Mentha spicata · herb
Evidence tier: limited
Reduces androgens, particularly effective for hormonal acne in women
Spearmint appears to act as a mild antiandrogen, lowering circulating free and total testosterone while LH and FSH rise, a pattern consistent with reduced ovarian and adrenal androgen output rather than with simple receptor blockade. The rise in LH and FSH is what makes the finding credible: it is the pituitary responding to a real drop, not a measurement artefact. Exactly which constituent does this is not settled, and the commonly repeated claim that rosmarinic acid inhibits 5 alpha reductase in humans is a laboratory extrapolation, not something the trials tested or showed.
Limited, and genuinely interesting, which is rare in this batch. Spearmint is one of the few ingredients here where a real and replicated biological effect survives contact with the sources. Two small randomised trials, run by different groups in different countries, both found that drinking spearmint tea twice daily LOWERS androgens in women. Akdogan 2007 gave spearmint tea twice daily for 5 days to 21 women with hirsutism and saw free testosterone fall and LH, FSH and oestradiol rise. Grant 2010, the better trial, randomised 42 women with polycystic ovary syndrome to spearmint tea twice daily or a placebo tea for 30 days and reported that free and total testosterone levels were significantly reduced over the 30 day period in the spearmint tea group, with LH and FSH significantly increased (PMID 19585478, Phytotherapy Research). That is a hormone, in humans, moving in the direction the traditional use predicts, replicated. Now the honest boundary. The trial did NOT show that the hair changed. Objective hirsutism scoring by the Ferriman Gallwey scale showed no significant reduction versus placebo (p equal to 0.12); only the women's own subjective rating improved. The authors' own explanation is that 30 days is far too short for a hair follicle to respond, and clinicians generally expect 3 to 6 months before visible change. So the state of the evidence is precise: the ANDROGEN LOWERING effect is supported by two small trials, and the COSMETIC OUTCOME people actually buy it for is not yet demonstrated. Total participants across both trials is 63, both were short, and no large or long trial has been run. That is limited, not moderate, and it is limited for an honest reason: the mechanism is proven further than the benefit is. Spearmint extract has also been trialled for memory and attention in small industry sponsored studies, which is a separate and much thinner literature.
The dose that produced the effect in both trials is spearmint tea, 2 cups daily, brewed from roughly 5 g of dried leaf per cup in Grant 2010, taken every day. This is a tea dose, not a capsule dose, and the trials give no basis for translating it into a standardised extract. Expect any hair related change, if it comes at all, to need 3 to 6 months rather than the 30 days the trial ran.
Steep 5 to 7 min covered. Effects on androgen levels build over 4 to 8 weeks of consistent use. Combine with lifestyle for PCOS.
Onset: ~30 days
Very safe for women at typical tea doses. KEY CONSIDERATION: anti androgenic effect means men trying to conceive should avoid medicinal quantities, may reduce testosterone and sperm parameters. Avoid high doses in pregnancy (uterotonic activity at very high doses). Culinary amounts safe for all. No significant drug interactions at tea doses.
Pregnancy: caution
Breastfeeding: caution
Active compounds: rosmarinic acid, carvone, limonene, luteolin, apigenin
Remedies using Spearmint · Browse by body system · Check it against what you take
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.