Brazilian Mint Tea for Pain
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 2:00PMThe tea doesn't taste much like mint - more like sage, a plant in the mint family - but it seems to work as well as aspirin to relieve pain, at least when tested on mice. The mint tea has been used in Brazil for centuries to treat headaches, stomachaches and other minor complaints. To learn how it might work, a research team at England's Newcastle University first studied the traditional method of preparing Brazilian mint (Hyptis crenata) tea for medicinal purposes. This involves boiling dried leaves for 30 minutes and allowing the concoction to cool before drinking it. When tested on mice, the tea proved as effective for treatment of pain as a synthetic aspirin, Indometacin. The investigators are now planning clinical trials to see how well the potion works for pain relief in humans. The study results were presented in November at the 2nd International symposium on Medicinal and Nutraceutical Plants and will be published in the journal Acta Horticulturae.
Reader Comments (2)
Dr. Weil, how did the scientists determine that the tea releived pain in mice? I mean, how did they communicate?
Dear Mr. Kensey:
We don't know but if you would like to pursue this:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/hnrc/news/news/item/got-a-pain-have-a-cup-of-brazilian-mint2-copy
and you could contact the lead researcher?