Why does mint make our mouth feel cool?

If you sip a mint leaf, you may notice that it makes your mouth feel cool. That's because mint, like chili, is a biochemical success story.

The magic of evolution lies in the special molecules that these plants produce like capsaicin in chili and peppermint in peppermint. Scientists think that the ancestors of plants may have started producing chemicals to stop predators.

Scientists have found the reason why when we eat peppermint, we find it cool in our mouths.

Paul Wise, a member of the Monell Center for Chemical Sensors in Philadelphia, said: "Plants can evolve compounds to use as a defense mechanism and through natural selection."

Going back to the answer to the question of why peppermint makes us feel 'cool' when we put it in our mouth is the actual peppermint essential oil that deceives our bodies to feel cold.

Both menthol and capsaicin affect the sensory receptor system that tracks things like human touch, temperature and pain. Called somatosensory system , this complex neural network differs from systems responsible for taste and smell.

"There are neurons under the skin that can feel different sensations, like hot and cold," said Seok-Yong Lee, associate professor of biochemistry at Duke University.

These neurons monitor the environment using a variety of specialized proteins embedded in the cell membrane. The proteins that control small tunnels called ion channels can allow matter to pass through the cell membrane. Ion channels are closed until the receptor protein detects the stimulus it is looking for.

"Once you sense the chemical or the heat, the proteins will turn on and allow ions to permeate through the cell membrane. New ions from the outside world activate a small electrical signal, called the potential for action and sacrifice. Neurons will be transmitted to the brain, " Seok-Yong Lee stressed.

The potential to act like a telegram that says "some cold receptors on the tongue have been activated". The brain will reasonably explain that " cold tongue" , but it is not always the case.

Most receptor proteins are designed to open their ion channels when they detect a specific stimulus.

The reason peppermint makes your mouth feel cool is because peppermint essential oil molecules also make receptors open their ion channels and send a potential action to the brain, automatically interpreting small electrical impulses as "cold tongue" .