Medicinal teas that actually are

Ginger helps to settle my stomach when it’s upset, and I recently had a cup of ginger tea that worked well (it was a Ten-Ren herbal).

Peppermint is supposed to help for headaches, but the tea isn’t working for me today. Altoids do a much better job. Lavender oils also help my headaches, but I’ve never tried a lavender tea.

True teas and rooibos.

Liquorice root has a good effect on the upper respiratory system and loosens mucus so that it’s easier to cough. I have a strong suspicion that it’s not a coincidence and not just for flavour that heavy duty cough medicine containes liquorice extract.

And lavender oils, I’ve learned from my very brief affair with aroma therapy, is good if you can’t fall asleep, but I don’t know if that also translates to tea. :)

my face wash has peppermint oil in it and check out the ingredients in detox blends, those are all medicinal. Arbonne’s Detox Tea is one of my favorites.

peppermint is also said to help with nausea when i feel nauseous ill eat an altoid and the feeling usually gos away, i dont know if thats just me though :) everyones bodys react differently with different products.

Medicinal teas supposedly work because of medicinal qualities of the herbs used in them. With all the scandals infecting the herbal medicinals market, I think it is sensible to be skeptical. A number of them that have been found to work have been found to be corrupted with pharmaceutical drugs, which does make the teas more effective but kind of defeats the purpose of pursuing herbalism instead of a doctor’s prescription. Also it can be dangerous to take prescription drugs without being able to monitor the dosage carefully. Some of the medicinal teas with this problem have included weightloss teas, herbal “viagras”, and asthma teas. In the example of asthma teas, my beloved used to use a tea that worked great on his asthma, but it had ephedrine from the herb itself and added in by the manufacturer. It was removed from the market. There’s more on the problem of corrupted herbals here: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=457

Of the teas that seem to work only because of the herbs in them (and not due to any added pharmaceuticals) there seems to be general agreement on ginger and mint for stomach discomfort, some weak evidence that St. Johnswort works for mild depression (but not serious depression), and I think there are a few others. When I look for herbal teas that I expect to work to solve actual problems I usually read the ingredients and compare them to what I know of the latest evidence. If the evidence is negative, I don’t buy it. If it’s inconclusive, I give it a whirl.

Agreed on the peppermint for stomach ailments and lavender oil for relaxing … valerian is my herbal remedy of choice for restful sleep, but I take it in capsule form. Whatever teas I’ve tried that include it, I guess, are just not strong enough.

I read in an article that chamomile has been proven to help colic in babies, so I’m pretty sure it has some calmative elements to it.

Everything about peppermint regarding the stomach is pretty much true. IBS sufferers use peppermint tea all the time to ail their symptoms. You can find literally thousands of people across the internet that have had excellent results with peppermint – myself included. Ginger and fennel are also stomach tamers.

Ginseng is a natural, caffeine free, energy booster.