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Noticing that the waist circumference on average went down on the peppermint group (85.17 -> 84.61) while the placebo group it went up (88.33 -> 88.65)? Also th
by jeffnv 23d ago
Noticing that the waist circumference on average went down on the peppermint group (85.17 -> 84.61) while the placebo group it went up (88.33 -> 88.65)? Also the resting heart rate dropped for the peppermint group. My initial suspicion is that the peppermint group coincidentally was also the 'got in better shape' group. Maybe the peppermint helped, but for relatively small groups that also seem to be improving waist circumference and heart rates likely due to good diet and exercise, I'm not convinced the peppermint did jack shit. More investigation needed! Would be awesome if it helped though!
- rolisz 23d agoMaybe it helps with weight loss (I wish)
- yumraj 23d agoIt seems to aid in digestion, soothe upset stomach, so maybe it does.
- leni536 23d agoIt did help Mr Creosote.
- ThePowerOfFuet 23d agoBut it was just wafer-thin!
- potatoking 23d agoI'd think weight could be causal for hypertension result or sentiment over health measurement could have been causal for weight or the study could just be too small.
- criddell 23d agoWhen you say weight, do you really mean obesity? And if you are talking about weight, is it likely that people who live in low gravity environments will have fewer hypertension problems?
- ktm5j 23d agoBut weight/mass didn't change one bit (okay exaggeration, but not by much), so maybe peppermint helps relieve gas. Who knows? There's a lot that this data could mean, and no simple way to figure it out.
- bherms 23d agoi actually had heard it helps w/ bloating/stomach issues online and took for a while and def noticed a debloating effect and less gas... obviously 1 anecdote, but I'd assume any slight waistline reduction is due to that. Also sidenote: pooping often made it feel like I put a breathmint... up... "there" lol
- samudrijan 23d agoFunniest thing today so far.
- simondotau 23d agoNot surprising, it’s what happens to capsaicin too. Something has to happen to the molecules/compounds you consume. Either your body discards them, stores them, or transforms them. The fascinating part is that your anal tissue has that level of sensitivity and insight.
- debo_ 23d agoUnlike the anuses in government etc.
- scorpioxy 23d agoIn my culture, that's the goto herbal drink for when you have a stomach ache due to indigestion or gas by the way. I don't know how or why they work but some of these things do work. The footnote here is that it is for pain/discomfort that would also go away by itself if untreated. It just speeds up the process and provides some comfort. For different kinds of pain/discomfort, a doctor needs to be consulted of course.
- wahern 23d ago
- mlmonkey 23d agoPeppermint oil has traditionally been used in India for digestion, so you may be on to something. I remember this particular brand growing up: https://www.amazon.com/clp/B001NQ7S9G https://www.amazon.com/clp/B001NQ7S9G (no relation).
- yumraj 23d agoI don’t think that’s peppermint. That’s pudina so spearmint. Mentha spicata.
- vector_spaces 23d agoThere has been some research on spearmint suggesting anti-androgen effects in PCOS, which is a bit unexpected to me as I wouldn't expect mint-family herbs to have much hormone modulating effect at all. I would imagine there to be similarities in profile between spearmint and peppermint so perhaps a related mechanism is involved, although I would probably expect the opposite outcome as a naive layperson. But I haven't closely evaluated the paper nor do I know whether there's been much else suggesting this It is important to remember that herbs are difficult to study in this setting compared with isolated compounds -- likely because their pharmacological and chemical compositions are sensitive to many factors: hour and season of harvest, form consumed (raw powder, alcohol extract, cold water infusion, fat emulsion, hot water infusion, combustion, pyrolysis, essential oil), part consumed (leaf, root, flower, seed), among staggeringly many others. Anyone with experience consuming cannabis or coffee can probably testify to the above Not to mention that the pharmacologically active compounds in many plants are far from being comprehensively understood, let alone their interactions and dynamics This isn't to say that every claim about herbs is to be taken seriously. My point here is more that there is no good reason to dismiss the herb itself as a cause yet simply because it's an herb and a fairly mundane one at that. There are easy examples of herbs which have pronounced physiological effects, used for recreation, performance enhancement, as literal poison, to induce labor, to thin the blood -- among others. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19585478/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19585478/
- mrob 23d ago>I wouldn't expect mint-family herbs to have much hormone modulating effect at all Mints are closely related to pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), which was traditionally (and dangerously because of toxicity) used as an abortifacient. Its mechanism of action is still unknown, so hormone modulating effects seem plausible to me.
- samudrijan 23d agoSit and drink pennyroyal tea, I’m anemic royalty.
- rshm 23d ago
- f33d5173 23d agoNothing but blood pressure and heart rate was significant, and heart rate only barely so. I wouldn't read anything into the other numbers. It was a 20 day study, you aren't going to get long term outcomes from that.
- crooked-v 23d agoWild-ass guess: maybe the aftertaste of peppermint oil twice daily leaves people who are already unhealthy wanting to snack less, leading to minor weight loss.
- simondotau 23d agoAs a bit of random speculation: improved digestion might reduce the “needy stomach” sensation associated with hunger.
- joecool1029 23d agoI'm wondering if caffeine was accounted for in this. One thing I seem to recall is peppermint tea has some inhibition of CYP1A2. I notice it's missing from the wikipedia page now, so maybe this was a flawed study or something... figured I'd mention in case anyone else knows. At least this study says the activity was reduced, not significantly though: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691516304835 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786...
- d--b 23d agoYes, and looking at dietary data, the study says that there is no difference in their diets, but carbohydrate intake drop from 217g to 171g. I don’t see how that’s insignificant.
- mapt 23d agoPeppermint is now familiar to most people as the ubiquitous taste of toothpaste, even moreso than candy, food, or drink. If we cue university student volunteers on Toothpaste -> Selfcare -> Weightloss I wonder what happens. I also wonder what placebo was used, and to what effect. The typical flavoring agent to make something peppermint-flavored is peppermint essential oil (or cornmint, spearmint, etc), and I don't know how you'd make it convincing without also including a bunch of hypothetically active compounds. The paper lists Schweppes Peppermint Cordial, without mint on the ingredients label. "Peppermint cordial" used as flavoring was historically 10% peppermint oil, and today the Schweppes product they cite just lists "flavourings" as ingredient.
- IAmBroom 22d agoAlcoholic beverages are not required to list their flavoring ingredients, so "without mint on the ingredients label" says literally nothing. Because the FDA regulates beverages separately from food (or at least alcoholic ones - not sure where the dividing line lies), you can sell booze flavored with things that you cannot put in snacks. Lead and live tapeworm eggs are still out, though - for now.
- Otterly99 23d agoIt is a 0.7% drop, so very likely to not be significant unfortunately.
- readthenotes1 22d ago8/130 is ~ 6% That is significant. Of course, you would have to do a real study to see side effects versus current blood pressure medication, but if there is no real harm in peppermint, the 6% drop over an adult lifetime might make a large difference in vascular health.
- Otterly99 22d agoI was talking about the waistline drop that the OP mentionned (85.17 -> 84.61). I wouldn't put my hopes up that peppermint oil has anything to do with it.
- ChrisRR 22d agoPeppermint oil is a known laxative, so I wonder if that made a difference
- ipaddr 22d agoI think its reducing bloating.