Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Got your attention? Because one out of five people reading this probably has it. But peppermint and other cooling compounds may soothe some of the bowel hypersensitivity of IBS, according to research from Australia, led by Stuart Brierley. Publishing in the journal Pain (naturally), the authors describe how peppermint and other cooling chemicals might do it.
Cooling, soothing peppermint. Image Credit: Mikereichold, Wikimedia Commons.
If you’ve spent your days feeling like you’ve inflated a blimp in your lower intestine, hiding from colleagues because of the terrifying sounds emanating from your colon, or hovering over a toilet in the wee hours, then you know of the malady of which I write. And you know that a feeling of inflammation is part of it.
Pain is complicated, especially pain that’s not supposed to be there. Your body perceives irritating or dangerous transgressions against it via pathways involving proteins that signal, “Hey, you’ve got something unfortunate going on here! You’d better do something!” Sometimes, though, these pain proteins “forget” to quit signaling. When that happens, the body gets these “help!” signals even when there’s not anything wrong.
In IBS, nerves may be permanently agitated, possibly set off originally by a bout of gasteroenteritis, or stomach flu. As if it weren’t enough to live through all that hurling, a permanent effect can be these permanently “on” signals that your intestines are inflamed. But cooling chemicals like peppermint or the appropriately named icilin may ease this overreaction and turn off those signals. According to Brierley and colleagues, these hyperactive pain proteins are present in the bowel and can respond to these chemicals, possibly explaining how peppermint helps cool the discomfort of IBS.
The role of those pain proteins is to cry out, “Hot! Hot!” when things feel hot. The cooling compounds literally give them a cooling sensation, shutting them down. The researchers also noted that mustard or chili tend to kick these same pain pathways into higher gear, so if you have IBS, you might want to slow down on the mustard.
Not this. Image Credit: Navin Rajagopalan, Creative Commons.
Speaking of food, no one knows exactly what causes IBS, although many people report exacerbation when they eat fatty or spicy foods or drink coffee or alcohol. Stress can make it worse, and there is likely a genetic component. Women, who make up the bulk of IBS cases, also report worsening symptoms related to their hormone cycles.
IBS has no cure. Those of you who have it probably already know that. The best anyone can do right now is to focus on alleviating the symptoms, which can include diarrhea, constipation, or both.
One way to ease those symptoms may be by consuming peppermint, advice that naturopath sorts have been giving for years. I’ve tried it myself. Now, thanks to Stuart Brierley and his Australian research team, we know a little more about how peppermint may work in calming that irritable colon … and that maybe we need to put down that mustard.
What are the methods of ingestion, and doses?
[...] How peppermint may cool that irritable bowel syndrome. IBS is thought to be caused by permanent agitation of enteric nerves (nerves in the gastrointestinal tract) that become oversensitive to inflammation, often occurring after an infection such as a bout of gastroenteritis (caused by “stomach flu” or food poisoning). Menthol from peppermint and other “cooling” compounds may be able to soothe the bowels and alleviate some of the symptoms of IBS. I think I may have already known this on a subconscious level, since I tend to suck on peppermints when I’m feeling anxious (anxiety and stress are major triggers of IBS). [...]
I have been looking for a cause for 8 years and no doctor has even attempted. It began when I was on a 500 calorie a day diet for a year. My suspicions; gallstones began (often caused by fasting), vitamin D deficiency, zinc deficiency, adrenal stress came on. I am not lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant, I seem to be fructose intolerant, but wasn’t before. I have a duodenal ulcer, no polyps, no diverticulosis. Berberines help (golden seal and barberry) but I have to take a lot of them and they can be expensive, and hard to get good quality. The above mentions nutrients helped for awhile, though I still take them, they weren’t the whole answer. Got the gallstones all out without surgery, but they want to reform all the time, still haven’t solved that mystery. Had taken peppermint before with inadequate results. The oil goes right through. No good. Began to take powdered herb in caps recently in large doses, (4 caps 4 times per day) and for several days that seems to be keeping my bowels solid and not excessive. Fasting is a factor for my diarrhea- and this is why I and my doc suspect is adrenal. Every day at 3 am my bowels have forced me up with diarrhea. even with taking adrenal glandulars, and the peppermint has allowed me to sleep through the night.