Looking for a refreshing way to shed a few pounds? Spearmint tea might be the perfect addition to your daily routine. Known for its calming aroma and medicinal benefits, spearmint tea is a powerhouse when it comes to supporting weight loss, digestion, and overall well-being. Let’s dive into how you can prepare it, why it works, and the benefits of making it part of your lifestyle.
Why Spearmint Tea for Weight Loss?
Spearmint tea, just like many other teas, including green and black tea contains carvone and antioxidants that have applications in assisting you with your weight loss needs. It helps in some main ways: it improves digestion and reduces bloating, which means your body is processing nutrients more effectively without unnecessary weight gain. Its menthol content soothes the stomach, reducing hunger pangs and helping you to relax all factors in assisting with better eating habits.
How Spearmint Tea Helps Burn Fat
In addition to aiding digestion, spearmint tea can also help with weight loss in an indirect way through hormonal balance – which means women suffering from hormonally-related issues like PCOS may particularly benefit. Regular ingestion of this tea might be able to decrease testosterone, in turn controlling things like stress-related overeating. It is pronounced that having spearmint tea stabilizes blood sugar, maybe because of which you don’t feel like eating some high-calorie snack between the diet as it itself has pleasant aroma.
Research indicates that being well-hydrated increases the absorption of calories by your body and you can get extra metabolism-boosting effects with no-calorie spearmint tea in addition to water.
Ingredients for Simple Spearmint Tea
Here’s a straightforward recipe to enjoy the fresh, invigorating flavor of spearmint tea:
- 1–2 teaspoons of dried spearmint leaves or a handful of fresh ones
- 1 cup of boiling water
- Optional: lemon or honey for flavor
Instructions
- Add the spearmint leaves to a teapot or mug.
- Pour the boiling water over the leaves.
- Cover and let the tea steep for 5–10 minutes, depending on how strong you like it.
- Strain the leaves and pour the tea into your favorite cup.
- Add lemon or honey for an extra touch of flavor, if desired.
Pro Tip: Add Green Tea for a Boost
For enhanced weight loss benefits, blend spearmint tea with green tea. While green tea adds catechins that increase metabolism, the pairing is perfect if you want to burn fat. Simply add a teaspoon of green tea leaves while steeping to take your cuppa up an energy level.
Benefits of Spearmint Tea for a Healthier You
Improves Digestion
Spearmint is good for stomach problems like indigestion, nausea, vomiting, or gas. It contains a component called (-)-carvone, which can relax the muscles in the digestive tract. This might help explain why spearmint has been used to ease stomach issues.
In a study with 32 people who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), some were given a spearmint supplement along with other treatments. After eight weeks, fewer people who took the spearmint had stomach pain, bloating, and discomfort compared to those who didn’t take it.
Spearmint might also help reduce nausea and vomiting for people getting chemotherapy. In one study, using spearmint essential oil on the skin greatly reduced how often people felt like throwing up and actually vomited, more than a placebo did.
While researchers need to conduct more studies, these early results suggest that spearmint might help make some stomach conditions more comfortable.
Balances Hormones
Spearmint tea has been studied for its effects on hormone levels in women, especially those with hormonal imbalances like PCOS. Research shows that drinking two cups of spearmint tea daily can lower testosterone and increase important hormones needed for ovulation, such as luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol.
These findings were observed in a study involving 21 women over five days, and another 30-day study with 42 women. Men also experienced similar hormonal changes when they drank spearmint tea twice a day compared to those who had a placebo.
Additionally, studies on animals suggest that spearmint essential oil may reduce testosterone and ovarian cysts while increasing the number of healthy eggs in rats.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are compounds that fight free radicals in the body and help improve markers of oxidative stress. This stress is associated with numerous chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Spearmint contains antioxidants that include rosmarinic acid, limonene, and menthol flavonoids.
One teaspoon (12 grams) of spearmint only contains 1% of the daily recommended intake for vitamin C, which is an important antioxidant. Spearmint has powerful antioxidant properties, a fact proven in studies. For example, a test using spearmint extract to reduce the fat oxidation levels of some meats showed its effectiveness was comparable with that of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a synthetic antioxidant.
Lowers Blood Sugar
Spearmint tea helps lower blood sugar levels in diabetics due to its beneficial biological properties. Among the few such directly relevant studies in humans for which data are available, there is some reason for optimism from animal experiments. In a study in diabetic rats, those given an oral dose equal to 9 mg per pound (20 mg per kg) of body weight had significantly reduced blood sugar levels while eating spearmint extract daily, similar changes weren’t seen for healthy rats.
In another 21-day study, diabetic rats given 300 mg per kg of body weight daily lowered their blood sugar levels by a significant amount up to 25%.
Lower Blood Pressure
Spearmint might play a role in reducing elevated blood pressure. Although there is a lack of human research to firmly establish this effect, preliminary scientific evidence supports the herb’s potential benefits in this area. Spearmint contains a compound known as (-)-carvone, which behaves in a manner similar to calcium-channel blockers, drugs prescribed for high blood pressure management.
Remarkably, in one study involving animals, (-)-carvone proved to be 100 times more effective in minimizing blood vessel contractions compared to verapamil, a widely used medication for hypertension.
Reduces Stress
Many people are familiar with the calming effects of spearmint tea, which may help reduce stress. In South American countries such as Brazil, the tea is consumed to treat sleeplessness and anxiety. Studies have shown that spearmint extracts could reduce anxiety and increase sleep efficiency in rats.
Spearmint leaves contain menthol, a natural sedative that only adds to the relaxing properties going on here. This herb may promote relaxation and reduce stress by impacting brain change in GABA receptors: the essential element that involved decrease neural activities.
Reduce Facial Hair
Spearmint tea is popular in Middle Eastern countries for reducing unwanted hair growth on women’s faces, chests, and abdomens. This is because it has properties that fight against male hormones, which can cause this hair growth. Some important studies include:
In one study that lasted five days, 21 women drank two cups of spearmint tea twice daily. Although the study was too short to see major changes in hair growth, these women did see their testosterone levels drop. Another study, lasting 30 days, involved 41 women with PCOS who drank two cups of spearmint tea daily. They had lower facial hair scores at the end of the study, but the researchers felt more time was needed to draw solid conclusions about long-term effects.
Besides helping with hair issues, spearmint tea can also reduce inflammation. This makes it a good drink for soothing headaches and relaxing muscles after workouts. It’s also beneficial for respiratory health, helping clear your airways during physical activity.
When to Drink Spearmint Tea
To lose weight, have a cup of spearmint tea with a little honey about half an hour before you eat. This can help you eat less. It’s also nice to drink it at night to help you unwind and stop you from eating late snacks. However, if cold drinks make your acid reflux or GERD worse, you might want to skip it since cold can relax your esophagus too much.
Any Side Effects?
Spearmint tea has a lot of good stuff going for it, but as with most things in life you probably shouldn’t overdo it. It goes without saying, consuming too much could throw your hormone levels out of balance, especially if you have specific conditions to manage like PCOS. Pregnant women and anyone who take medication needs to consult their doctor first before including any of the herbal teas in his diet.
The Bottom Line
By adding spearmint tea to your diet, you can easily help yourself reach those weight loss goals. A refreshing herbal tea that is perfect hot or iced, plain and with a splash of lemon, this will soon become one of your favorite teas. It not only helps in knocking those additional pounds but also provides a variety of medical advantages, from better digestion to decreasing the level of stress.
