TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS PAGES
Title Page – – – – – – – – – i
Certification – – – – – – – – ii
Dedication – – – – – – – – – iii
Acknowledgments – – – – – – – iv
Table of Contents – – – – – – – – v
CHAPTER ONE
- Introduction – – – – – – – 1
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Origin and Morphology of the Plant – – – – 3
2.1 Chemical Composition of the Plant – – – – 4
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Nutritional Value of Mint Plant – – – – 11
3.1 Vitamins Content – – – – – – – 11
3.2 Minerals Content – – – – – – – 13
CHAPER FOUR
4.0 Health benefits of mint plant – – – – – 18
4.1 Allergies – – – – – – – – 18
4.2 Aids in Digestion – – – – – – – 18
4.3 Aids in Nausea and Headache – – – – – 19
4.4 Relief Common Cold – – – – – – 19
4.5 Prevent Gastric Ulcers – – – – – – 19
4.6 Aids in weight loss – – – – – – – 20
4.7 Aids in skin Care and Pimples – – – – – 20
4.8 Breast Feeding – – – – – – – 21
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Summary and Recommendation – – – – 22
5.1 Summary – – – – – – – – 22
5.2 Recommendation – – – – – – – 22
References
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
Medicinal plants have continued to attract attention in the global search for effective methods of using plants parts (e.g seeds, steam, leaves, root and bark etc) for the treatment of many diseases affecting human. This is because many important drugs used in medicine today are directly or indirectly derived from plants due to its bioactive constituents such as alkaloid, steroids, tannins etc. (Cordoiro and Oniyangi, 1998). Also herbs are used for flavoring foods, culinary preparation, perfumery, cosmetics, beauty and body care .Mary medicinal herbs are also foods, oil and fiber plant (Peter, 2001). One of such is the mint plant also known as menthe is a genus of plants in the family of Lamiaceae (Harley et al., 2004).
Furthermore, its shoots and leaves have been seen to be a useful laxative, diuretic and circulation aid (Rowe, 1994). It has long tradition medicinal uses, it was taken as tea to treat general digestive problems. Mint oil is also used as an environmentally friendly insecticide for its ability to kill some common pests such as waps, homets, ants and cockroaches (Bounds, 2009). Essentials oils of mint plant have been extensively investigated for their activity against a number of storage fungi, plant and human pathogens, bacteria insects, pests and other harmful microorganism (Hunt et al., 2013). It is also widely used in commercially manufactured products, cooking and medicine for its aromatic and flavoursome qualities (Jamila and Mostafa, 2014). Therefore this paper was designed to highlight the nutritional and health benefits of mint plant.