Peppermint - medicinal properties and contraindications for health

Of the three hundred kinds of mint, the most popular is peppermint. The healing properties and contraindications of this plant will be described in this article. Aromatic spicy plant - peppermint is familiar to each of us. It is widely used in official and folk medicine, cooking, cosmetology.

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Peppermint - what kind of plant is it

Peppermint is a herbaceous perennial that grows to 50-80 cm. It begins to be harvested from the middle of summer (July-August), when the budding period comes. Since it is with the onset of the phase of flower formation that medicinal herbs begin to accumulate their most valuable ingredient - essential peppermint oil. Flowering mint from June to September.

Photo of peppermint:

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Peppermint, application

Peppermint contains tannic substances, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, ethers, bitterness, menthol. The glands of the leaf contain essential oil, and the main component of this oil is menthol. It is menthol that gives mint bactericidal properties, as well as a characteristic recognizable taste, a smell. After collection it is preferable to dry mint in the open air, it can be stored for 2 years.

The most commonly used dosage of mint infusion is 5 grams of leaves per 1 cup of boiling water. After insisting (15 minutes), take a quarter cup of the inside every 3 hours. Or a more concentrated version: 1 tablespoon with a slide poured into 1 glass of boiling water, insists in a thermos for about an hour. After straining take 1-2 tablespoons 5 times a day.

Found peppermint leaves peppery application in folk, official medicine, and equally successfully used dried or fresh raw materials. Various charges with mint are used for the treatment of diseases, as well as for their prevention. Teas, decoctions, tinctures - both independent, and in combination with other medicinal herbs are one of the old medicinal potions widely used today. A lot of modern medicines, heart drops contain peppermint extract in its composition.

Leaves peppermint (fresh or dried, ground) are used to prepare various dishes, desserts. Peppermint acts as a spice to meat or fish, jam is cooked from it, added during the preparation of cocktails, alcoholic beverages, put in baking. Add it to various teas for weight loss, soups, sauces, vegetable dishes, salads.

Even in cosmetology, peppermint has found its calling: it is added to masks for hair, body, compresses, creams. Extract, essential oil from it is an ingredient for toothpastes, shampoos, soaps, and many other care products. Mint oil is a frequently used note in perfumery.

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Peppermint - harm and benefit

Menthol contained in mint dilates coronary vessels, is famous for its antiseptic, local anesthetic, antispasmodic effect. The list of useful qualities of this plant is quite wide, we consider the main properties:

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1. A sedative, partially sedative effect, as a result of which peppermint is used for insomnia, nervous irritability. The curative effect is achieved by drinking tea or decoction from the leaves.
2. Improves the work of the gastrointestinal tract, has an anti-inflammatory effect, relieves mild pain, relieves spasms of the stomach, intestines.
3. It alleviates the condition when swelling, flatulence, stops the processes of putrefaction, fermentation.
4. Has antiemetic effect.
5. Has choleretic effect.
6. Teas, decoctions are used to treat diseases of the kidneys, the bladder.
7. With skin irritations, itching uses compresses or baths from broth of mint.

The therapeutic property of peppermint is used for bronchitis, colds, cardiovascular diseases, migraine, dental neurology.

However, with all its useful characteristics, mint can harm. Fortunately, the list of warnings is small, but these points should be taken into account.

• If you suffer from low blood pressure, then taking mint tea will only exacerbate the condition.
• For lactating or pregnant women, peppermint is undesirable, but it also helps to cope with toxicosis, as it is one of the best natural antiemetics. In such cases, you need to discuss this issue with your doctor, perhaps in your particular case the reception of this plant will bring only positive results.
• Contraindications to peppermint spread to people who suffer from varicose veins, as it is capable of reducing the tone of blood vessels.
• If you are going to get behind the wheel, it is better not to use mint tea - it lowers concentration, promotes drowsiness. Brewing tea or broth always observe the dosage, exceeding it leads to apathy, loss of vivacity.
• You can not use peppermint for the treatment of infants - it can provoke a stop of breathing. In general, for children, it is undesirable, it is better to discuss the intake of mint-containing drugs in advance with a doctor.
• There is an opinion that this plant is able to suppress libido in men, so the male sex should not be abused by the same mint tea.
• Women who have fertility problems should also exclude or restrict the intake of mint-containing teas, medications, as this can only exacerbate the situation.
• If you suffer from individual intolerance to menthol, it is understandable that mint can not be consumed.

It remains to add that for cooking broths (infusions) it is better to use purified or thawed water. To achieve a permanent preventive effect, mint tea is best used regularly in the morning, on an empty stomach.

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This plant is absolutely unpretentious, it can be accommodated at your dacha, that is, always at your fingertips. Before the use of raw materials, it is best to grind it, so that it becomes possible to maximally release the positive qualities of the medicinal essential oil.

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The main thing, remember - in whatever form peppermint is used, the medicinal properties and contraindications of the plant should be studied, accounted for.