Peppermint PED?

Recently my social media got blasted with some product promising instant gains, not the first or last time and usually i filter such promises as BS but sometimes i google around to check if anything related to it has been scientifically explored.

So the humble peppermint, or peppermint essential oil seems to show some performance benefits, skipping the overpriced product i purchased a bottle of essential oil and it seems to have a nice effect on my breathing during exercise! I have been consciously training my breathing patterns and I must say, using the oil it feels like my airways are bigger and air has an easier time moving in and out.

I guess my minty en devour is just starting out, and as it is cheap not dangerous and might have a scientifically backed up promises its fun.

Anyone here have any experiences with Peppermint?

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A few years ago I took part in Students MSc thesis at a local college about the effect of peppermint on performance. We did a 1 min test - hard as possible then hang on followed after a short period of time 2X 12 min TT’s from which he took the average power. 3 weeks later we came back and did the same. One of the days was with the peppermint extract the other was with a placebo. I obviously didn’t know which was which. He never sent me the results but told me my performance was statistically better with the extract than without. He probably told me by how much but as I was expecting him to email me his thesis I didn’t bother to write it down

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I use peppermint oil to beat migraines. Mainly on my temples for headache or diffuse. I’d make sure to use a trusted brand like young living or Volant vs a Walmart, bed bath and beyond the brand, etc that is filled with lots of chemicals or other additives.

Just now seeing this thread and this is a nerdy question because I work in research- how did you take the peppermint extract and how was it blinded? Seems like it would be hard to mask given the strong taste and smell.

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They both given in hot water like a herbal tea. The non peppermint was flavoured in some way to taste like peppermint. I honestly had no idea which one was which on the sperate days I did the tests. They could have actually been the same as far as I was concerned.

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Not Peppermint, but SiS have a special drink with Menthol for Indoor Training:

https://www.scienceinsport.com/us/sports-nutrition/2021/03/17/the-science-behind-the-turbo-range/

Haven’t tried it, i ordered arround 1 year ago, but delivery from UK to Austria wasn’t possible cause of Brexit

Interesting, thanks for the reply!

I’ve seen this thread bumped up to the top of the forum a couple times over the course of this year…maybe a few comments about the study. I think it’s OK if anybody like to put a drop of peppermint essential oil into a bottle of water and drink it every day. This is kind of a no-harm-no-foul type of thing so it doesn’t help anybody to harsh their placebo effect & bag on this study. Also, it may 100% be a legit thing!

So basically the subjects in this study drank 500ml of water every day that had 0.05ml of peppermint essential oil in it.

Pre & post intervention subjects performed a Bruce test. There was no control group. So my main criticism is that it’s likely subjects’ Bruce test performance would improve without any intervention if you asked subjects to perform the test, then come back in 10 days and perform the test again.

Just the same, anybody who wants to put a little peppermint oil in some water and drink it every day…I SAY GO FOR IT! Can’t hurt! Or if you are using peppermint oil and it’s working, keep doing it!

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Sounds like magic! A 10% improvement in VO2!! Sign me up.