Peppermint For Digestion & Against Nausea

Peppermint is often enjoyed to aid digestion, and sometimes as a remedy for nausea, but what does the science say about these uses?

Peppermint and digestion

In short: it works! (but beware)

Most studies on peppermint and digestion, that have been conducted with humans, have been with regard to IBS, but its efficacy seems quite broad:

❝Peppermint oil is a natural product which affects physiology throughout the gastrointestinal tract, has been used successfully for several clinical disorders, and appears to have a good safety profile.❞

~ Dr. Chumpitazi et al.

Read more: The physiologic effects and safety of Peppermint Oil and its efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome and other functional disorders

However, and this is important: if your digestive problem is GERD, then you may want to skip it:

❝The univariate logistic regression analysis showed the following risk factors: eating 1–2 meals per day (OR = 3.50, 95% CI: 1.75–6.98), everyday consumption of peppermint tea (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.14–3.50), and eating one, big meal in the evening instead of dinner and supper (OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.05–3.11).

The multivariate analysis confirmed that frequent peppermint tea consumption was a risk factor (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.08–3.70).❞

~ Dr. Jarosz & Dr. Taraszewska

Source: Risk factors for gastroesophageal reflux disease: the role of diet

Peppermint and nausea

Peppermint is also sometimes recommended as a nausea remedy. Does it work?

The answer is: maybe

The thing with nausea is it is a symptom with a lot of possible causes, so effectiveness of remedies may vary. But for example:

• Aromatherapy for treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting ← no better than placebo
• The Effect of Combined Inhalation Aromatherapy with Lemon and Peppermint on Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy: A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial ← initially no better than placebo, then performed better on subsequent days
• The Effects of Peppermint Oil on Nausea, Vomiting and Retching in Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: An Open Label Quasi-Randomized Controlled Pilot Study ← significant benefit immediately

Summary

Peppermint is useful against wide variety of gastrointestinal disorders, including IBS, but very definitely excluding GERD (in the case of GERD, it may make things worse)

Peppermint may help with nausea, depending on the cause.

Where can I get some?

Peppermint tea, and peppermint oil, you can probably find in your local supermarket (as well as fresh mint leaves, perhaps).

For the “heavy guns” that is peppermint essential oil, here’s an example product on Amazon for your convenience

Enjoy!

Rapamycin’s Pros & Cons

Rapamycin is generally heralded as a wonderdrug that (according to best evidence so far) can slow down aging, potentially adding decades to human lifespan—and yes, healthspan.

It comes from a kind of soil bacteria, which in turn comes from the island of Rapa Nui (a Chilean territory best known for its monumental moai statues), hence the name rapamycin.

Does it work?

Yes! Probably! With catches!

Like most drugs that are tested for longevity-inducing properties, research in humans is very slow. Of course for drugs in general, they must go through in vitro and in vivo animal testing first before they can progress to human randomized clinical trials, but for longevity-inducing drugs, it’s tricky to even test in humans, without waiting entire human lifetimes for the results.

Nevertheless, mouse studies are promising:

Rapamycin: An InhibiTOR of Aging Emerges From the Soil of Easter Island

(“Easter Island” is another name given to the island of Rapa Nui)

That’s not a keysmash in the middle there, it’s a reference to rapamycin’s inhibitory effect on the kinase mechanistic target of rapamycin, sometimes called the mammalian target of rapamycin, and either way generally abbreviated to “mTOR”—also known as “FK506-binding protein 12-rapamycin-associated protein 1” or “FRAP1“ to its friends, but we’re going to stick with “mTOR”.

What’s relevant about this is that mTOR regulates cell growth, cell proliferation, cell motility, cell survival, protein synthesis, autophagy, and transcription.

Don’t those words usually get associated with cancer?

They do indeed! Rapamycin and its analogs have well-demonstrated anti-cancer potential:

❝Rapamycin, the naturally occurring inhibitor of mTOR, along with a number of recently developed rapamycin analogs (rapalogs) consisting of synthetically derived compounds containing minor chemical modifications to the parent structure, inhibit the growth of cell lines derived from multiple tumor types in vitro, and tumor models in vivo.

Results from clinical trials indicate that the rapalogs may be useful for the treatment of subsets of certain types of cancer.❞

~ mTOR and cancer therapy

…and as such, gets used sometimes as an anticancer drug—especially against renal cancer. See also:

Research perspective: Cancer prevention with rapamycin

What’s the catch?

Aside from the fact that its longevity-inducing effects are not yet proven in humans, the mouse models find its longevity effects to be sex-specific, extending the life of male mice but not female ones:

Rapamycin‐mediated mouse lifespan extension: Late‐life dosage regimes with sex‐specific effects

One hypothesis about this is that it may have at least partially to do with rapamycin’s immunomodulatory effect, bearing in mind that estrogen is immune-enhancing and testosterone is immunosuppressant.

And rapamycin? That’s another catch: it is an immunosuppressant.

This goes in rapamycin’s favor for its use to avoiding rejection when it comes to some transplants (most notably including for kidneys), though the very same immunosuppressant effect is a reason it is contraindicated for certain other transplants (such as in liver or lung transplants), where it can lead to an unacceptable increase in risk of lymphoma and other malignancies:

Prescribing Information: Rapamune, Sirolimus Solution / Sirolimus Tablet

(Sirolimus is another name for rapamycin, and Rapamune is a brand name)

What does this mean for the future?

Researchers think that rapamycin may be able to extend human lifespan to a more comfortable 120–125 years, but acknowledge there’s quite a jump to get there from the current mouse studies, and given the current drawbacks of sex-specificity and immunosuppression:

Advances in anti-aging: Rapamycin shows potential to extend lifespan and improve health

Noteworthily, rapamycin has also shown promise in simultaneously staving off certain diseases associated most strongly with aging, including Alzheimer’s and cardiac disease—or even, starting earlier, to delay menopause, in turn kicking back everything else that has an uptick in risk peri- or post-menopause:

Effect of Rapamycin in Ovarian Aging (Rapamycin)

👆 an upcoming study whose results are thus not yet published, but this is to give an idea of where research is currently at. See also:

Pilot Study Evaluates Weekly Pill to Slow Ovarian Aging, Delay Menopause

Where can I try it?

Not from Amazon, that’s for sure!

It’s still tightly regulated, but you can speak with your physician, especially if you are at risk of cancer, especially if kidney cancer, about potentially being prescribed it as a preventative—they will be able to advise about safety and applicability in your personal case.

Alternatively, you can try getting your name on the list for upcoming studies, like the one above. ClinicalTrials.gov is a great place to watch out for those.

Meanwhile, take care!