Does Peppermint Tea Make Acid Reflux Worse?

Peppermint leads an odd double life. Peppermint oil, in capsules, is one of the few herbal preparations with randomized-trial support for irritable bowel syndrome — support that reviewers grade as low certainty. Peppermint also sits on nearly every gastroenterologist’s list of things to cut if you get heartburn. Both are true, because what was tested is not what is in your mug.

If you have reflux, the advice is short: peppermint tea is a plausible trigger, it has never been shown to help reflux, and you lose nothing by switching for a few weeks to see what happens.

Why does peppermint tea give me heartburn?

Start with what is documented. In a meta-analysis of nine randomized trials covering 726 patients with IBS, enteric-coated peppermint oil outperformed placebo, and heartburn was the single most commonly reported adverse event (PubMed). An earlier review of 16 trials in 651 patients described peppermint oil’s side effects the same way: typical gut effects, heartburn among them, mild and transient but very specific to the drug (PubMed). For the oil, then, the heartburn signal rests on multiple human randomized trials. Call that tier moderate.

Now notice the gap. Those trials tested capsules. No randomized trial has ever given peppermint tea to people with reflux, so the evidence that the brewed tea worsens GERD is limited: it rests on the oil trials, on the leaf carrying the same volatile oil in a smaller and unmeasured amount, and on decades of people saying so. Capsule trials cannot prove the tea works; capsule side effects cannot prove the tea harms.

NCCIH is blunt on both halves: peppermint oil taken alone may worsen indigestion in some people, and there is not enough evidence to determine whether peppermint leaf is useful for any health condition. More on our peppermint tea page.

Does peppermint really relax the lower esophageal sphincter?

This is the explanation you will read everywhere, including on handouts from good hospitals. The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is a ring of smooth muscle where the esophagus meets the stomach; it stays shut to keep acid down. Menthol relaxes smooth muscle in the lab, and peppermint oil placed directly into the duodenum of healthy volunteers relaxed stomach and duodenal muscle (PubMed). Line those up and the story writes itself: peppermint loosens the valve, acid comes up.

The trouble is that when researchers have measured the sphincter directly in people, it has not budged.

• In a double-blind randomized crossover trial, healthy volunteers got a high dose of spearmint, a flavoring dose, or placebo. LES pressure did not change; neither did reflux episodes on pH monitoring. Six reported symptoms on the high dose anyway, which the authors put down to direct irritation of the lining (PubMed).
• Infusing menthol into the esophagus during high-resolution manometry left basal LES pressure and relaxation pressure unchanged in 18 healthy adults, though it did lower upper-esophageal-sphincter pressure and damp secondary peristalsis (PubMed). Repeated in 11 GERD patients and 13 healthy volunteers, menthol infusion changed no manometry measure except distal latency at one swallow volume — though the GERD patients found the infusion markedly more uncomfortable (PubMed).
• In eight patients with diffuse esophageal spasm who swallowed a peppermint oil solution during esophageal manometry, sphincter pressures before and after were no different. That was an uncontrolled before-and-after study in eight people, with no placebo (PubMed).

The paper usually cited for the sphincter claim appeared in 1969, titled The action of a carminative on the lower esophageal sphincter (PubMed). It predates high-resolution manometry and PubMed carries no abstract for it. Whatever it showed, the modern direct tests — all small, and mostly in healthy volunteers — have not reproduced a peppermint effect on sphincter pressure.

So the honest position is awkward. That peppermint produces heartburn-type symptoms in some people has real trial data behind it, from the oil. The mechanism everyone repeats is on thinner ice. Menthol switches on cold-sensing TRPM8 receptors, reported on the nerve endings supplying the esophagus, and an esophagus already sensitized by reflux may register that as burning. It may be a sensation problem more than a plumbing problem. Nobody has settled it. Either way the burning is real.

Why don’t peppermint oil capsules cause the same problem?

Some do. But the capsules used in IBS trials are enteric-coated: wrapped in a polymer that survives stomach acid and dissolves in the higher pH of the small intestine, which is where the antispasmodic effect is wanted anyway. The oil never sits against the lower esophagus or the stomach lining. NCCIH notes that peppermint oil capsules are often enteric-coated to reduce the likelihood of heartburn, and that the American College of Gastroenterology’s 2021 IBS guideline, which recommended peppermint oil for relief of overall IBS symptoms, noted that enteric-coated formulations might help with the acid reflux and indigestion side effects (PubMed). The benefit is modest either way: a 2025 umbrella review graded the certainty of that evidence as low to very low (PubMed).

What should I drink instead of peppermint tea?

Be realistic: none of these has been shown in a trial to reduce acid reflux. The goal is a warm, caffeine-free drink that does not make things worse. Each still carries its own cautions. Our digestion tea guide covers them in more detail.

• Chamomile. Mild, caffeine-free, no menthol, brewed near 200°F for 3 to 5 minutes. The tier is traditional: no human trials for reflux. Two cautions that matter. Skip it if you react to ragweed, chrysanthemums, daisies, or marigolds — chamomile is in the same family, and NCCIH notes allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. And NCCIH reports interactions between chamomile and warfarin, so if you take an anticoagulant or antiplatelet drug, clear it with your prescriber first. Chamomile has also been reported to raise cyclosporine blood levels.
• Marshmallow root. A demulcent — the mucilage is thought to coat irritated tissue mechanically. The evidence is limited, it is about throats rather than esophagi, and it was not tea: two uncontrolled pharmacy surveys of 822 people using lozenges or syrup of a concentrated root extract, with no placebo group (PubMed). Keep it two hours from other medications, since mucilage can slow absorption.
• Ginger, with two caveats. Ginger has real human trial data, mostly for nausea. One small randomized crossover trial in 11 people with functional dyspepsia found that 1.2 g of ginger, given as capsules, sped gastric emptying — while leaving their symptoms unchanged (PubMed). Nobody has shown that faster emptying reduces reflux. First caveat: heartburn is one of ginger’s commonly reported side effects, per NCCIH, and a strong brew is genuinely spicy. Second: ginger is widely flagged as a possible interaction with warfarin and other blood thinners. The human evidence conflicts, and tea-sized amounts are unlikely to matter, but tell your prescriber if you drink it daily. It is not the safe fallback it is usually sold as.
• Plain warm water. Free, caffeine-free, and the least likely of these to make anything worse.

Two things to avoid. Never add peppermint essential oil to a drink: it is a concentrated extract, not a flavoring, and swallowing it undiluted is a poisoning risk. And be wary of licorice root tea, often recommended for reflux. Real licorice contains glycyrrhizin, which can raise blood pressure and lower blood potassium with regular use. NCCIH links glycyrrhizin to irregular heartbeat and cardiac arrest, especially in large amounts or over the long term, and notes that even small amounts have caused severe effects in people with high blood pressure, heart or kidney conditions, or a high-salt diet. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) has the glycyrrhizin taken out and is a different product.

Will cutting out peppermint fix my acid reflux?

Probably not on its own, and this is where reflux-diet advice quietly overpromises. One evidence review screened 2,039 studies published between 1975 and 2004 and found only 16 clinical trials of any lifestyle measure for GERD. Its conclusion: although there is physiologic evidence that tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, and high-fat meals lower sphincter pressure, there was no published evidence that dietary measures improve GERD. Only weight loss and raising the head of the bed held up (PubMed).

Dropping a suspected trigger is still worth doing, because it is free and you are the experiment. Treat it as trial and error, not therapy. If heartburn hits more than twice a week, a swapped teabag will not be the answer: proton pump inhibitors remain the medical treatment of choice for GERD in the ACG’s 2022 guideline (PubMed).

When tea is the wrong tool entirely

See a doctor rather than reworking your drinks cabinet if you have trouble swallowing, food sticking, unintended weight loss, vomiting blood or coffee-ground material, black tarry stools, anemia, chest pain, or heartburn starting for the first time after age 50. Frequent heartburn deserves a diagnosis, not a workaround. On pregnancy, briefly: NCCIH says oral peppermint in amounts commonly found in food is likely safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding, while little is known about medicinal amounts. Ask your doctor or midwife, not a website.

The bottom line

Yes, peppermint tea can make acid reflux worse, and if you have GERD it is sensible to drop it. That advice comes from side-effect data in peppermint oil trials, not from any study of the tea, and the sphincter explanation attached to it has not held up in the small studies that tested it directly in people. Here is the distinction vendors blur: the peppermint that helps IBS is a coated capsule engineered to skip your stomach, and a mug of tea is not a weaker version of it. If mint burns, stop drinking mint. If the burning is frequent, see a clinician.

Photo: Starr 070906-8848 Mentha x piperita.jpg by Forest & Kim Starr — CC BY 3.0. Cropped and re-encoded.

Last reviewed and updated July 9, 2026. HelperTea is written by an enthusiast, not a clinician, and is not medically reviewed. How we research and rate evidence. Found an error? Tell us — safety corrections get priority.