The genus Mentha, one of the most important members of the Lamiaceae family, is represented by 19 species and 13 natural hybrids.

The most common and popular mint for cultivation is Mentha spicata or Mentha viridis.

It is widely grown in temperate areas of the world, particularly Africa, Temperate Asia, and Europe, but nowadays it was cultivated throughout all regions of the world.

Essential oil of Mentha spicata o Mentha viridis o Spearmint has been extensively applied to treatment of various diseases such as nausea, vomiting, and gastrointestinal disorders and also as breath freshener, antiseptic mouth rinse, and toothpaste (1).

The main components were carvone (78.76%), limonene (11.50%), β-bourbonene (11.23%), cis-dihydrocarveol (1.43%), trans-caryophyllene (1.04%), menthone (1.01%), menthol (1%), and terpinen-4-ol (0.99) (2).

Human health

Mentha spicata essential oil has shown strong activity against most human fungal pathogens including Candida species. Therefore, it might be a good therapeutic alternative for candidiasis, but its irritant nature restricts pharmaceutical application, while rapid volatilization reduces the term of effectiveness. The technique of microencapsulation was found to be efficient enough in developing stable, efficient and safe formulation of Mentha spicata L. var. viridis oil, which can be used as an alternative to treat candidiasis (3).

This study investigated at determining the efficacy of Mentha spicata (M. spicata) and Mentha × piperita (M. × piperita) in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. There was a significant reduction in the intensity and number of emetic events in the first 24 h with M. spicata and M. × piperita in both treatment groups (p < 0.05) when compared with the control and no adverse effects were reported. The cost of treatment was also reduced when essential oils were used (4).

This other study evaluated the antimicrobial effects of the essential oils of Mentha spicata and of Eucalyptus camaldulensis against Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus pyogenes, with particular attention to biofilm formation in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that these two essential oils significantly delay the formation of biofilms, which can contribute to the development of new anti-aging treatments (5).

References____________________________________________

(1) Kumar P., Mishra S., Malik A., Satya S. Insecticidal properties of Mentha species: a review. Industrial Crops and Products. 2011;34(1):802–817. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.02.019

(2) Chemical Composition and In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Mentha spicata Essential Oil against Common Food-Borne Pathogenic Bacteria.  Shahbazi Y.  J Pathog. 2015;2015:916305. doi: 10.1155/2015/916305. Epub 2015 Aug 16.

(3) Encapsulation of Mentha Oil in Chitosan Polymer Matrix Alleviates Skin Irritation.
Mishra N, Rai VK, Yadav KS, Sinha P, Kanaujia A, Chanda D, Jakhmola A, Saikia D, Yadav NP.
AAPS PharmSciTech. 2016 Apr;17(2):482-92. doi: 10.1208/s12249-015-0378-x. Epub 2015 Aug 8.

(4) Antiemetic activity of volatile oil from Mentha spicata and Mentha × piperita in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
Tayarani-Najaran Z, Talasaz-Firoozi E, Nasiri R, Jalali N, Hassanzadeh M.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2013;7:290. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2013.290. Epub 2013 Jan 31.

(5) The effect of Mentha spicata and Eucalyptus camaldulensis essential oils on dental biofilm.
Rasooli I, Shayegh S, Astaneh S.
Int J Dent Hyg. 2009 Aug;7(3):196-203. doi: 10.1111/j.1601-5037.2009.00389.x.