Making effective painkiller medicines is a huge part of the modern pharma industry, and there is a constant search to find chemicals or naturally occurring substances that have painkilling properties. As a part of this search, a traditional herb used in Brazil to reduce pain was also found, and now researchers have found its pain-killing properties. When used as a tea (and this is how it is normally used), the naturally occurring herb is as effective as modern painkillers (link):
Now researchers at Newcastle University say they have scientifically proven its pain-relieving properties for the first time.
Testing this ancient South American herb on mice, the team led by researcher Graciela Rocha was able to show that when prepared as a ‘tea’ – the traditional way to administer the medicine – the mint was as effective as a synthetic aspirin-style drug Indometacin.
Now, the researchers plan to launch clinical trials to find out how effective the mint is as a pain relief for people.