolic and aqueous extracts of whole plants of Mentha arvensis, M. longifolia, M. spicata and M. viridis at concentration of 100 μg/ml was evaluated against eight human cancer cell lines. The results indicate that Mentha Spp. contain certain constituents with cytotoxic properties which may find use in developing anticancer agents.