What can you say about peppermint oil in your ads and on your site?

The library supports 3 wordings for peppermint oil; the strongest is “Traditionally used in herbal medicine to aid digestion” (limited, 60-800 µl essential oil a day). Avoid wording that names or implies a disease, a drug or a treatment, such as “Treats IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)”.

Also called: Peppermint, Peppermint leaf, Mentha x piperita

Reviewed 14 October 2026

Not legal advice. This guide shows the wording that published evidence supports at a daily dose, from the sources linked below; it is not a ruling on any claim. Your own product, its form and dose, and your own evidence still need to match the wording you use.

Supported wordings

What you can say.

Limited evidenceWording 1

Claims Facts

“Traditionally used in herbal medicine to aid digestion.”

Daily dose	60-800 µl essential oil a day
Support	Traditional use in Health Canada’s monograph; no other listed source covers it.
Dose details	Adults 18 and older (leaf: 1.2-12 g dried leaf a day). Health Canada gives smaller doses for children 2 and older.
Form	Peppermint essential oil, or dried leaf at leaf doses
Source	Health Canada monograph: Peppermint

Limited evidenceWording 2

Claims Facts

“Traditionally used in herbal medicine to help relieve occasional indigestion with gas.”

Daily dose	60-800 µl essential oil a day
Support	Traditional use in Health Canada’s monograph; no other listed source covers it.
Dose details	Adults 18 and older (leaf: 1.2-12 g a day).
Form	Peppermint essential oil, or dried leaf at leaf doses
Source	Health Canada monograph: Peppermint

Limited evidenceWording 3

Claims Facts

“Traditionally used in herbal medicine to help relieve nausea.”

Daily dose	60-800 µl essential oil a day
Support	Traditional use in Health Canada’s monograph; no other listed source covers it.
Dose details	Adults 18 and older. This use applies to the essential oil only.
Form	Peppermint essential oil
Source	Health Canada monograph: Peppermint

How strong the evidence is

Strong evidence: At least two listed sources support it independently at a comparable dose and form, and none disagrees.
Moderate evidence: One listed source supports it as an evidence-based use at that dose, and no listed source disagrees.
Limited evidence: The only support is traditional use, the sources disagree, or the source itself calls the evidence weak.

Wordings to avoid

What to leave out.

Claims Facts

Ingredient: Peppermint oil

Wording to avoid	Reason
“Treats IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)”Names a disease; Health Canada’s peppermint monograph does not list it.	Disease
“Relieves heartburn, without ‘occasional’”FDA’s 2000 rule (page 1031) says unqualified heartburn relief is not structure-and-function wording; peppermint oil can also cause reflux.	Disease

Disease: names or implies a disease. Drug: names a drug or presents the product as one. Treatment: promises to treat, cure or prevent a condition.

Sources

Where this comes from.

All ingredient guides

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