Does Spearmint Tea Help Hormonal Acne? Here's What Studies Show

Spearmint tea got its reputation by accident. Doctors in a small Turkish town noticed local men who drank 4 cups of mint tea a day were showing up with unusually low testosterone, and researchers went looking for why.

That accident turned spearmint into one of the only herbal teas with randomized trial data behind it. Two studies confirmed it lowers testosterone in women, and lower testosterone means less oil.

Below, we break down what the research actually measured, the dose most people get wrong, and what it takes to reach your skin.

Key Takeaways

• Two human trials found drinking spearmint tea lowered testosterone levels in women.
• Neither measured acne. Both tracked hormones and excessive hair growth.
• The trials used roughly 5 g of spearmint leaves daily, more than most people brew.
• Rosmarinic acid levels swing 15 to 20 times between spearmint varieties.
• A standardized extract removes that guesswork, which is why Norse Organics uses one.

What Spearmint Tea Is and How It Differs from Peppermint

Spearmint tea is an herbal tea brewed from the leaves of Mentha spicata. The scientific name nods to its spear-shaped leaves, and the herb grows across Europe, Asia, and anywhere with a mild summer.

People lump spearmint and peppermint together, but they behave differently. Peppermint carries far more menthol, which is why it tastes sharp. Spearmint is sweeter, and that softness comes from carvone.

The difference matters more than it sounds. Nearly all the hormone research used spearmint, so the two are not swappable here.

Against green tea, black tea, or other herbal teas, spearmint holds its own on antioxidants with no caffeine. You will also find the same plant in chewing gum and toothpaste, though those deliver nothing close to a therapeutic dose.

Why Hormonal Acne Keeps Coming Back

Hormonal acne follows your cycle, which is exactly why it feels so stubborn. It settles into the lower third of the face, mostly the jawline and chin, and the inflammatory form accounts for 58% of adult female cases.

That timing points inward. Elevated androgens stimulate your sebaceous glands to overproduce sebum, and more than half of adult women with acne have raised circulating androgen levels, according to a 2024 review of adult female acne.

Most women end up picking from a handful of routes. Spironolactone works on androgens directly, though it brings menstrual irregularity in 13% to 33% of users, along with breast tenderness and dizziness. Combined oral contraceptives need around 6 months to show results and can aggravate skin before it settles.

Botanical options sit alongside the prescriptions, and spearmint is the rare one with human trial data behind it. That same review groups it with other natural remedies for hormonal acne, which is why it comes up so often in natural hormonal acne treatment options.

How Androgens Turn Oil into Breakouts

Androgens tell your oil glands to work harder. Everything else follows from that.

The extra sebum mixes with dead skin cells and plugs the follicle. C. acnes bacteria multiply inside, your immune system reacts, and you get the red lump you feel before you see it.

Androgens are not the only hormone in play. Your liver has to break estrogen down and clear it out, and when that process slows, the balance tips further toward the androgens driving your oil. That is what DIM for hormonal breakouts works on.

How Spearmint Is Thought to Balance Hormones

Researchers have two theories about how spearmint might balance hormones, and neither is settled.

The first is that it speeds up how fast your body metabolizes androgens. The second is that it acts on androgen production further upstream.

A 2024 meta-analysis of herbal teas in PCOS states plainly that the mechanism is unresolved. Any confident explanation you read is running ahead of the evidence.

What both trials agree on is direction. Testosterone went down, and female hormones tied to ovulation went up.

What the Studies on Spearmint Tea Actually Found

Only two human trials have tested spearmint tea in women. Both measured blood hormones, and both studied women with hormonal imbalances rather than acne.

The 5-Day Study on Women with Hirsutism

This is the study that followed up on the Isparta observation. Researchers gave spearmint tea to 21 women with hirsutism, a condition marked by excessive hair growth on the face, chest, and stomach.

Twelve had PCOS and 9 had unexplained facial hair, so the group was not built around a single diagnosis. Each drank a cup twice a day for 5 days during the follicular phase of her cycle.

Free testosterone fell in that short window. Luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and estradiol all rose.

Total testosterone did not budge, though, and neither did DHEAS. The researchers called spearmint a possible alternative for mild hirsutism and said more studies were needed, which is a fair bit more cautious than most articles quoting them.

The 30-Day Randomized Controlled Trial

Three years later, one researcher asked the obvious follow-up: if testosterone drops, does anything actually change on the body?

The trial gave 42 women with PCOS spearmint tea or a placebo tea twice a day for a month. Both free and total testosterone fell in the spearmint group, and LH and FSH rose again.

Hair growth was then checked two ways. The women rated their own hair with a questionnaire, and doctors scored it separately using a standard clinical scale.

Only one of those two scores improved. That gap is the part most articles skip.

What the Research Never Measured

The score that did not move was the clinical one. Doctors rated hair on a standard scale, and the difference between the two groups was too small to count, which complicates the story on reducing hirsutism.

The study author had a fair explanation. Hair follicles turn over slowly, so a month is not long enough to see outside change even after the hormones have already shifted.

Then there is the wider gap. No trial has ever counted acne lesions in people drinking spearmint tea. Every acne claim you read is borrowed from hormone data in women who were being studied for hair growth.

You may also come across a figure claiming 25% fewer breakouts at one month and 51% by month three. It appears on dozens of sites and traces back to no published study.

Some people notice little or no benefit at all, depending on what is actually driving their breakouts. A cup of tea was never built to cover all four causes of acne, and more research is needed to close that gap.

How Much Spearmint Tea the Studies Used

Good intentions usually fall apart right here.

The trials used 2 cups daily, about 5 g of dried leaf. That is closer to 3 or 4 standard tea bags than the single bag most people drop in a mug.

But making tea at home does not give you the same control over dose as a standardized extract. The amount of plant material you use, how long you steep it, and the product itself can all affect what ends up in your cup. That makes a homemade cup of spearmint tea harder to standardize from one serving to the next.

How Spearmint Tea Is Usually Made

Most people follow the same routine when making tea at home:

• Pour just-boiled water over dried or fresh spearmint leaves
• Steep around 5 minutes, then strain
• Add lemon if you like, though spearmint has a mild taste that rarely turns bitter

The method is simple. The dose is the part no steeping time can pin down.

How the Gut and Hormonal Balance System Works

Spearmint tea has been used this way for generations, and the research says that tradition was onto something real. The trouble is that a cup was never designed to deliver a measured dose.

That is the gap a concentrated formula closes. The Complete Gut Repair & Hormonal Balance System for Female Acne uses 600 mg of spearmint leaf extract at a 10:1 concentration, so what you take stays the same every day instead of shifting with your kettle or your brand of spearmint herbal tea.

There is a second thing tea was never meant to do. Androgens are one of four drivers behind acne, so calming them still leaves oil, bacteria, and inflammation in play.

That is why the combination matters more than any single active.

Your liver and gut decide how fast used hormones leave your body. When that slows, they recirculate, and your skin ends up carrying the load.

Internal work handles the hormones. The Kill Acne & Redness Ritual covers what is already on your face, and the hormonal acne supplement for women page walks through each formula in detail.

What Spearmint Tea Means for Men

Here is something almost nobody mentions. This entire line of research started because of men.

Clinicians in a small Turkish town noticed local men drinking 4 cups of mint tea daily turning up with reduced libido. That observation is what pushed researchers to test the anti-androgen effect in women.

No trial has looked at spearmint for acne in men. For male breakouts, saw palmetto for male acne has stronger evidence, and it is the active inside the Complete Gut Repair & Hormonal Balance System for Male Acne.

Various Health Benefits of Spearmint Tea

What spearmint tea offers goes well beyond hormones, though nearly every measurable result comes from concentrated extracts rather than a mug.

• Memory: In a 90-day randomized controlled trial, adults aged 50 to 70 with age-associated memory impairment who took 900 mg daily of a polyphenol-rich spearmint extract saw about a 15% improvement in quality of working memory compared with placebo.
• Digestion: carvone helps quiet muscle spasms in the gut, which is why spearmint aids digestion and may ease nausea by relaxing stomach muscles
• Blood sugar: diabetic mice given spearmint extract showed lower blood sugar, though nothing confirms this for people with diabetes
• Cell protection: rosmarinic acid and polyphenols act as antioxidants that protect cells from damage, and researchers tie that to lower risk of chronic disease
• Relaxation: caffeine-free, which makes it an easy evening drink for sleep and stress

Notice the pattern. The unique health benefits attached to real numbers come from measured extract doses, not casual sipping.

Who Should Skip Spearmint Tea

For most healthy adults, spearmint is generally well tolerated. A 90-day study found 600 and 900 mg daily of spearmint extract were well tolerated, with no treatment-related changes in the measured safety markers.

Some people should still be more careful:

• Check with your doctor if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to conceive
• Talk to a healthcare provider if you take medication
• Check first if you have an existing health condition

Spearmint tea is generally low risk for most people, while concentrated extracts deserve a little more care because they deliver a higher, more consistent dose.

What Hormonal and Gut Support Looks Like Month by Month

Here is where the research leaves us. Spearmint tea does move testosterone in women, but the trials measured blood work, never breakouts, and a cup delivers a dose nobody can pin down.

Give the body a measured amount instead, alongside liver and inflammation support, and you cover more of what drives the breakouts. That is what Norse Organics built its supplement system around.

Either way, it takes time. Most people notice calmer skin within the first couple of weeks, fewer new breakouts around the 30 to 45 day mark, and a clearer read on the whole picture by day 60 to 90.

The change creeps up on you, then lands all at once. See more customer skin transformation results or compare the full range of products for hormonal breakouts if you are still weighing options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does spearmint tea reduce hair growth?

Spearmint tea may have an anti-androgen effect, which could potentially help with excess hair growth linked to higher androgen levels. However, changes in hair growth take time, and current research has not shown a clear reduction in clinically measured hair growth over a short period.

How long does it take for spearmint tea to clear hormonal acne?

No study has answered this, since no trial tracked acne lesions with spearmint tea. Based on how hormonal changes reach the skin, expect at least 30 to 45 days before new breakouts slow down. The Norse Organics Gut and Hormonal Balance System works on the same timeline, which is why it comes with a 60-day window to judge results fairly.

Which tea is better for PCOS, peppermint or spearmint?

Spearmint has the research behind it. Both human trials used Mentha spicata, not peppermint, so the two are not interchangeable. Early animal work hinted both mints may affect androgens, but only spearmint has been tested in women with PCOS.

What happens if I drink spearmint tea every day?

One to 2 cups daily is generally well tolerated by healthy adults. Since spearmint acts on hormones, the effect is not neutral, and a standardized extract gives a far more predictable daily dose. Consistency matters more than volume.

What to avoid when drinking spearmint tea?

Avoid it entirely if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to conceive. Talk to your doctor before pairing it with hormonal contraceptives, thyroid medication, or blood thinners. Go easy if you deal with reflux, kidney, or liver conditions.

What can I drink to clear hormonal acne?

No drink clears hormonal acne alone, since androgens are one of four things driving breakouts. Spearmint tea may nudge testosterone down, but it leaves oil, bacteria, and inflammation untouched. A formula pairing standardized spearmint extract with liver support and omega-3s covers more at once.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Norse Organics supplements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Speak with a qualified healthcare provider before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking medication.