Mint and gastritis, are they so incompatible?

With natural remedies you don't mess around: it is not true that "they do nothing". Do you know about poisonous mushrooms ? Here, even those are natural, but I challenge anyone to say that they are also harmless!

Today we talk about mint, an aromatic plant widely known for its intense aroma and fresh taste . Mint has long been used in cooking, but also in herbal medicine, as a remedy for certain disorders: headaches, colds. Even gastric disorders, but not all. Not gastritis, for example. Let's see if it's true that mint and gastritis are so incompatible, and why.

Are mint and gastritis so incompatible?

We immediately answer a sincere yes. If you suffer from gastritis, mint is strongly discouraged . Obviously the doses and the frequency of consumption count.

A mint leaf will not do serious damage, but adding mint to our dishes every day could be harmful to gastritis and ulcers. In fact mint, in all its varieties, stimulates the production of gastric juices : this is beneficial in case of colic, nausea, bad digestion and heaviness.

The action of mint on gastric juices is due to menthol, which stimulates both the salivary glands and the stomach and the production of bile, thus accelerating and facilitating the digestive processes .

But in the case of gastritis, where the problem is often the excess of gastric acidity, there is a strong risk that the mint goes to aggravate the situation further increasing the cause - and consequently the symptoms - of gastritis.

Mint and gastritis are incompatible: gastritis

Gastritis is a disease caused by an inflammatory process of the gastric mucosa, with a very high incidence in almost all over the world, in some regions even for 70% of the population over 30 years old.

In Italy the number of people suffering from gastritis tends to rise from year to year, probably due to incorrect eating habits - refined foods, heavy to digest, alcohol, excess coffee - but also due to anxiety and stress or the presence of the bacterium Helycobacter Pylori.

All these factors predispose the digestive system to increase the acidity of the gastritis juices : this acidity is the cause of all the disorders related to gastritis.

It exists both in acute form, which may have mild symptoms, and in chronic form, which generally causes serious and prolonged disorders over time.

The main symptoms of gastritis in both acute and chronic are digestive:

> burning and stomach cramps;

> nausea;

> aerophagia;

> bad breath;

> gastroesophageal reflux with burning in the throat and / or aphonia;

> pain and heaviness in the area around the sternum;

> breathlessness even after minimal efforts.

However, when gastritis tends to become chronic, the excess acidity produced by the stomach can have repercussions on other organs and manifest itself with:

> intestinal disorders;

> constipation;

> inflammation of the inner ear;

> labyrinthitis;

> tachycardia.