65 Cooling Ingredients and Their Mechanism of Action

The use of “purified” cooling agents in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations only dates back to the late 1880s with the commercial production of menthol from Japanese peppermint (Mentha arvensis) oil in Japan (1). The cultivation of peppermint in Japan before the Christian era appears to predate any other country, and menthol is reputed to have been used medicinally for almost as long (2). In the Western world, it was about 1770 that the Dutch botanist, H. David Gaubius, first isolated menthol from the oil of Mentha piperita in Utrecht (2,3). Prior to the commercial availability of menthol, the essential oils of peppermint varieties (primarily M. and M. arvensis) were the sole source for use as cooling minty ingredients. It is significant that at the end of the 18th century only about 900 to 1400 kg of peppermint oils (both piperita and arvensis) were consumed worldwide (1). By the late 1890s, production had increased to about 175,000 kg (2). In 2007, total peppermint oil production was estimated at more than 26,000,000 kg, with about 21,500,000 kg being the oil of M. arvensis (commonly referred to as cornmint oil), which is used mostly for the production of natural leavo-menthol (4). This chapter reviews the use of menthol and new classes of cooling agents that have been discovered since the 1970s. In addition, we briefly touch upon the efficacy of cooling agents as insect repellents. Finally, recent findings on the physiological mechanisms of cold receptors are presented.