Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Brazilian 'mint' tea is natural painkiller

Hyptis crenata has been prescribed by Brazilian healers for millennia to treat ailments from headaches and stomach pain to fever and flu.

A team from the University of Newcastle found that when the mint was given in a dose similar to that prescribed by traditional Brazilian healers, the medicine was as effective at relieving pain as a synthetic aspirin-style drug.

Lead researcher Graciela Rocha is Brazilian and remembers being given the tea as a cure for every childhood illness. She said “It tastes more like sage, which is another member of the mint family. Not that nice really, but then medicine isn’t supposed to be nice, is it?”

[Via http://teammccallum.wordpress.com]

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