How To Fight Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Mint
Irritable bowel syndrome is a fairly frequent gastrointestinal disease and its symptoms can affect the quality of life of patients who suffer from it. So today we’ll tell you how mint can help improve this condition. Why is it so useful? How does it help fight irritable bowel syndrome?
The symptoms of this disease are usually diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating, predominant constipation, and gas, as indicated in the article Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Some food groups may cause it, although stress can also have a major impact. How can mint help you?
Mint’s properties
Researchers have studied mint in various studies and articles, such as Medicinal plants: main alternative for health care, in the rural town of Babahoyo, Ecuador. What’s it useful for? To treat problems and diseases that are related to the digestive system. For example:
- Gastrointestinal infections
- Intestinal and stomach pains
- Diarrhea
- Gastritis
- Parasites
Read also: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and its Role in Your Diet
The reason that mint can help alleviate all these diseases, in addition to irritable bowel syndrome, is due to its analgesic, antispasmodic, and soothing properties. It also has characteristics that make it an excellent anti-inflammatory and carminative (relieves flatulence).
Why can it help fight irritable bowel syndrome? Because this disease, also known as mucous colitis, alternates between periods of constipation and diarrhea that can be triggered by different foods or even stress.
Therefore if mint can help you better control this disease, you’ll have a natural alternative that you can use whenever you need to.
Mint for irritable bowel syndrome
Now that we know a little more about the reasons that mint can be a great ally to combat this disease, how can you use it to take advantage of all its properties? We’ll take a look at several options from which you can choose the ones that work best for your needs.
Mint tea to fight irritable bowel syndrome
This is the most traditional option and it has two options: buy pre-prepared mint teabags or buy the leaves and make the tea yourself. The first option is easy enough. Let’s see how to make mint tea if you choose the second option.
Ingredients
- 20 grams (0.8 oz) of fresh mint
- Water (16 fl oz)
Preparation
- First, put water in a pot on the stove
- Then, wash the mint well and add it when the water begins to boil
- Once it boils, turn off the heat and cover the pot
- After that, let it sit for about 5 minutes
- Finally, strain and serve
The ingredients should make about 4 cups of mint tea. Drink it when you don’t feel well, or your irritable bowel syndrome symptoms show signs of appearing – to relieve them and improve your well-being.
You should read: How to Treat Indigestion with 5 Homemade Remedies
Mint essential oil
Another way to use mint to fight irritable bowel syndrome is with essential oils. How? Buy some capsules that you can find in any natural store. Depending on the mint content of each capsule, the package will specify how you should take them.
However, it’s normal to take between one and two capsules of mint (about 180-200 mg) every day for about two weeks or a month if you’re going through a phase of the disease that you would consider “acute”. The good thing about the capsules is that you can take them anywhere, so it’s easy to take them when you need them.
Both the tea and the capsules will reduce the pain caused by irritable bowel syndrome. Also, you’ll notice that the other symptoms are much less frequent. Something to keep in mind is that this is a natural remedy. This means that it should take a few days to start seeing its benefits.
We also recommend that if your symptoms don’t improve, you should go to the doctor right away. In addition, we should also note that it’s important to keep a strict diet to avoid the symptoms we already mentioned as much as possible.
Don’t forget about stress either. Practicing meditation, yoga, or some other type of sport, in addition to resting well, will help keep your irritable bowel syndrome as controlled as possible.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Otero W., Gómez M., Sindrome de intestino irritable. Rev Col Gastroenterol, 2005.
- Cash BD., A minty breath of fresh air for irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology, 2020.
- Gallegos Zurita M., Las plantas medicinales: principal alternativa para el cuidado de la salud, en la población rural de Babahoyo, Ecuador. Ana Fac Med, 2016.
