Tea for PCOS

Tea is a great thing to add to your drink rotation when you have PCOS.  Studies have shown that both green tea and spearmint tea can have a positive impact on PCOS symptoms, including hirsutism.   
This article is going to review some of the evidence supporting the use of tea for PCOS.  
 

One of the more common complaints we hear from women we see with PCOS is hirsutism, or excess male-pattern hair growth.  This distressing symptom stems from the ovaries or adrenal glands producing too many androgens, and often negatively effects self-esteem levels in addition to being costly to manage.   

The underlying cause of most PCOS is insulin resistance, but the condition can also be triggered by stress (adrenal PCOS) or general inflammation in the body.  There are many diet and lifestyle changes a woman can make to help manage her PCOS symptoms, but it can feel overwhelming knowing where to start.  It can be helpful to adopt an "addition" mindset vs. a "subtraction" mindset when working towards a healthier lifestyle to balance your hormones.  This mindset shift goes along well with the topic of tea for PCOS.  

For example, if you are trying to reduce sugar intake, rather than focusing on what you are taking away (subtraction mindset), such as "I can no longer have my daily afternoon latte" , try switching your mindset to "I get to have a daily afternoon cup of tea " (addition mindset)
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In a 30-day randomized controlled trial, 41 women were randomized to drink either a placebo herbal tea or spearmint tea twice per day.  It was found that free and total testosterone levels were significantly reduced in the spearmint tea group over the course of the study (1).

Another small study in 2007 showed that hirsute women who drank 2 cups of spearmint tea per day for 5 days during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle showed a significant decrease in free testosterone levels.  There were no significant decreases in total testosterone or dehydroepiandrostenedione-sulphate (DHEA-S).  Further studies are needed, due to the short duration of the study and small sample size (2).

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