Essential Oils of Mint between Benefits and Hazards

Abstract

The history of local Egyptian mint dates back to at least 1,000 BC, when the ancient Egyptians used it as part of their herbal medicine as found in Ebers papyrus. Our study focused on essential oil composition of local and recently introduced Mentha sp. and either suitability or toxicity for humans as traditional medicines. Leaf oils composition of four different Mentha sp.; spicata L. “mint”, longifolia L. “wild mint”, suaveolens “apple mint” and piperita “chocolate” of Egypt were analyzed using GC and GC-MS. The antibacterial (agar disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentrations methods) and antioxidant activities (2,2- diphenypicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene-linoleic acid assays) were examined. Main oils constituent were 1-carvone (53.90 %), pulegone (56.43 %), piperitenone oxide (35.14 %) and L-menthol (30.84 %) in Mentha sp.; spicata L., longifolia L., suaveolens “Apple Mint” and piperita “Chocolate”; respectively. The essential oil from M. longifolia demonstrated strong antibacterial activity against all tested plant and human bacterial pathogens, followed by apple mint. The highest total antioxidant activity was found in M. Spicata (79-85 %); supporting ancient Egyptians believes and traditional folk. M. longifolia and M. piperita leaves essential oils enclosed toxic compounds and possible to use of Mentha oils as alternative of antibiotics.