Is it strange that I seriously love reading research articles on sports nutrition & fitness topics? I feel a bit nerdy that pubmed is bookmarked on my phone, but hey – I’m a science-based girl and I love reading up on the true evidence behind any new trends.
The other day, someone asked me about the effects of peppermint on exercise performance. It was a topic I hadn’t really seen much about, so I decided to do a quick review of the research and hop on over here to post about it.
In my literature search, I only came across three total articles related to peppermint and exercise. The first study had participants inhale peppermint odor, and found no changes in exercise performance. But the other two studies looked at ingestion of peppermint essential oil, and the results were quite interesting.
A 2013 study enrolled 12 male students who were given an exercise test before and after peppermint essential oil supplementation. For 10 days, they were instructed to drink a 0.5 L bottle of mineral water that contained 0.05 ml of peppermint essential oil daily. After the 10 day supplementation period, the participants had increased lung function, as well as increased work and power during exercise. Perhaps the most interesting part though was that exercise performance – measured by time to exhaustion on a treadmill test – significantly increased by 25%. That’s huge!
Now, there are some major limitations to this study – namely the fact that there was no control group or crossover design. In other words, there was not a group in the study that just drank mineral water without the peppermint oil. Because of the lack of a control group, there’s the possibility that perhaps the students were just better hydrated (from drinking an extra half liter of fluid per day) and that’s why they performed better.
The same author followed up this research with a 2014 study looking at 30 male college students, but this time looked at immediate effects rather than continuous supplementation. The students were broken up into a control group and an experimental group, and both groups were given an assessment that measured various physical performance outcomes and physiological variables. Then, the experimental group was given a 0.05 ml dose of peppermint essential oil while the control group received mineral water in the same dosage.
After an hour, the authors performed the same assessments on both groups. Interestingly, the experimental group showed a significant increase in grip force, standing vertical jump, standing long jump, and measures of lung function.
This study was better designed – it included a larger (though still small overall) body of participants and the use of a control group. It was really fascinating for me to read about the results, particularly for jumps, as my husband is a long and triple jumper. I of course promptly emailed him the study abstract when I saw it looked at jumping performance; he didn’t seem as into reading peer-reviewed journal articles on his down time as I did.
Overall, these two pieces of research provide some interesting data. Do I think we can conclusively say that peppermint helps you exercise longer or better? No, not with any certainty. But it’s one of those things that will be fun to continue to keep an eye on, and possibly experiment with at some point.
Even though it’s less potent, I think experimenting with some peppermint tea would be the way I would dip my toes in the water with regards to this trend right now…
…Perhaps down the road I might try some essential oils on their own (if the research supported that), but I’d want to work with a practitioner that could help guide me a little more in that area. For example, even though the research here had participants directly ingest the essential oil, the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy recommends the essential oil is always in an enteric coated tablet when taken internally. {Perhaps this recommendation will evolve as these are researched more.} And just like medicine, supplements can cause side effects as well (for example, I believe the current consensus is that we’re generally unsure what effect essential oils might have on bacteria in the gut).
Disclaimer: This information is my personal opinion and does not constitute medical advice. You should always meet with a doctor or dietitian prior to starting any supplementation.
Time for you to share with me: Have you ever tried using anything with peppermint to improve exercise performance? Have you ever used essential oils?
References:
1) Pournemati P, Azarbayjani MA, Rezaee MB, Ziaee V. The effect of inhaling peppermint odor and ethanol in women athletes. Bratisl Lek Listy. 2009;110(12):782-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20196473
2) Meamarbashi A, Rajabi A. The effects of peppermint on exercise performance. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013 Mar 21;10(1):15. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-10-15. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3607906/
3) Meamarbashi A. Instant effects of peppermint essential oil on the physiological parameters and exercise performance. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2014 Jan;4(1):72-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4103722/
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Interesting. I love all that is peppermint and would have no problem trying out, like you said, maybe peppermint tea. I do not currently use any essential oils. I do like to chew peppermint gum or suck on a mint or throat lozenge while I am at the starting line of a race. I do this because I swear it makes me feel more hydrated since it keeps my throat from being super dry. So, in a way, I do use peppermint for exercise but not in the way mentioned here. Good info. Maybe I’ll drink cold peppermint tea during my run today!
I don’t currently use essential oils either. I’m not necessarily opposed to it, but I think I’d like to see a bit more research on ingestion before I started to use them directly like they did in these two studies. Hope your run went well!! 🙂
Very interesting. Like you said– can’t say for certain if it works, but one of those things to watch. I do love peppermint though 🙂
I’m not a huge mint person, but I do like peppermint tea!
Interesting!! I ran a 5k this past weekend and used peppermint oil in the roof of my mouth to try and open my sinuses. I ran my fastest 5k, placed first in my age group and had great pacing, which I never do. Hmmmm… Maybe I will have to keep using it!
Wow – that’s awesome! Keep me posted if you keep using it and let me know if you feel like it helps!!