Reply To: Nutritional Therapeutics
Hello Claudia,
I would say that if you have GERD, peppermint may be a trigger for acid reflux. Eating the mint fresh in small doses may not be bothersome, and if drinking the tea doesn’t cause acid reflux or any symptom associated with GERD, I’d say it’s probably fine to have. For some folks with GERD, peppermint is a strong trigger that causes symptoms shortly after consuming. To my knowledge, spearmint doesn’t exacerbate GERD, so that might be safe to take with the recommendation of monitoring symptoms (ie. if they get worse after consuming). I don’t personally have enough experience in the clinic with peppermint, but do remember it was an absolute contraindication for folks with GERD or hiatal hernia. I would say that if you’re recommending or formulating herbs for a client or loved one with GERD, stick to other digestive herbs like chamomile or fennel. If you’re the one with GERD, and you have no digestive discomfort after consuming small amounts of fresh mint or tea, then continue to do so!
I dug a little into the research, and found this snippet from a study that might give you some more insight:
“We also found no significant differences between diagnosed and undiagnosed patients in this study regarding the frequency and timing of consuming mint drinks. On the other hand, a prior study by Jarosz and Taraszewska (2014) found that regular use of peppermint tea increases the chance of developing GERD. Mint may be a trigger for GERD patients, according to data from earlier studies (Newberry and Lynch, 2019). However, such an impact might account for a small portion of GERD patients. This has been reported by older studies that demonstrated the physiological effect of mint in inducing rapid esophageal sphincter relaxation. However, research has shown that only a small percentage of GERD patients often experience exacerbations. Additionally, prior research on animals demonstrated that peppermint oil might calm the smooth muscles of the alimentary tract. Additionally, Oliveria et al., noted that 8% of their heartburn patients complained after ingesting peppermint. On the other hand, prior research has shown that peppermint consumption was not linked to reflux episodes. As a result, future investigations need to investigate this link more thoroughly.”
Here is the link if you want to read more – https://discoveryjournals.org/medicalscience/current_issue/v26/n130/ms550e2613.pdf
I hope this helps!
Riley