Mentha haplocalyx (Labiatae) belongs to the genus Mentha, also known as Pogostemon rugosa (Thousand Daughters Formula), Mentha australis (Herbal Medicine), Wild Mentha haplocalyx, Rendancao, etc. Mint is widely used in medicine, food, cosmetics, spices, tobacco industry and other fields.
When mint is used as traditional Chinese medicine, its dry stems and leaves are often used, and fresh tender leaves are often used for dietotherapy. As early as 2002, the Ministry of Health (that is, the National Health and Wellness Committee) has included mint in the first batch of medicinal and edible homologous resources.
As a traditional Chinese medicine, mint is pungent in taste and cool in nature, and belongs to lung meridian and liver meridian. Can be used for treating wind-heat common cold, initial onset of wind-heat, headache, conjunctival congestion, laryngitis, sore throat, aphtha, toothache, urticaria, rubella, soothing the liver and relieving depression. It is often used in traditional prescriptions such as Yinqiao Powder, Transdermal Decoction and Xiaoyao Powder.
Modern pharmacology has found that mint contains many active components, such as volatile oil, flavonoids, organic acids and amino acids (including glycine and aspartic acid). ) and other ingredients (such as carotene, carotenoids, tocopherols, etc. ).
Mint has a certain regulatory effect on some physiological functions of human body. For example, taking a small amount of peppermint or peppermint oil orally can dilate skin capillaries, promote sweat gland secretion, increase heat dissipation, have sweating and antipyretic effects, and have certain analgesic effects; Can relieve gastrointestinal pain and strengthen the stomach; Can increase bile production, and has the function of continuously benefiting gallbladder and protecting liver; It can effectively improve lung ventilation and has certain expectorant effect; Mint leaf extract has obvious anti-inflammatory effect and certain antiviral effect.
As a traditional Chinese medicine with the same origin of medicine and food, mint often has many simple and practical good usages in life, which is worth popularizing. Below, I will talk about some daily health care functions and simple usage of mint.
1, relieving itching caused by mosquito bites.
Because mint contains organic acids, menthol and other substances, it can alleviate the itching caused by mosquito bites. Therefore, mint or mint extract is generally added to products such as cooling oil, wind oil essence and mosquito repellent toilet water. In daily life, you can also directly pick some fresh mint leaves and mash them and apply them to mosquito bites.
2, fresh mouth
Because mint volatile oil contained in mint can refresh breath, it is often used to make mints and mint-flavored chewing gum. In daily life, you can often chew fresh mint leaves directly, or often soak mint leaves in water to refresh your mind.
3. Relieve fatigue and improve sleep
Mint belongs to the traditional Chinese medicine of pungent and cool relieving exterior syndrome. Mint itself has a faint fragrance, which can help us relieve the fatigue of the day and improve sleep. Usually, you can just pick some fresh mint leaves and soak them in water like tea.
4, can cool off the heat, and fragrant.
In hot summer, mint can also relieve summer heat, and its fragrance is overflowing. Therefore, in our daily life in summer, we can add some fresh mint leaves to soup or mixed soup, which can not only improve the taste, but also help to relieve summer heat and eliminate dampness.
5, eyesight and fire.
Mint can also improve eyesight and reduce fire. Due to long-term frequent use of mobile phones, staying up late and other factors, many people often have red, swollen and dry eyes. You can mash a little fresh mint leaves, apply them directly to your eyes 10~ 15 minutes, and then rinse them with water (note that people who are allergic to mint are forbidden to use them).
At this point, I especially suggest that one or two pots of mint can be planted at home or in the office if conditions permit, which can not only cultivate our sentiment, but also be convenient to use.
Finally, let me talk about the precautions when using mint:
Because mint smells fragrant and pungent, it is easy to sweat and consume gas, so it is not suitable for people who are deficient and sweaty.