Peppermint Aromatherapy May Relieve Nausea

Peppermint aromatherapy may reduce post-operative nausea after a cesarean section, reports a new study.

Aromatherapy is a term that refers to several methods that deliver essential oils to the body. Essential oils are usually mixed with a "carrier" oil, usually a vegetable oil, or diluted in alcohol before being applied to the skin, sprayed in the air, or inhaled.

In the recent study, women undergoing cesarean section were randomly assigned to three groups. The first group inhaled peppermint essential oil, the second group inhaled a placebo essential oil and the third group was put on standard anti-nausea medication.

Women rated their nausea after the cesarean section on a six point scale. Women who inhaled peppermint had a significant reduction in nausea compared to the women in other groups.

Further research on this topic is warranted before a conclusion can be made.

For more information about peppermint, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements database.

Comments

[deb]

I was wondering about the same thing about why peppermint is so effective on treatment of nausea comparing to positive placebo (antiemetics) until I read Zach's comment. According to this study peppermint was not taken systemically vs. standard antiemetics was in IV form. So my guess is it would be more accurate to look at CNS chemoreceptor trigger zone vs. asking and looking at patients and see if they feel better. With that said, I am all for peppermint in my tea, lotion, shampoo, salad...

[Amber]

Zach pointed out a good amount of critiques for this study. Taking those into account definitely draws validity of these findings. While I was thinking about peppermint, I remembered that sometimes, in school, my teacher would pass out peppermints during a test. It's supposed to help with concentration. According to Natural Standard, however, this use received an evidence grade of C.

[Zach]

Its funny how quickly people are willing to buy into things that they want to hear. This study was very poorly done in my opinion.

1) Participant size? 35. Not per group - total. (3 groups, not even properly distributed; 22 of the 35 got peppermint oil)
2) The 'standard anti-emetics' were IV ondansetron and PR promethazine.
3) The study compared 'baseline' (0 min) to 2 minutes post administration and to 5 minutes post administration.
4) Guess what!? The peak plasma time for IV ondansetron's anti-emetic effect is 10 minutes according to Micromedix and rectal promethazine's onset of action is 20 minutes. Neither of these drugs had a chance the way this study was set up!
5) With a total time of 5 minutes, who's to say the peppermint group wasn't MORE nauseous after 10 minutes?

At best, peppermint is a reasonable bridging agent until our 'standard anti-emetics'(for a reason!) kick in.

It just goes to show, you cant trust everything you read. I'm going to side with the years of properly conducted studies with thousands of patients that have been replicated.
Doc? Ondansetron for me, please.

[MS]

According to the Natural Standard website peppermint is considered grade A, strong scientific evidence, for Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It is helpful in IBS by relaxing the smooth muscle of the gastrointestinal tract, it acts as an antispasmotic. Nausea is induced by the brain through the chemoreceptor trigger zone. It would interesting to see studies perferomed on the impact of peppermint on the central nervous system, specifically looking at the chemoreceptor trigger zone.

[SS]

This is a great alternative! And aromatherapy is a different delivery system that some patients may prefer. As mentioned I would love to see more research being done and if it could work for nausea caused by other reasons. If it works better than the standard anti-nausea medications maybe we will be seeing more of this being used.

[ac]

Inhaled peppermint sounds very pleasant! I was interested to see that peppermint has a Natural Standard Evidence Grade of C for unclear or conflicting scientific evidence for post-operative nausea. Other possible indications for peppermint that I found interesting were: brain injury, UTI, itching, and breast tenderness.

[km]

The use of peppermint aromatherapy has shown to decrease nausea in women after a cesarean section. In a recent experiment, 3 different groups of women used either peppermint essential oil, a placebo essential oil or standard anti-nausea medication. The women who inhaled peppermint oil had a decrease in nausea compared to the 2 other groups. Perhaps in the future, we will be able to use aromatherapy as an alternative to medicine which could reduce costs to patients as well as side effects from medications.

[AR]

Every time I drink peppermint tea I have heartburn, which is really disappointing because I love the taste of peppermint. Natural Standard's monograph for peppermint even states that the oral use of peppermint may cause heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, so it is really interesting to read that peppermint aromatherapy helped with nausea in these women. I was surprised to read that the peppermint oil reduced nausea more than promethazine suppositories and intravenous ondansetron, which were the usual standard antiemetic therapies used in this study. More studies on this topic with larger, broader populations would be fascinating.

[kl]

I have been all about peppermint lately, specifically in my tea. For me, peppermint is soothing, refreshing, and acts to alleviate the effects of daily stressors. Interestingly, peppermint earns a Natural Standard evidence grade of C for stress as well as enhancement of cognitive performance and alertness. When peppermint oil is rubbed on the forehead and temples, it can also be effective in alleviating headaches, although I learned from personal experience that you must apply the oil at least 1.5" from your eyes otherwise the oils may seep in causing immense burning.

[bc]

This is an interesting study that was done. I am curious to see how effective peppermint aromatherapy would be on other patients experience nausea such as due to chemotherapy. I would like to see the results of other studies. It would also be interesting to see the effects on a bigger population including men.

[Sc]

It is interesting that aromatherapy of peppermint oil had a substantial effect on nausea as compared to ondansetron or promethazine which are the standards used in hospitals for nausea. This is great news for pregnant women as they are usually hesitant about which medications they ingest as they could affect the baby. After looking on natural standards website for alternatives for nausea I realized that acupressure has a Grade of A meaning strong scientific evidence for nausea.

[pc]

These findings are interesting; I did not realize peppermint was associated with nausea relief. I am not a fan of peppermint myself, and I feel that it in fact has the opposite effect for me, but perhaps that is just because I don't like the taste of it. The results of this study may have been significant, but I feel that the the population was quite small, and the design left a lot of room for bias on the part of the nurse. I wonder if the results would be the same in a larger population or with a different study design.

[Sara Berg]

I would be interested in seeing what the "standard" anti-nauseants were that the peppermint was being compared to...

[AM]

One of the folk remedies that my parents prescribe to is the use of peppermint for nausea or upset stomach. Sucking on a couple mints always helped me! The only issue is that you need to make sure that the patient doesn't have GERD, as it can exacerbate heartburn. Maybe aroma therapy is a better delivery system!