Healing Herbs: Brazilian Mint

If you're interested in natural remedies to get rid of pain, Brazilian mint tea will be a pleasant discovery. This ancient herbal mint tea from Brazil really is as effective at delivering pain relief as some modern pharmaceuticals according to a group of researchers at Newcastle University.

Brews from the plant, Hyptis Crenata, have traditionally been used by native Latin American healers to cure headaches, fevers, flu, stomach ache and menstrual pain.

Hyptis is a genus of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae Family. These plants, commonly known as bushmints, are widespread in the tropics and warmer temperature regions of North and South America. Now, researchers have demonstrated a scientific basis for the claims after testing this tea on mice.

Brazilian Mint Pain Relief Research Results

The legs of the mice were carefully examined under infrared beams to gauge their response times after they had been given the tea as opposed to water. Their response times were slower because the Brazilian Mint had a soothing effect on their discomfort. The mint was found to be as effective as the synthetic aspirin-style drug, Indometacin.

According to Graciela Rocha, lead researcher at Newcastle University, "What we have done is to take a plant that is widely used to safely treat pain and scientifically proven that it works as well as some synthetic drugs. Now the next step is to find out how and why the plant works." The Newcastle team carried out a survey in Brazil to determine how the medicine is normally prepared and how much should be consumed. The most common method was to boil the dried leaves in water for 30 minutes and allow the mixture to cool before drinking.

Rocha, who is also Brazilian, remembers being given the tea herself as a cure for seemingly every childhood disease. She went on to say, "The taste isn't what most people here in the UK would recognize as mint. In fact, it tastes more like sage… which is another member of the mint family. Not that nice, really, but then medicine isn't supposed to be nice, is it?"

Of course, "traditional" mint (genus Mentha) has its own set of health benefits that I wrote about earlier this year. Since you're reading about mint for pain relief, be sure to learn more about how menthol relieves pain too.

References:

Brazilian mint tea relieves pain as well as aspirin. International Society for Horticultural Science. 2009 Dec 1.

Got a pain? – Have a cup of Brazilian mint. Newcastle University. 2009 Nov 25.