Natural Healing With Essential Oils

Essential Oils - Aromatherapy

This Topic Covers: Essential oils and their therapeutic healing properties. In depth information on how they are used and which conditions and illness they can be used for. How to purchase quality essential oils, consumer precautions, clinical research studies, and recommended sites to purchase essential oils, and more...

"...the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:12).

Introduction
Why You Should Know About Essential Oils
What is Aromatherapy?
Benefits of Aromatherapy

What Are Essential Oils

How Essential Oils Are Extracted

History of Essential Oils

Healing Oils of the Bible

The Science Behind Aromatherapy

How Do Essential Oils Work

The Way Essential Oils Affect the Body

Essential Oils Therapeutic Properties

Essential Oils and Pharmaceuticals Compared

Practitioner Treatment

Find a Registered Aromatherapist

Finding a Qualified Aromatherapy Practitioner

Questions to Ask About Treatment

Essential Oils in Cancer Treatment

Methods of Using Essential Oils

Formulas for Use

Safety Issues

Storing of Essential Oils Precautions

Consumer Precautions When Purchasing Essential Oils

Quality Defined

Essential Oils' Industry Standard Testing

Clinical Research

Search Clinical Research Studies

Online Essential Oils Research Database

Exploring Aromatherapy Resources

Therapy Treatment Ailment Guide

Aromatherapy (Essential Oils) Journals

Online Courses - Learn Aromatherapy

Professional Organizations

Introduction

Humankind has used plants for healing for thousands of years, and it's from this tradition of that knowledge, the use of aromatic plant compounds medicine began.

Essential oils contain hundreds of organic constituents, including hormones, vitamins and other natural elements that work on many levels. They are 75 to 100 times more concentrated than the oils in dried herbs.

Essential oils are used by the plants in somewhat the same way they are by humans - they fight infection, contain hormone-like compounds, initiate cellular regeneration, and work as a chemical defense against fungal, viral, and bacterial foes. Despite their foliar origins however, essential oils have a similar structure to some compounds found in blood and tissues, allowing them to be compatible with our own physiology. They have unique therapeutic properties.

Essential oils are used preventatively to maintain health, as well as during acute and chronic stages of illness. Essential oils are a natural plant based medicine designed to support and affect the whole person. They are used to assist the body's immune system and to support our natural ability to maintain balance, and to heal. They connect us back to nature.

Using oils drawn from nature’s own medicine cabinet of flowers, trees, seeds and roots, man can tap into God’s healing power to heal oneself from almost any pain, finding relief from many conditions and rejuvenate the body. Without the scientific evidence of understanding how essential oils work, we would simply call it “miraculous.” Yet, simply it is since they are endowed with God’s spoken word as living, vibrant substances carrying within them the healing power He offers us.

Modern medicine has attempted to duplicate the chemical constituents and healing capabilities of essential oils, but cannot. Man-made pharmaceuticals lack the intelligence and life-force found in the healing oils. Most synthetic prescriptions have multiple undesirable side effects—even some that are deadly.

Essential oils have no serious side effects that are deadly. Many people have reported authentic healing when using them—though everyone may not experience the same results as family history, lifestyle, and diet plays a significant role in the body’s healing process. Essential oils work together in harmony, making them inherently safe, unlike when multiple prescription drugs are taken, causing drug-interaction, other health issues and sometimes even death.

Why do I need to know about essential oils?

There is a growing body of research from laboratory and clinical studies that points to the remarkable healing properties of essential oils. They are widely available in markets, co-ops, and pharmacies and are increasingly used in clinics and hospitals.

While most essential oils are safe and free of adverse side effects when used properly, it is important for you to pay attention to dosage, purity, administration, and possible interactions with other medications you might be taking. You should also look for quality products, as there can be big differences between what a professional aromatherapist would use and what is sold in retail stores.

Reference www.encyclopedia.com

Today, the use of holistic aromatherapy is widely accepted in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, where it is commonly used in conjunction with massage as both a psychological and physiological healing tool. In the United States, where aromatherapy is often misunderstood as solely a cosmetic treatment, the mainstream medical community has been slower to accept its use.

Source www.budwigcenter.com

Everything has an electrical frequency or vibration, including food, our bodies, and even disease that can be measured in Megahertz (MHz). The frequency of essential oils are actually some of the highest frequencies known to man. They create an environment in which disease, bacteria, virus, fungus, etc., cannot live and are several times greater than the frequencies of herbs and foods.

top

What is Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy, also referred to as Essential Oil Therapy, can be defined as the art and science of utilizing naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance, harmonize and promote the health of body, mind and spirit. It seeks to unify physiological, psychological and spiritual processes to enhance an individual’s innate healing process...

As a holistic practice, Aromatherapy is both a preventative approach as well as an active method to employ during acute and chronic stages of illness or 'dis'-ease.

www.iaama.org.au - The International Aromatherapy and Aromatic Medicine Association

Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of essential oils. Essential oils are natural plant extracts. In the hands of a qualified therapist, essential oils are the only remedy that can be used to treat internally, externally and vibrationally, making them truly wholistic. A qualified therapist can customise the remedy and method of application to meet your individual needs.

Aromatherapy is both an ancient art and a modern science, however products using the term ‘Aromatherapy’, commonly found on supermarket shelves, should not be confused with the therapeutic work of a qualified Aromatherapist. It is more than a smelly massage!

Aromatherapy is an ancient therapeutic treatment that enhances well being, relieves stress and helps in the rejuvenation and regeneration of the human body. It has been used throughout history in the traditional medical practices of the world's greatest civilizations. Nowadays, Aromatherapy is widely accepted by orthodox and complementary practitioners as one of the most comprehensive of the natural therapies.

Aromatherapy oils are pure essences extracted or distilled from plants. Flowers, leaves, roots, resins, seeds and fruits of many herbs, shrubs and trees are used to provide aromatic oils, each with their own unique healing properties. Some oils are used for their balancing effects on the nervous and hormonal systems, some for their ability to improve the function of bodily systems. Many oils have a powerful antiseptic action, while others act as natural painkillers. Rosemary essential oil has a stimulating effect; Lavender is used for its ability to calm and sedate.

top

Benefits of Aromatherapy

Essential oils have many healing properties and work to support other complementary therapies as well as orthodox healing methods. Aromatic oils are highly effective in their ability to uplift and restore.

Aromatherapy can be beneficial for a wide range of individuals and problems. It has been found to be particularly helpful in stress-related symptoms such as:

Skin problems
Poor digestion
Disturbed sleep
Low energy
Aches and pains
Anxiety

Aromatherapy can help to release physical, mental and emotional stress (or dis-ease). Acute stress is often accompanied by hyperventilation which can lead to conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, panic attacks, mood swings, nervousness, anxiety and other unpleasant symptoms. The deep relaxation that aromatherapy offers regulates the breathing process, helping the nervous and hormonal systems to return the body to its ideal state known as “homeostasis”.

www.ifaroma.org - International Federation of Aromatherapist

Prevention of ill health and disease

Support while in a state of ill health or disease

Recovery from the state of ill health or disease

Maintenance of optimum health and wellbeing

Source www.bcapa.orgg - The British Columbia Association of Practicing Aromatherapists

Improve blood circulation and lymphatic drainage
Improve skin tone
Relax and refresh muscles
Increase metabolism
Assist in pain management
Bring about deep relaxation and relieve insomnia
Relieve mental and physical fatigue
Reduce stress, tension and anxiety
Calm the nervous system
Promote a sense of relaxation and renewed energy

What does the research say? Research studies on essential oils show positive effects for a variety of health concerns including infections, pain, anxiety, depression, tumors, premenstrual syndrome, nausea, and many others…

Clinical studies are currently underway in Europe, Australia, Japan, India, the United States, and Canada. Many of these studies describe the remarkable healing properties of various oils.

Source airase.com - Association for the International Research of Aromatic Science and Education

Essential oils are small enough in molecular size that they can quickly penetrate the tissues of the skin.
Essential oils are lipid-soluble and are capable of penetrating cell membranes, even if the membranes have hardened because of an oxygen deficiency. According to Jean Valnet, MD essential oils can affect every cell of the body within 20 minutes and are then metabolized like other nutrients.
Essential oils are some of the most powerful antioxidants as determined by the ORAC test developed at Tufts University.
Essential oils are antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-infectious, antimicrobial, anti-parasitic, and antiseptic. Some essential oils have been shown to destroy all tested bacteria and viruses.
Essential oils may detoxify the cells and blood in the body.
Essential oils containing sesquiterpenes have the ability to pass the blood-brain barrier.
Essential oils are aromatic, and when diffused, may provide air purification by increasing ozone and negative ions in the area eliminating odors from cooking, bacteria, mold, animals, and other sources, and filling the air with a fresh, aromatic scent.
Essential oils promote emotional, physical and spiritual well-being.
Essential oils stimulate blood flow, which increases oxygen and nutrient delivery.

All of the foregoing facts about essential oils are based on scientific research.

top

What Are Essential Oils

The term “essential oil” is a contraction of the original “quintessential oil.” This stems from the Aristotelian idea that matter is composed of four elements, namely, fire, air, earth, and water. The fifth element, or quintessence, was then considered to be spirit or life force. Distillation and evaporation were thought to be processes of removing the spirit from the plant and this is also reflected in our language since the term “spirits” is used to describe distilled alcoholic beverages such as brandy, whiskey, and eau de vie. The last of these again shows reference to the concept of removing the life force from the plant. Nowadays, of course, we know that, far from being spirit, essential oils are physical in nature and composed of complex mixtures of chemicals.

An interesting fact - Essential oils are also used by plants themselves. Naturally occurring essential oils in plants help with infection control, humidity control, hormonal effects, wound healing, and attracting or repelling insects, birds, and animals (Buhner, 2002; Price & Price, 2007).

Essential oils are highly concentrated aromatic extracts which are distilled from a variety of aromatic plant material including grasses, leaves, flowers, needles & twigs, peel of fruit, wood and roots.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in their Vocabulary of Natural Materials (ISO/D1S9235.2) defines an essential oil as follows: "An essential oil is a product made by distillation with either water or steam or by mechanical processing of citrus rinds or by dry distillation of natural materials. Following the distillation, the essential oil is physically separated from the water phase."

Dr. Brian Lawrence states "For an essential oil to be a true essential oil, it must be isolated by physical means only. The physical methods used are distillation (steam, steam/water and water) or expression (also known as cold pressing, a unique feature for citrus peel oils). There is one other method of oil isolation specific to a very limited number of essential oil plants. This is a maceration/distillation. In the process, the plant material is macerated in warm water to release the enzyme-bound essential oil. Examples of oils produced by maceration are onion, garlic, wintergreen, bitter almond, etc. What is NOT an Essential oil is a CO2 extract, a halohydrocarbon extract or an empyreumatic distillate."

top

How Essential Oils Are Extracted

To produce essential oils of therapeutic quality – is to retain as much of the original plant essence in its original state as possible - the most gentle extraction method that will draw the oil from a particular plant is most desirable. Extraction methods range from Carbon Dioxide (CO2) extraction - being the most gentle (and most expensive), to pressing (as for extracting the oil from citrus rinds) and steam distillation, to solvent extraction. Steam distillation is most common, and as a result of only requiring heating to just above the boiling point of water, is considered gentle enough for most essential oils.

Steam and Hydro Distillation: Steam distillation, the most common method of essential oil production, involves the flow of steam into a chamber holding the raw plant material. The steam causes small sacs containing essential oil to burst. The oil is then carried by the steam out of the chamber and into a chilled condenser, where the steam once again becomes water. (Hydro-distillation is a similar process where the plant material is boiled, with the resultant steam being captured and condensed). The oil and water are then separated; the water, referred to as a 'hydrosol', can be retained as it will have some of the plant essence…

Absolutes: Some plants, and particularly flowers, do not lend themselves to steam distilling. They are too delicate, or their fragrance and therapeutic essences cannot be completely released by water alone. These oils will be produced as 'absolutes' – and while not technically considered essential oils they can still be of therapeutic value. Jasmine oil and Rose oil in particular are delicate flowers who's oils are often found in 'absolute' form.

The processing of an absolute first involves the hydrocarbon solvent extraction of a 'concrete' from the plant material, a semi-solid mixture of typically 50% wax and 50% volatile oil. The concrete is again processed using ethyl alcohol (the same alcohol found in beer, wine, etc.) in which the wax is only slightly soluble. The volatile plant oil separates into the alcohol and this mixture is removed. The alcohol is then evaporated and the result is an almost pure plant extract – depending on the care taken in the evaporation process, sometimes 2% or less of the ethyl alcohol may remain. The use of solvents in the extraction process notwithstanding, absolutes can have incredibly deep and complex aromas.

CO2's and SCO2's: The most modern technologies, Carbon Dioxide and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide extraction. Both methods involve the use of carbon dioxide as the 'solvent' which carries the essential oil away from the raw plant material. The lower pressure CO2 extraction involves chilling carbon dioxide to between 35 and 55 degrees F, and pumping it through the plant material at about 1000 psi. The carbon dioxide in this condition is condensed to a liquid. Supercritical CO2 extraction (SCO2) involves carbon dioxide heated to 87 degrees F and pumped through the plant material at around 8,000 psi – under these conditions, the carbon dioxide is likened to a 'dense fog' or vapor. With release of the pressure in either process, the carbon dioxide escapes in its gaseous form, leaving the essential oil behind.

These carbon dioxide methods have a couple of advantages: Like steam distillation, there are no solvent residues left behind, and the resultant product is quite pure. Like solvent extraction, there is no heat applied to the plant material or essential oil to alter it in any way….

Expression / Cold Pressing: Another popular extraction method is through pressing. This method was named appropriately - the oil is basically pressed or squeezed out of the fruit or plant. This also used to be the method used in the middle ages to extract the essential oils, and used to be done by hand, which was painstakingly slow, but yielded a very high-quality oil.

Today this whole process is automated. The fruit is pierced multiple times with tiny, sharp points that break the oil pockets. The fruit itself is then squeezed by a machine, which mixes the fruit juice with the oil. A centrifuge then separates the juice and the oil, and the oil is collected. The resulting oil is then named ”expressed" oil.

One advantage of pressing is that the oil is never submitted to high temperatures, and thus does not lose any flavor. So expressed oils can also be used as flavoring components.

Solvent Extraction: There are many variations of solvent extraction, but the basic premise of each one is using a certain chemical solvent on a (usually) flower or plant. This is a method that is usually used when the plant material cannot stand up to the heat of steam distillation and when cold pressing is not an option.

The first step is to decide what chemical solvent to use and then to mix it with the plant material for a while. The chemical solvent draws the essential oils out into itself, and after a while, the plant material is removed from the solvent, leaving behind a combination of the solvent/wax and oil called concrete. Then, alcohol is applied to the concrete to dissolve the wax from the solvent. Once the alcohol evaporates, the oil is left there for collection.

While this method can often produce larger amounts of oil, it is often criticized because remainders of the chemical solvents are never completely removed. This means that solvent-extracted oil has at least a tiny bit of solvent left attached to it.

Usually this residue is too small to make a difference, but a few unwise vendors may still use solvents like benzene, which can leave behind a residue of up to 20% of the extraction. On the brighter side, benzene is a carcinogenic (cancer-forming), so the large majority of oil producers will not use it as a solvent. Instead, other solvents (they all have to be hydrocarbons), like hexane, can be used to produce cleaner oil without any carcinogenic side effects.

top

History

Source www.cancer.gov

Proponents of aromatherapy report that aromatic or essential oils have been used for thousands of years as stimulants or sedatives of the nervous system and as treatments for a wide range of other disorders. [1] They link it historically to the use of infused oils and unguents in the Bible and ancient Egypt,[1] remedies used throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,[2] and the burning of aromatic plants in various primitive religious rites. The current applications of aromatherapy did not come about until the early 20th century when the French chemist and perfumer Rene Gattefosse coined the term “aromatherapy” and published a book of that name in 1937.[2] Gattefosse proposed the use of aromatherapy to treat diseases in virtually every organ system, citing mostly anecdotal and case-based evidence.[2]

Although Gattefosse and his colleagues in France, Italy, and Germany studied the effects of aromatherapy for some 30 years, its use went out of fashion midcentury and was rediscovered by another Frenchman, a physician, Jean Valnet, in the latter part of the century. Valnet published his book The Practice of Aromatherapy in 1982,[3] at which time the practice became more well-known in Britain and the United States.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, as patients in Western countries became increasingly interested in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments, aromatherapy developed a following that continues to this day. In addition to the growing use of essential oils by nurses and aromatherapy practitioners for specific medical issues, the popularity of aromatherapy has also been exploited by cosmetics companies that have created lines of essential oil-based (though often with a synthetic component) cosmetics and toiletries, claiming to improve mood and well-being in their users.

Despite the growing popularity of aromatherapy in the latter part of the 20th century (especially in the United Kingdom), little research on aromatherapy was available in the English-language medical literature until the early or mid-1990s. The research that began to appear in the 1990s was most often conducted by nurses, who tended to be the primary practitioners of aromatherapy in the United States and United Kingdom (although it is dispensed by medical doctors in France and Germany). Aromatherapists now publish their own journal, the International Journal of Essential Oil Therapeutics. Also, many studies regarding the effects of odor on the brain and other systems in animals and healthy humans have been published in the context of odor psychology and neurobiology (and in the absence of the specific term aromatherapy).

Many ancient cultures recognized the physical and psychological benefits of scented ointments and oils. Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine, maintained 2,500 years ago that “the key to good health rests on having a daily aromatic bath and scented massage’. Some of the plant materials Discorides wrote about in his Materia Medica 100 AD include many of the herbs and essential oils we use today including cardamon, cinnamon, myrrh, basil, fennel, frankincense, juniper, pine, rose, rosemary, and thyme. Scented ointments and oils were recognized as having great benefit on both the physical and psychological level. Bay laurel was used to produce a trance-like state; rose, myrtle and coriander were respected for their aphrodisiac properties, while myrrh and marjoram were used as sedatives.

It is well known that aromatic oils were used in China and India during the same period as ancient Egypt. One of the principle aspects of ayurvedic medicine is massage with aromatic oils. Jasmine was used as a general tonic for the entire body. Rose was employed as an antidepressant and used to strengthen the liver. Chamomile was given for headaches, dizziness and colds. Many of the properties ascribed to herbs and aromatic oils by the ancients are regarded as valid today.

The role of micro-organisms in disease was recognized in the 1880’s and by 1887 French physicians first recorded laboratory tests on the anti-bacterial properties of essential oils. These early tests resulted from the observation that there was a low incidence of tuberculosis in the flower growing districts in southern France. In 1888 a similar paper was published showing the micro-organisms of glandular and yellow fever were easily killed by active properties of oregano, Chinese cinnamon, angelica and geranium.

By the nineteenth century the role of the medical doctor was well established and in spite of regular use of essential oils, the medical professional became firmly fixed on isolating the active principles of natural substances and producing chemical drugs based on the identified “active ingredient” of the natural substance. However, it could be noted that, the French and German medical profession maintained a close connection with the healing properties of botanicals and did not experience the schism with botanical medicine as we have experienced in the United States over the last two hundred years.

In 1910, Rene Gattefosse discovered the healing properties of lavender after severely burning his hands in a laboratory explosion. He later used the wound healing and antiseptic properties of essential oils in the care of soldiers in military hospitals during WWI. Gattefosse coined the term “aromatherapy” with the 1937 publication of his book, of the same name. Gattefosse’s book has since been translated into English as Gattefosse’s Aromatherapy (1993). Dr. Jean Valnet, a French army surgeon used essential oils in the treatment of war wounds during the French Indochina War and wrote the book, Practice of Aromatherapy, which was translated into the English in 1964…read in its entirety…

top

Healing Oils of the Bible

Although the word ‘essential’ oils is not used in the Bible, however, various oils are specifically named such as frankincense, myrrh, galbanum, cypress, cedarwood, cassia, hyssop, sandalwood, rose of Sharon, cinnamon, and spikenard the oil in the ointment Jesus was anointed with. Mark 6:13, “And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”

· Oils are referenced in 36 of the 39 books of the Old Testament and 10 of the 27 books of the New Testament. They are referenced for the anointing of the sick, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and as the ingredients for Moses’ holy anointing oil and incense as provided in Exodus 30:23-24, 34-35.

What is the Meaning of Anointing? The Hebrew word for anointing means to smear or consecrate. And the Greek translation means to rub in.

How Does True Healing Occur? It wasn’t until the 20th century that physical and spiritual healing was completely separated. Allopathic medicine does not truly heal. However, it does get us out of crisis; and masks and relieves the symptoms. Therefore, while it is a necessary part of modern day society, it is not a cure all. True healing is obtained when the root or the cause of dis-ease is addressed, inclusive of both on a physical, mental and spiritual basis. For complete healing to occur it must be in harmony and in agreement with God.

Rabbinic Sources Say Essential Oils Were Prescribed for Healing - As a Jewish rabbi, Jesus would have known how rabbis used oils. Rabbinic sources from that period prescribe the use of oil in an everyday context for the treatment of sciatic pains, skin afflictions, headaches, and wounds. And there are several examples in Jewish literature that prescribed ritual anointing for exorcism of demons and as part of the process for the healing and release of the bewitched. Therefore, it is quite plausible that Jesus used oils in His everyday encounters with those who were sick. And we know that since He sent His disciples out with clear instructions on anointing, He must have taught them not only how to anoint but when to anoint and what part of the body to anoint.

What Oils Were Used for Healing? The next question might be “What kind of oil did He use?” This we do know-it was not solely with cooking or lamp oil which would have been their olive oil. The rabbis used healing oils which today we know as therapeutic essential oils. Oils that would have been readily available, although expensive, were oils like frankincense, myrrh, cedarwood, spikenard, balsam, and many more. These oils would have been produced in various ways, all labor intensive through crude distillation or in some cases, immersing the plant material in a heavier oil like olive oil until the essence of the plant oozed out infusing the olive oil with its healing qualities. In this case, the olive oil would have acted like a “carrier” containing the healing properties of the essential oil. But these oils likewise would have been costly. Even more expensive were custom-made blends. A blend referred to in the Gospels was Nard. Jesus was anointed by a woman in all of the Gospel stories with a substance referred to as “Nard.” This is actually a blend of spikenard and myrrh and would have been blended as by the perfumer.

Recommended books for reading:

· Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple: GOD'S LOVE MANIFEST IN MOLECULES

· Healing Oils of the Bible by David Stewart

The Bible is filled with references to oils, spices, balms and the traders and merchants who sold, bartered, and used them. They are fascinating and give us a glimpse into the ancient world of medicine.

At their very basic level, these oils are made up of a unique, natural substance known as a “terpene.” These compounds—whether monoterpenes or sesquiterpenes—are said to hold powerful healing properties. Although none of these statements are verified in the current medical community, the use of these oils throughout history and as recorded in Scripture makes them worth exploring.

Today’s molecular understanding of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes reveal that each is made up carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms. Mono has ten carbon and sixteen hydrogen while sesqui has fifteen carbon and twenty-four hydrogen. Respectively they weigh 136 amu and 204 amu (amu is an atomic mass unit).

These structures are said to have very specific capabilities and are often seen by the alternative medical establishment as being able to restore in us “God’s image.” In other words, they are often considered God’s medicine. This is because monoterpenes are said to reprogram corrupted cellular information while sesquiterpenes are said to deprogram and eliminate this bad DNA.

top

The Science Behind Aromatherapy

From Healing Oils of the Bible:

Electromagnetic Frequency - There is another dimension to the healing powers of essentials oils. This has to do with their electrical properties. All essential oils carry electrical charges, usually electrons or negative ions, which are healing and healthful. They are also energetic generating nanovolts of electricity (billionths of a volt) at megahertz frequencies (that's in the radio frequency range or millions of cycles per second).

These frequencies are measurable with properly designed instrumentation. Bruce Tainio of Tainio Technology in Cherry, Washington, has developed sensitive frequency meters to measure such energies. In a series of experiments conducted by Tainio, reported in the Reference Guide to Essential Oils published by Abundant Health, the following was found.

The frequencies of essential oils are between 52-320 MHz--the highest of all known substances. The highest is Rose Oil at 320 MHz. Lower frequency oils resonate with the bodily systems that have those frequencies, such as the bones and joints, and, thus administer healing vibrations to those systems. When several oils are blended together, a fundamental frequency will emerge that may be higher or lower than many of its components.

By comparison, fresh herbs measure 20-27 MHz, dry herbs 12-22 MHz, and fresh produce 5-10 MHz. Processed or canned food measured zero. In other words, there is no life or life force in canned or processed foods. They contain chemical nutrition, but not the vital, electronic nutrition of live fresh foods.

Measurements on the human body found that a healthy person has a frequency around 62-68 MHz. When a person's frequency dips to 58 MHz, cold symptoms can manifest. Flu symptoms start at 57 MHz, Candida at 55 MHz, and Epstein Barr syndrome at 52 MHz. Cancer can begin when the body falls below 42 MHz. The process of dying begins at 25 MHz and goes to zero at death.

In other experiments by Tainio, he measured the effects of coffee, finding that even holding a cup of coffee lowers one's bodily frequency by 8 MHz and that taking a sip can lower one's frequency by 14 MHz. When essential oils are inhaled following the exposure to coffee, the bodily frequencies restore themselves in less than a minute, but if no oils are administered, it can take up to three days for the body to recover from even one drink of coffee.

Frequency data are not yet available on most oils. The table that follows gives a sample of electromagnetic frequencies for a few oils for which such measurements have been made and published.

Tainio also found that the frequencies of oils are also affected by thoughts. Negative thoughts lowered the frequencies of the oils by 12 MHz while positive thoughts raised them by 10 MHz. Prayer made an even greater difference, raising the frequency levels by 15 MHz.

This is important information. It has always been known that applying and receiving essential oils in an attitude of prayer greatly enhances their effectiveness. The above data offer a scientific explanation of why.

The point is that the Biblical application of essential oils was always with prayer. Sometimes prayer alone will work and sometimes oils alone will work, but the combination is very powerful, indeed. The intent and righteousness of the person applying the oil, as well as the faith of the receiver, has a great deal to do with the prognosis for success in healing. We must not only be intelligent and loving practitioners of aromatherapy, we must also live pure lives so that we may be clear channels for God's healing power. In Deuteronomy 7:13 Moses comments that God will bless the oil of a righteous person. Science has now found this to literally be true.

Frequencies of Essential Oils

Frequencies of the Human Body in Hz - Georges Lakhovsky discovered that all living cells (plants, people, bacteria, parasites, etc.) possess attributes which are normally associated with electronic circuits. Dr. Royal R. Rife found that every disease has a specific frequency and that certain frequencies can prevent the development of disease. Professor Harold Saxton Burr showed that these L-Fields could be used to predict illness by noting variations in them. Dr. Reinhold Voll identified correlations between disease states and changes in the electrical resistance of the various acupuncture points. German biophysicist Fritz-Albert Popp found that diseased cells will radiate a different photonic signature than healthy cells of the same type. Dr. Robert O. Becker found the human body has an electrical frequency and that much about a person’s health can be determined and influenced by it.

Circadian Rhythm – Body Clock - Our body’s biological functions work much like a finely tuned watch: Every part works in unison to keep the body in homeostasis (maintenance of the internal environment within tolerable limits). However, when one working part doesn’t function normally, it tends to disrupt many other vital parts and can upset homeostasis. Our circadian rhythm is best described as an internal biological clock that regulates our body functions, based on our wake/sleep cycle. Circadian rhythms are not only important in determining sleep cycles but also in feeding patterns. There are clear patterns of brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration, and other biological activities linked to these daily cycles.

Every cell in the body vibrates at a certain frequency and groups of cells, which form together make bodily systems such as organs, have their own particular frequency, i.e. a healthy liver has a frequency of 55 to 60Hz.

Overview - Every object on this planet, still or alive, has an electrical frequency that can be measured accurately. Electrical frequency is being measured by counting of the number of occurrences of a repeating current flow per second. This unit is called Hertz (Hz).

What Does Hertz Mean?

All atoms in the universe have vibrational motion. Each periodic motion has a frequency, (the number of oscillations per second), measured in Hertz:

1 Hertz (Hz) = 1 oscillation per second (ops)
1 Kilo Hertz (KHz) = 1,000 ops
1 Mega Hertz (MHz) = 1,000,000 ops or 1 million
1 Giga Hertz (GHz) = 1,000,000,000 ops or 1 billion

Some people might ask how come a living organism like the human being has measurable frequencies. The definite answer is how is it possible that human beings would NOT radiate in certain frequencies? The human body is a radiant machine. Every living element in our body radiates. Our brain operates on electrical current, our ears absorb sounds vibrations, and we produce voices and temperature.

…It has also been discovered that the general human healthy frequency is within the range of 62 -72 Hz and when it drops to lower levels it enables the appearance of variety of diseases. For example at the level of 58 Hz, diseases like cold and flu were more likely to appear. On much lower levels (42 Hz) Cancer appeared in many humans.

Any movement of an object in any frequency can be changed by an external intervention of another frequency and the frequency of the human body and its cells is of no exception. When the body becomes ill or infected, these normal frequency patterns become distorted and either increase in frequency, known as ‘hyper’ in medicine meaning “high, beyond, excessive, above normal” i.e. inflamed, on fire, irritation type conditions or decrease in frequency, known as ‘hypo’ in medical terms meaning “low, under, beneath, down, below normal” i.e. for cold, damp, degenerative conditions.

Of course the unwanted virus, toxin or infection also has its own unique frequency which can be isolated and inverted’ so it is 180° out of phase, then by delivering the inverted frequencies back to the body, it will neutralize/kill the virus, toxin or infection allowing the organ to recover and normalize therefore recovering in health. It was Dr. Royal Rife who first discovered the importance of frequency.

Frequency & Health - The human body has a normal frequency range of 62 Hz to 68 Hz, as the frequency range lowers due to the constant use of alcohol or drugs, the worse the health condition becomes. When the frequency drops, the immune system is jeopardized. If it drops to 58 Hz, cold and flu symptoms start appearing, 55 Hz trigger diseases like Candida and at 52 Hz Epstein Bar virus, Cancer is at 42 Hz and below, whilst death begins at 20 Hz.

top

How Do Essential Oils Work

Essential oils enter the body in three ways. They can be:

Applied to the skin
Inhaled
Ingested

Essential oils can be applied topically to the skin. Common examples include applying a blend that contains black pepper (Piper nigrum) or ginger (Zinziber officinalis) essential oil to reduce arthritis pain and improve flexibility, or applying German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) essential oil to treat eczema.

How does this work? Our skin is somewhat permeable. The active chemicals in essential oils are absorbed just like the ingredients in common pharmaceuticals such as hormone replacement therapy cream and nicotine patches.

Factors That Increase Skin Absorption: Different factors can affect the absorption of essential oils through the skin. If you massage the area first, it will increase circulation to that area, thereby causing an increase in absorption of essential oils. Heat will likewise increase circulation and thus enhance absorption.

Some researchers report that essential oils may be more readily absorbed from skin locations with greater concentrations of sweat glands and hair follicles, such as the genitals, head, soles, palms, and armpits (Battaglia, 2003).

Another way that essential oils enter the body is inhalation through the nose or mouth. Common examples include inhaling eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globules, E. radiate, or E. smithii) essential oil when you have a cough or inhaling peppermint (Mentha piperita) essential oil to reduce fatigue or nausea. (Note: Often, essential oils are put into a diffuser for inhalation.

The Olfactory System: The olfactory system includes all physical organs or cells relating to, or contributing to, the sense of smell. When we inhale through the nose, airborne molecules interact with the olfactory organs and, almost immediately, the brain. Molecules inhaled through the nose or mouth are also carried to the lungs and interact with the respiratory system. Thus, inhaled essential oils can affect the body through several systems and pathways.

Interaction with the Limbic System (Emotional Brain): During inhalation, odor molecules travel through the nose and affect the brain through a variety of receptor sites, one of which is the limbic system, which is commonly referred to as the "emotional brain."

The limbic system is directly connected to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels, and hormone balance (Higley & Higley, 1998). This relationship helps explain why smells often trigger emotions. Knowing this, we can hypothesize how inhalation of essential oils can have some very profound physiological and psychological effects!

The third way that essential oils enter the body is by ingestion (swallowing). Oral ingestion of essential oils is NOT recommended for the general public because a great deal of essential oils knowledge and expertise is necessary for safe practice.

The ingestion of essential oils is not common practice in the US. In France, it is more common, but only when specially trained physicians and pharmacists prescribe and dispense them. There are several reasons for caution, including the following:

Some essential oils can be toxic to the liver or kidneys when ingested.
Chemical breakdown of essential oils during gastric processing can change the effects.
There could be potential drug interactions. (Tisserand and Balacs, 1995; Schnaubelt, 1999)

top

The Way Essential Oils Affect the Physical Body

Source www.cancer.gov

Many studies of essential oils have found that they have antibacterial effects when applied to the skin. Some essential oils have antiviral activity against the herpes simplex virus. Others have antifungal activity against certain vaginal and oropharyngeal fungal infections. In addition, studies in rats have shown that different essential oils can be calming or energizing. When rats were exposed to certain fragrances under stressful conditions, their behavior and immune responses were improved.

One study showed that after essential oils were inhaled, markers of the fragrance compounds were found in the bloodstream, suggesting that aromatherapy affects the body directly like a drug, in addition to indirectly through the central nervous system.

Effects of essential oils by inhalation: The inhalation of aromatic molecules affect us on a variety of levels – physical, emotional and spiritual. When inhaled, aromatic molecules enter the nasal passages where they stimulate olfactory receptor sites and trigger nerve messages to the limbic center brain. The limbic area of the brain, also called the old brain, or rhinocephalon, it is thought to have evolved more than 70 million years ago and predates the neocortex. It represents a complex area with 34 structures and 53 pathways that in turn stimulates physiological responses within the body via the nervous, endocrine or immune systems, affecting sensations of pleasure, pain centers of the brain, emotions, memory, sleep, appetite and sex.

There are many ways to use essential oils for inhalation including electric micro-mist diffusers, heat generated diffusion (candle diffuser, light bulb ring, Aromaball), spritzing, steaming and the favorite aromatic bath, which is also wonderful for the skin.

The effects of stress in daily life, often seen as depression, anxiety and irritability, is an area of care in which aromatherapy enjoys a great deal of success, especially in combination with massage.

Effects of essential oils by topical applications: When used topically (on the skin), in a suitable dilution, essential oils have a myriad applications for health, beauty and well being. Besides being used in massage and for skin care, they are easily applied as first aid remedies.

For example, the anti-inflammatory properties of Helichrysum and German Chamomile make them useful for pain due to local inflammation.The anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties of Tea Tree, Eucalyptus globulus and Cajeput are helpful for flu and sinusitis prevention and general strengthening of the immune system. Essential oils can be added to many personal care products and integrated into home maintenance chores to enhance the overall environment.

top

Essential Oils Therapeutic Properties

Each essential oil has its own chemical identity, which produces unique properties. Essential oils can be antiseptic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-infectious and so on. They can be used to stimulate or sedate, and their powers to heal can be applied to physical, mental and emotional conditions. The following is a list of essential oil's therapeutic properties.

Alterative: Tending to restore normal health; cleans and purifies the blood...

Analgesic: Numbs pain.

Antibacterial: Destructive to bacteria.

Antifungal: Inhibits growth of fungus.

Anti-infectious: Helps the body strengthen its own resistance to infective organisms…

Anti-inflammatory: Alleviates inflammation.

Antipyretic: Dispels heat, fire and fever (from the Greek word pyre, meaning fire).

Antiseptic: Assists in fighting germs/infections.

Antispasmodic: Relieves spasms of voluntary and involuntary muscles.

Antirheumatic: Prevents and/or relieves rheumatic pain and swelling.

Antiviral: Inhibits growth of viruses.

Astringent: Firms tissue and organs; reduces discharges and secretions.

Carminative: Relieves intestinal gas pain and distention; promotes peristalsis.

Cephalic: Remedy for the head, generally clearing and stimulating.

Cicatrisant: Cell-regenerative for skin, healing for scars.

Decongestant: Reduces nasal mucus production and swelling.

Diaphoretic: Causes perspiration and increased elimination through the skin.

Diuretic: Promotes activity of kidney and bladder and increases urination.

Emetic: Induces vomiting.

Emmenagogue: Helps promote and regulate menstruation.

Emollient: Smoothes softens and protects the skin.

Expectorant: Promotes discharge of phlegm and mucous from the lungs and throat.

Haemostatic: Stops the flow of blood. Astringent that stops internal bleeding or hemorrhaging.

Hypotensive: Lowers high blood pressure.

Immune stimulant: Stimulates functioning of the immune system.

Laxative: Promotes bowel movements.

Mucolytic: Breaks down mucus (pulmonary).

Nervine: Strengthens the functional activity of the nervous system; stimulant or sedative.

Rubifacient: Increases local blood circulation, vasodilation and local analgesic effect.

Sedative: Calms and tranquilizes by lowering the functional activity of the organ or body part.

Stimulant: Increases functional activity of specific organ or system.

Stomachic: Increases functional activity of specific organ or system.

Tonic: Strengthens and restores vitality.

Sudorific: Increases sweating.

Vasodilator: Helps to dilate blood vessels.

ANTISEPTIC: All essential oils are to a greater or lesser extent ANTISEPTIC. This is one of their most important and valuable properties. This broad description of ANTISEPSIS includes anti viral, antifungal, anti-bacterial and general anti-microbial activity. However, the most outstanding property possessed by essential oils is their antiseptic/antigenetic property. It is critical to your full understanding and appreciation of Essential Oil Therapy that you appreciate the ways in which essential oils can have both a healing and preventive role in diseases involving invasion of the body by microbes.

airase.com - Association for the International Research of Aromatic Science and Education

To find complete listing of therapeutic uses of essential oils Click Here

top

Essential Oils and Pharmaceuticals Compared

According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), “over 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs.”

Source - healthimpactnews.com

top

Practitioner Treatment

A qualified aromatherapist is one who has completed a recognized training in aromatherapy at the minimum level of 200 educational contact hours (such as approved by the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy or the Alliance of International Aromatherapists) or has been recognized through a standardized exam, such as provided by the Aromatherapy Registration Council.

Reference - umm.edu

Different aromatherapy practitioners may have different recipes for treating specific illnesses, involving various combinations of oils and methods of application. Differences seem to be practitioner-dependent, with some common uses more accepted throughout the aromatherapy community.

Training in aromatherapy is available at several schools throughout the United States and United Kingdom; but there is no professional standardization, and no license is required to practice in either country. Thus, there is not a great deal of consistency in the specific treatments for specific illnesses among practitioners. This lack of standardization has led to poor consistency in research on the effects of aromatherapy: because anecdotal evidence alone or previous experience drives the choice of oils, different researchers often choose different oils when studying the same applications.

What happens during an aromatherapy session?

Professional aromatherapists, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, and massage therapists can provide topical or inhaled aromatherapy treatment. Only specially trained professionals can provide treatment that involves taking essential oils by mouth.

At an aromatherapy session, the practitioner will ask about your medical history and symptoms, as well any scents you may like. You may be directed to breathe in essential oils directly from a piece of cloth or indirectly through steam inhalations, vaporizers, or sprays. The practitioner may also apply diluted essential oils to your skin during a massage. In most cases, the practitioner will tell you how to use aromatherapy at home, by mixing essential oils into your bath, for example.

Consultation - Before any treatment takes place your therapist will conduct a comprehensive and entirely confidential consultation. During this consultation, you will be asked to give details of your medical history, current ailments or prescribed treatment if any, and any personal stress factors which may have affected your general well being. This information is important to your therapist because each treatment is highly individual.

Your physical, mental and emotional states have to be taken into account so that a treatment plan can be adapted to suit your particular needs. Consideration will be given to your lifestyle and diet. Any history of health problems including allergies and emotional issues will be taken into account as will environmental and social factors. If you are currently receiving treatment for a serious illness or if there are concerns about your current state of health, you will be advised to consult your doctor before embarking on a course of aromatherapy treatments. Following your consultation, you may be given feedback and advice on how to improve the quality of your health.

Treatment - If appropriate, you will be given a full or partial body massage with essential oils diluted in a vegetable carrier oil. A classic full body aromatherapy massage routine begins with the back, arms, shoulders and neck, followed by the backs of the legs and the feet…

Your therapist may decide to limit the application of essential oils through massage to limited areas of your body. They might choose to apply the oils to your skin via compresses. They may feel you should simply inhale an oil or a blend of oils to help your current condition. An example would be a client in a state of profound shock or grief. The therapist may decide the most effective treatment would be the inhalation of Frankincense oil, combined with a very gentle, soothing massage of the head, hands and feet.

Aftercare Plan - Your therapist may give you samples of the same blend(s) used in your treatment to use at home. They may prescribe the use of essential oils for inhalation or for baths/footbaths at home. They may suggest you contact other practitioners (orthodox and complementary) for more specific help.

top

Find an Aromatherapist

As with any other kind of service provider, the best way to find a good aromatherapist is through referrals from your healthcare providers, family, colleagues, and friends.

When choosing a practitioner, it is important to consider their education and training, experience, and philosophy of care. Lists of aromatherapists are also available online:

The Aromatherapy Registration Council maintains a public database of Registered Aromatherapists - aromatherapycouncil.org

Find an Aromatherapist is a listing of AIA members who have chosen to advertise their services on our web site - www.alliance-aromatherapists.org

www.ifaroma.org - Our practitioners are known worldwide as being trained to the best standard and hold the highest qualification in aromatherapy. Be assured that all our members listed have not only met but exceed the National Qualification Framework (NQF) equivalent to Level 4/5 in terms of quality and standard and meet the National Occupational Standards (NOS); a true professional in their field.

Members of the IFA have pioneered the use of Aromatherapy in NHS hospitals, hospices and the Aromatherapy-In-Care Scheme alongside spa's, salons and in general practice. Not all our therapists wish to be contacted directly by the public so if you cannot find a particular therapist please contact us. We currently have members all over the world and expanding rapidly.

To locate a qualified aromatherapist in your area, contact the National Association of Holistic Therapy at www.naha.org

Live Healthy Naturally Recommendations -

If you cannot find a practitioner through the above databases, try the following:

Make calls to local massage therapist. Often, they will know about or have an on-premises aromatherapy practitioner.
Check natural, herbal or alternative medicine stores in your area, pay a visit or call them to ask if they know of any aromatherapy practitioners in the area.
Check on-line websites. Do a search on the web by including the term “aromatherapist” with your city and state.

*Most major hospitals now provide aromatherapy services through their “integrative or holistic” departments. . – Live Healthy Naturally

top

Finding a Qualified Aromatherapy Practitioner

Are aromatherapists licensed? There is no licensure for aromatherapists in the US. Guidelines for practice are often included in general aromatherapy courses, but these are not monitored or enforced by any regulatory body at this time.

An aromatherapist may or may not be a licensed healthcare provider. Healthcare licensure (for example, MD, RN, or DC) at this time does not indicate any particular knowledge level about essential oils. The practice codes for these professions, however, dictate that these individuals should be able to demonstrate additional training and competence in modalities not normally part of their profession before including these skills (like aromatherapy or acupuncture) in their practice.

A lay person practicing as an aromatherapist is not licensed in the U.S., but may have more training and experience in the use of essential oils than a healthcare provider. For these reasons, it is important to ask a prospective aromatherapy provider about their training and experience. See Questions to Ask

Are aromatherapists certified? There is no national aromatherapy certification. However some groups offer their own certification programs. The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) is an educational, nonprofit organization that has established education guidelines for aromatherapy training programs. NAHA guidelines require 200 hours of training, including anatomy and physiology. Their website lists two Standards of Training levels. Level One consists of 30 hours of Aromatherapy Foundations. Level Two consists of approved standards for professional Aromatherapy certification.

The NAHA website lists aromatherapy schools that comply with their current educational guidelines and have applied for inclusion in their website. Consumers also can find books and other information approved by NAHA on this site.

Another private company owned by an RN who has practiced and taught aromatherapy for many years offers an aromatherapy certification program for nurses. Visit www.rjbuckle.com.

The Aromatherapy Registration Council (ARC) offers registration to individuals who have demonstrated core knowledge of aromatherapy and essential oil safety by passing a national examination. Registration serves as a form of self-regulation for the aromatherapy profession, although many experienced and competent aromatherapists have not taken the step of obtaining registration. A person who has taken and passed the national exam may place the initials RATM (Registered Aromatherapist) after their name along with their other credentials. You can find a registered aromatherapist in your area at the ARC website.

LIVE HEALTHY NATURALLY’S RECOMMENDATIONS

You are your best advocate. And since aromatherapy practitioner services are not yet a mandated licensed service, it would behoove you to be knowledgeable or at the very least have credible resources to research your recommended treatment of care.

The practice of aromatherapy does not only include massage, but it is also includes the application of using essential oils in conjunction with the massage, inhalation, salves, etc. Essential oils have powerful medicinal properties. Therefore, it is important that the practitioner have the expertise of treating conditions with appropriate essential oil applications.

For example, if the practitioner recommends essential oil that is primarily used for arthritis and your aliment is asthma, then it is apparent that the prescription does not match the condition. Although, you should be mindful that certain essential oils can and are utilized for multiple applications. This too, however, would be documented as a therapeutic property. It does not hurt to cross-check.

top

Questions to Ask About Treatment

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au

Be clear on your complementary therapy goals. Think about what you expect to gain from treatment before you start a complementary therapy. Your doctor can help you to form realistic expectations. For example, you may hope to:

Cure the condition
Manage the condition
Relieve pain
Reduce your risk of complications
Reduce your risk of disease
Feel more relaxed.

During your first visit. Issues to consider during your first visit with a therapist may include:

Accessibility – for example, if the clinic has sufficient parking and is close to home or public transport
First impressions – for example, the building and grounds are well kept and the waiting room and treatment areas are hygienic
Level of professionalism – when you tell the receptionist that you are a new client, are you given written information about the practice? Are you asked for a detailed health history or is your medical history ignored or not enquired about? Are you kept waiting for a long time?
Qualifications – check the therapist’s level of qualification. Find out if they are a member of a professional organisation and if that organisation has a code of ethics. Membership may be voluntary, but it suggests there is a commitment to maintaining appropriate standards of practice.
Personal manner – your rapport with the therapist is important. Do you feel relaxed and welcome? Does the therapist listen to you? Are you comfortable with the thought of seeing this person on a regular basis?
* Are they insured for malpractice as well as standard business liability? Ask the aromatherapist if he/she is insured to practice aromatherapy (a form of malpractice insurance, not just general slip/fall liability insurance). Insurance carriers that supply this form of insurance to aromatherapy practitioners generally require the insured to have successfully completed particular aromatherapy training from established schools. If a practitioner doesn’t have coverage, it not only means that you do not have financial recourse in the case of negligence, but it can also tip you off that this person may not be properly trained or doesn’t realize the serious implications that can arise from unsafe essential oil use.

During the initial consultation, the therapist will recommend treatment. Questions you may wish to ask could include:

How does the treatment work?
Is there any proof that the treatment works?
Will it interfere with any type of conventional medical treatment, such as prescription medicines?
What side effects can I expect?
How long will I need the treatment?
What are the costs?

*Live Healthy Naturally added notation.

top

Essential Oils In Cancer Treatment

Link to Therapeutic Cancer Treatment with Essential Oils

Reference - www.hindawi.com - Journals

Essential oils are complex mixtures of several components endowed with a wide range of biological activities, including antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, sedative, analgesic, and anesthetic properties. A growing body of scientific reports has recently focused on the potential of essential oils as anticancer treatment in the attempt to overcome the development of multidrug resistance and important side effects associated with the antitumor drugs currently used. In this review we discuss the literature on the effects of essential oils in in vitro and in vivo models of cancer, focusing on the studies performed with the whole phytocomplex rather than single constituents.

Current therapeutic approaches to cancer are often associated with the development of multidrug resistance, important side effects, and high cost, underscoring the unmet need for more efficacious and less toxic interventions. The vegetal kingdom has always represented an attractive source for therapeutics and several examples do exist for natural products being included in current protocols to tackle the limits of chemotherapy. Accordingly, vincristine, vinblastine, colchicine, taxol, paclitaxel, and others are plant-derived anticancer drugs currently used in clinic [1–3].

Among phytochemicals, essential oils have been considered attractive for their wide variety of bioactivities. Anticancer potential of essential oils has been explored and several studies are now available in the literature. A MEDLINE survey on PubMed for “essential oil and cancer” (November 2014) retrieves 686 results with a remarkable surge in publications over the last 15 years (459 out of 686 studies), while a search for “essential oil and cytotoxicity” reports only 270 results, with 234 published in the last 10 years. These numbers suggest that the studies in this field have been initiated rather lately despite the fact that essential oils have been known since ancient times. The reported studies can be divided into in vivo and in vitro and are related to essential oils from a wide variety of plants or, mainly, their constituents. Read in entirety.

Reference - www.cancer.gov

This complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) information summary provides an overview of the use of aromatherapy and essential oils primarily to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. This summary includes a brief history of aromatherapy, a review of laboratory studies and clinical trials, and possible adverse effects associated with aromatherapy use. This summary contains the following key information:

Aromatherapy is used with other complementary treatments (e.g., massage and acupuncture) as well as standard treatment.

Aromatherapy is not widely administered via ingestion.

The effects of aromatherapy are theorized to result from the effect of odorant molecules from essential oils on the brain’s emotional center, the limbic system. Topical application of aromatic oils may exert antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects.

Studies in animals show sedative and stimulant effects of specific essential oils as well as positive effects on behavior and the immune system. Functional imaging studies in humans support the influence of odors on the limbic system and its emotional pathways.

Human clinical trials have investigated aromatherapy primarily in the treatment of stress and anxiety in patients with critical illnesses or in other hospitalized patients. Several clinical trials involving patients with cancer have been published.

Aromatherapy has a relatively low toxicity profile when administered by inhalation or diluted topical application.

Aromatherapy products do not need approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because there is no claim for treatment of specific diseases.

top

Methods of Using Essential Oils

Topical Application: Perhaps even more common than inhalation, topical application is the preferred method of use for many essential oils. However, MOST essential oils require significant dilution as they can cause skin irritation. Lavender Oil and Chamomile Oil are two essential oils that can be applied 'neat' or without dilution; others, such as Cinnamon Oil and Oregano Oil should not be applied topically in most cases - they may be applied once highly diluted to the bottoms of the feet. A VERY small amount should be tested first.

…Essential oils tend to pass through the skin fairly readily, as they are lipotropic (fat soluble) and their molecular structure is fairly small. Essential oils can pass into the bloodstream and surrounding tissues. In this manner, their possible effects can be targeted - if one has digestive trouble, rubbing Peppermint Oil diluted in a carrier oil (a pure vegetable or nut oil) into the abdomen may help. In the same way, rubbing Chamomile Oil or Lavender Oil into the solar plexus (bottom tip of the sternum) may help relieve tension.

Topical application is the preferred method of use for many essential oils. Essential Oils should be diluted in carrier oil prior to topical application to the range of 1% to 3%. Carrier oils are nutrient-rich vegetable oils pressed from seeds and nuts that essential oils are added to in order to use them on the skin. A carrier-oil (or base oil) is used such as Almond oil or Lavender oil.

Essential oils can also be added to soaps, lotions, and other body care products depending on the therapeutic properties and the desired effect.

Inhalation: Most essential oils can be used undiluted in a diffuser or oil lamp (sometimes called a 'burner') safely. A diffuser passes a continuous stream of air over your oil source - often simply straight from the bottle - creating a fine evaporated mist without heating. A candle lamp incorporates a small bowl over a tea candle. The bowl is first filled with a small amount of water, into which a few drops of essential oils are placed. The oils are evaporated through the gentle heating of the water by the candle.

Inhalation is often effective for mood-altering effects of essential oils, for example, rosemary for mental stimulation, lavender for relaxation, etc. This is the direct effect of essential oil components on the limbic system generally known as aromatherapy.

Ingestion: Finally, some essential oils are ingested, usually either in water or in capsules. As this technique is rare, and not really considered effective in most cases, we strongly suggest one refrains from trying it unless noted specifically for that oil by a knowledgeable source.

aromaticscience.com

The French Model promotes taking essential oils internally and was advocated by several prominent aromatherapists, including Jean Valnet, Paul Belaiche, and Henri Viaud. Essential oils can have great effect when used internally. The French Model is highly successful in the treatment of infectious and degenerative illnesses. When used with caution, internal use can promote healing, longevity, and can safely relieve many ailments.

The confusion surrounding the internal use of essential oils is largely based on a lack of knowledge. Even though ample literature supporting the internal use of essential oils exists, most aromatherapy training programs do not teach this mode. Many aromatherapy programs adhere to the belief that ingestion of all essential oils is toxic, which is simply not true, as supported by the US Food and Drug Administration’s GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) list. Toxic reactions are the result of taking contaminated oils or taking excessive doses.

Many essential oils are approved for internal use by the US Food and Drug Administration’s GRAS list.

Reference - www.naha.org - Copyright © National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. All rights reserved

Massage/Body Oil - Facial Creams, Lotions and Oils: You can purchase unscented facial creams or body lotions to add essential oils to or create a facial oil by using a variety of vegetable/herbal oils and then adding essential oils into the mix. Or learn how to make your own creams and lotions! In general, aromatherapy facial oils and creams are utilized to:

Enhance wound healing
Influence and slow aging of skin
Scar reduction and improve appearance
Support and enhance immune cells of the skin
Balance sebum production
Aid the process of detoxification in the skin
Increase local circulation
Improve tone of skin
Encourage hydration of the skin, when used in conjunction with hydrosol/water or cream.
Soften and soothe the skin
Address emotional issues

In general, aromatherapy full-body baths are useful to:

Reduce stress/anxiety
Alleviate muscular aches, pains, and tension
Soothe mental or physical fatigue
Stimulate circulation
Enhance lymph circulation
Reduce pain and stiffness
Increase local circulation
Improve tone and health of skin
Aid detoxification

Steam inhalation: Place 3-7 drops of essential oil into boiling water. Some essential oils to consider include: Eucalyptus sp. (either E. globulus or E. radiata), Thyme ct. linalol (Thymus vulgaris), Lemon (Citrus limon), and Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia). Cover head with towel and breathe through the nose. Keep eyes closed! Steam inhalations are indicated for:

Congestion in upper respiratory tract (cold or flu)
Sinus infection or sinusitis
Enhancing respiratory function

Aromatic Spritzers: An aromatic spritzer is a combination of essential oils and water. Often a dispersant such as solubol is used to diffuse the essential oils within the water. Aromatic spritzers can be used as room fresheners, to cleanse the air, to uplift and energize, to scent space, or used during a massage or esthetic practice: e.g. sprayed on face cradles to keep respiratory passages clear. To make: Add 10-15 drops of essential oil (1-3 different essential oils) per ounce of water. Shake before using or add dispersing agent. In general, aromatic spritzers are useful for:

Room and air freshener
Body sprays over which an aromatic blend will be applied
Reducing undesirable odors in the air
Enhancing breathing
Soothing a variety of emotional states

Diffusion: Depending on diffuser type, use as directed. Aerial dispersion via electric diffusor can be used for:

Environmental ambiance
Stress/anxiety reduction
Insomnia or sleep disorders
Mood or motivation enhancement
Increase alertness
Purify and improve air quality
Reduce airborne pathogens

Different types of inhalation: Direct inhalation refers to the technique of sniffing or inhaling an essential oil directly from a bottle, a handkerchief or a cotton-ball. Direct inhalations are most commonly employed for the relief of emotional distress and as supportive therapy for the relief of respiratory congestion or other respiratory ailments. Direct inhalations are also used for their effect on the nervous system.

Direct palm inhalation refers to the technique of sniffing or inhaling an essential oil/s or synergy directly from the palms of your hands. Direct palm inhalations are most commonly utilized for the relief of emotional distress, to uplift and transform ones consciousness, or simply to relax and breathe. It can be used as supportive therapy for the relief of respiratory congestion or other respiratory ailments.

Direct from bottle: Create a synergy (undiluted essential oils) utilizing 3-5 essential oils and place in a small bottle. Have client waft bottle under nose while taking deep inhalations. This can be done 3-4x a day or as needed.

Smelling salts: Create a synergy with a total of 20-30 drops utilizing 3-5 essential oils and place in a 10ml (1/3 ounce) bottle. Once the synergy is in the bottle, fill the remainder of the bottle with either fine or coarse sea salts. Have client waft bottle under nose while taking deep inhalations. This can be done 3-4x a day or as needed.

Handkerchief/Cotton-ball: Place 2-4 drops of essential oil or synergy on the tissue or cloth. Hold cloth in the palms of your hand and take 2-3 deep inhalations through the nose. If using a cotton ball, gently waft the cotton ball under the clients’ nose. This technique can be used 2-3x a day or as needed.

Inhaler tubes: Inhaler tubes are designed using 100% essential oil/s saturated on a cotton pad. **NOTE: Please be sure to use organic cotton pads. You can purchase these at a local health food store and cut the desired size to fit tube. Cotton is considered a ‘dirty’ crop, meaning it is heavily sprayed with pesticides. It is recommended to replace the cotton pad that comes in the tube with a certified organic cotton pad.

To make: Choose 2-3 essential oils to work with based upon a specific purpose. Decide how many drops of each essential oil so it adds up to 15 to 25 drops. Place drops of each essential oil in a small glass bowl/cup then place pad from inhaler into the bowl to absorb the essential oils. Use tweezers to move pad around a bit and then remove pad with tweezers and place in inhaler tube. Close inhaler tub and it is ready for use.

In general, Inhaler tubes or smelling salts are useful for:

Relieve stress
Uplift mood
Relieve nausea
Support hormonal balance
Support healthy breathing
Reduce nasal congestion
Emotional support

top

Formulas for Use

Source penny-price.com - Penny Price Academy

Blending

The word synergy comes from two Greek words: ergo meaning work and syn meaning together. Aromatherapy essential oils are synergistic both within themselves and with each other. In each essential oil there are many different chemicals, which all work together to produce a whole range of integrated effects. When two or three aromatherapy essential oils are mixed together, there will be a stronger effect than the sum of the effects of the individual oils. See below for blending guidelines:

Massage

Use 4-6 drops in about 15mls of vegetable carrier oil for a full body massage. Use less oil for a part body massage.

Lotions, oils and creams

3 drops of aromatherapy essential oil to every 10ml of carrier oil, lotion or body cream. This multiplies up to 15 drops of essential oil to 50ml carrier oil, lotion or cream.
When preparing a blend for children 2-12 years of age, older people, and delicate, post-operative or chronically sick individuals, half the amount of oil.
For babies less than 2 years of age, use 4 drops of essential oil to 50ml carrier. When blending, start with two and develop to a maximum of four different aromatherapy essential oils.

Inhalation

From hot water: 1-2 drops of essential oil
From a tissue: 4-6 drops of essential oil
Vaporiser/diffuser: 4-6 drops of essential oil

Bath

For a full bath use between 4Ð7 drops of aromatherapy essential oil mixed first into a suitable carrier such as honey, milk, shampoo base or white lotion.

For a hand/foot bath use 4 drops of aromatherapy essential oil in a suitable carrier (as above) and use a small basin, footbath or foot-spa.

Compress

Put 4-6 drops of aromatherapy essential oil in a small bowl of water. Place a soft cloth into the water and apply to the area concerned. Leave for up to half an hour. Use warm water for a warm compress and cold water for a cold compress.

TO EVERY 10ML OF CARRIER YOU USUALLY NEED 3 DROPS OF ESSENTIAL OIL

top

Safety Issues

Please remember to use essential oils carefully and safely. Do not take essential oils internally. Do not use undiluted essential oils on the skin (except where indicated). Keep out of reach of children and pets. Keep away from eyes. Some people may have an allergic reaction to essential oils. Extra precautions should be taken when using essentially oils during pregnancy and on children. Always seek professional advice if unsure.

Essential oils are highly concentrated and should not be used in an undiluted form for safety reasons, unless under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. Oils are usually diluted in vegetable carrier oils or water. All reputable essential oils are sold with comprehensive instructions for use, and these instructions should be followed at all times. Some oils are not suitable for use with certain medical conditions, and most oils are not used during pregnancy, or with very young children. All essential oils should be kept in bottles with dropper lids and tightly closed caps, and kept out of reach of children and pets.

Please note that the IFA does not recommend or endorse the ingestion or internal use of essential oils.

www.naha.org - National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy

General safety precautions

Keep all essential oils out of reach of children and pets.
Do not use or recommend the use of photosensitizing essential oils prior to going into a sun tanning booth or the sun. Recommend that the client stay out of the sun or sun tanning booth for at least twenty-four hours after treatment if photosensitizing essential oils were applied to the skin.
Avoid prolonged use of the same essential oils.
Avoid the use of essential oils you know nothing about on your clients.
Research and get to know the oil prior to using it on others.
Avoid the use of undiluted essential oils on the skin, unless otherwise indicated.
If you suspect your client may be sensitive to specific essential oils or if your client has known allergies or sensitivities, it may be wise to perform a skin patch test.
Know the safety data on each essential oil and place into context of use and knowledge.
Use caution when treating a female client who suspects she is pregnant or has been trying to become pregnant.
Keep essential oils away from the eyes.
Essential oils are highly flammable substances and should be kept away from direct contact with flames, such as candles, fire, matches, cigarettes, and gas cookers.¹⁷
Make sure your treatment room has good ventilation.
Do not use essential oils internally unless trained to do so.

www.encyclopedia.com

Precautions

Individuals should only take essential oils internally under the guidance and close supervision of a health care professional. Some oils, such as eucalyptus, wormwood, and sage, should never be taken internally. Many essential oils are highly toxic and should not be used at all in aromatherapy. These include (but are not limited to) bitter almond, pennyroyal, mustard, sassafras , rue, and mugwort .
Citrus-based essential oils, including bitter and sweet orange, lime, lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine, are phototoxic, and exposure to direct sunlight should be avoided for at least four hours after their application.
Other essential oils, such as cinnamon leaf, black pepper, juniper, lemon, white camphor, eucalyptus blue gum, ginger, peppermint, pine needle, and thyme can be extremely irritating to the skin if applied in high enough concentration or without a carrier oil or lotion. Caution should always be exercised when applying essential oils topically. Individuals should never apply undiluted essential oils to the skin unless directed to do so by a trained healthcare professional and/or aromatherapist.
Individuals taking homeopathic remedies should avoid black pepper, camphor, eucalyptus, and peppermint essential oils. These oils may act as a remedy antidote to the homeopathic treatment.
Children should only receive aromatherapy treatment under the guidance of a trained aromatherapist or healthcare professional. Some essential oils may not be appropriate for treating children, or may require additional dilution before use on children.
Certain essential oils should not be used by pregnant or nursing women or by people with specific illnesses or physical conditions. Individuals suffering from any chronic or acute health condition should inform their healthcare provider before starting treatment with any essential oil.
Asthmatic individuals should not use steam inhalation for aromatherapy, as it can aggravate their condition.
Essential oils are flammable, and should be kept away from heat sources.

Side effects

Side effects vary by the type of essential oil used. Citrus-based essential oils can cause heightened sensitivity to sunlight. Essential oils may also cause contact dermatitis , an allergic reaction characterized by redness and irritation. Anyone experiencing an allergic reaction to an essential oil should discontinue its use and contact their healthcare professional for further guidance. Individuals should do a small skin patch test with new essential oils before using them extensively.

Factors that influence the safety of essential oils include: General safety guidelines include: avoid application of known dermal irritant essential oils on any inflammatory or allergic skin condition; avoid undiluted application; avoid application on open or damaged skin; and dilute known dermal irritants with appropriate vegetable oil or other carrier.

Quality of essential oil being utilized: Adulterated essential oils increase the likelihood of an adverse response and hence the need for pure, authentic, and genuine essential oils is of the utmost importance.

Chemical composition of the oil: Essential oils rich in aldehydes (e.g., citronellal, citral) and phenols (e.g., cinnamic aldehyde, eugenol) may cause skin reactions. Essential oils rich in these constituents should always be diluted prior to application to the skin.

Method of application: Essential oils may be applied on the skin (dermal application), inhaled, diffused or taken internally. The potential safety concerns with dermal application will be discussed below. With regard to inhalation, inhalation, from a safety standpoint, presents a very low level of risk to most people. Even in a relatively small closed room, and assuming 100% evaporation, the concentration of any essential oil (or component thereof) is unlikely to reach a dangerous level, either from aromatherapy massage, or from essential oil vaporization.⁴

Dosage/dilution to be applied: Most aromatherapy oil based blends will be between 1 and 5 percent dilutions, which typically does not represent a safety concern. As one increases dilution, potential dermal (skin) reactions may take place depending on the individual essential oil, the area in which the oil is applied, and other factors related to the client’s own sensitivity levels.

Integrity of skin: Damaged, diseased, or inflamed skin is often more permeable to essential oils and may be more sensitive to dermal reactions. It is potentially dangerous to put undiluted essential oils on to damaged, diseased or inflamed skin. Under these circumstances the skin condition may be worsened, and larger amounts of oil than normal will be absorbed. Sensitization reactions are also more likely to occur.

Age of client: Infants, toddlers, and young children are more sensitive to the potency of essential oils and safe dilutions include .5 - 2.5% depending on condition. Also, some essential oils should simply be avoided for this population, e.g. Birch or Wintergreen, which are both rich in methyl salicylate. Elderly clients may have more skin sensitivities so a reduced concentration/dilution may be indicated.

Pregnancy: The use of essential oils during pregnancy is a controversial topic and one that is yet to be fully understood. The main concern during pregnancy appears to be the risk of essential oil constituents crossing over into the placenta.

top

Storing of Essential Oils

Pure essential oils must never be stored in plastic bottles because they are very concentrated, chemically active substances, and will therefore have an effect on any chemical substance or otherwise that they come into contact with. They are living organisms; they deteriorate gradually over time as more oxygen gets to them or sunlight, heat etc. What happens with plastic is that the oils will break down the plastic and it will leach into the essential oils.

If the essential oils are mixed into carrier oils, creams, lotions, gels, etc. they are not as concentrated and so it will take a lot longer before any chemical reaction happens with the plastic.…it's okay to store a blend of essential oils in carrier oil for about a three-month period in plastic bottle - ideally keep refrigerated to help preserve it. Sunflower oil has its own naturally occurring vitamin E which acts as a preservative. Creams or lotions can keep for longer as they are less chemically active and are more dense and because of this are ok in plastic.

Essential oils must be stored in dark, airtight, glass bottles because exposure to light, oxygen, and heat causes chemical changes in the oil over time. All oils need to be kept cold. The ideal temperature is 65°F, although between 45°-65° is adequate.

top

Consumer Precautions When Purchasing Oils

www.encyclopedia.com

The adage "You get what you pay for" usually applies when purchasing essential oils, as bargain oils are often adulterated, diluted, or synthetic. Pure essential oils can be expensive; and the cost of an oil will vary depending on its quality and availability.

Preparations: The method of extracting an essential oil varies by plant type. Common methods include water or steam distillation and cold pressing. Quality essential oils should be unadulterated and extracted from pure botanicals. Many aromatherapy oils on the market are synthetic and/or diluted, contain solvents, or are extracted from botanicals grown with pesticides or herbicides. To ensure best results, essential oils should be made from pure organic botanicals and labeled by their full botanical name.

airase.com - Association for the International Research of Aromatic Science and Education

An important starting point when using EOs for healing purposes is to use those with unquestionable purity. This can be quite confusing, due to the fact that labeling laws in the EO industry are very loose. Many times a bottle states it is “100% pure”, or “organic”, however these terms are often misleading. Even though the label implies purity, its contents often contain adulterants, chemical additives, or have been tampered with in some way. Unfortunately, there is no one governing agency with the authority to set standards in the EO industry (Burfield, 2003). So the bottom line when using EOs is having 100% confidence in the supplier of the EOs you purchase…

www.cropwatch.org - Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils.pdf

The ‘Therapeutic Grade’ Essential Oils Disinformation Campaign

Many professional aromatherapists have become unwitting victims of a marketing ploy by essential oil suppliers, whereby ‘approved therapeutic grades’ of essential oils are advertised for sale. Let us be quite clear about this - there is no such thing as a ‘therapeutic grade essential oil’, and no quality standards for the authentication or performance of essential oils specifically exist within aromatherapy per se. This latter situation results from the failure of professional aromatherapy organisations and aromatherapy essential oil trading associations to issue a comprehensive set of aromatherapy oil standards, in spite of individual schemes being put forward (e.g. the initiative of Jones, 1998)...

So - one of the biggest so-far-unresolved dilemmas aromatherapists face, is how to tell whether a given essential oil fulfills the requirements of quality and purity. Many feel that they have to rely on the supplying company for information or ‘word of mouth’ testimonials. Inevitably certain companies play on the gullibility of their customers to make unsubstantiated claims. …

Conclusions.

Potential essential oil buyers should independently check out the marketing information provided by essential oil traders - do not be put off asking for any extra information or reassurances that you are legally entitled to if the situation is not absolutely clear cut. The professional aromatherapist has a duty to be able to provide all relevant safety information relevant to to their clients’ treatment(s) and therefore it is part of ‘due diligence’ to ask questions, require any stipulated proofs, request an MSDS, ask for compositional data & certificate of origin of the batch of oil purchased and have their eyes wide open to marketing ploys & scams of all types - including providing GC’MS print-outs and other information which relate to other batches of oils entirely, and, of course, describing essential oils as ‘therapeutic grade’.

See What is Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade

Source - www.naturalnews.com

Adulteration (the `stretching` or `extending`) of genuine essential oils, in order to increase profits or to `standardize` an oil, is apparently common practice within the essential oil industry. It seems `100% essential oil` on a label is NOT a guarantee that the contents are pure and genuine.

To adulterate something means to corrupt, debase, or make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance or element, especially to prepare for sale by replacing more valuable with less valuable or inert ingredients (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

… Lack of regulation within the essential oil industry means consumers should arm themselves with the knowledge of adulteration and take steps to ensure they are buying genuine essential oils, with full therapeutic benefits. Using pure, genuine essential oils means less is needed in order for the oil to be effective.

This is easily forgotten when we are motivated to buy oils on the false economy of price. The possibilities for adulteration and contamination increase with the number of times an essential oil changes hands in the production cycle. The ordinary consumer should therefore make themselves aware of the supply chain, along with the reputation and standards of both the retailer and the supplier of the essential oil. A number of laboratory tests can determine if an essential oil has been adulterated but independent testing, especially for buyers of very small quantities, is a very expensive exercise. Consumers can certainly request information on testing and analysis done on the oil.

How Can We Detect Adulteration? Adulteration can be highly sophisticated and impossible to detect without expert analysis and testing, but there are some clear warning signs that consumers should look out for.

1. Visible signs consumers should be aware of include a cloudy appearance or an unusual viscosity. Increased viscosity can indicate oxidation and an oil that is ‘aged’. Viscosity is the measure of a materials resistance to flow. Sandalwood is an example of an oil that is viscous; it’s quite difficult to get drops out of the bottle.

2. The smell of an essential oil can also be an indication but for those that are unfamiliar with the odour of a genuine essential oil, adulteration can be difficult to detect. To determine the purity of an essential oil it would be helpful for consumers to become familiar with how a genuine oil should smell.

3. The cost of an oil can also be an indication of purity; e.g., rose oil is one of the most expensive oils to produce so when presented with a ‘cheap’ rose essential oil it would be wise to investigate its purity.

4. To test for adulteration with another fixed oil (e.g., a vegetable oil) you can put a drop of the essential oil on cloth or blotting paper. If a fixed oil is present a ring of grease will be left after the essential oil has fully evaporated; essential oils will usually evaporate completely after a few hours. For optimal therapeutic benefits and in the name of safety, it seems we should agree with Shirley Price when she said “organic oils are best of all…”

top

Defining Quality

Source - www.quinessence.com

If you want textbook results in aromatherapy you must use essential oils that were derived from a single verified botanical species and a known country of origin, cultivated using good agricultural practices, harvested at the optimum time, extracted with expertise, stored and transported correctly – and not subjected to any form of adulteration.

An adulterated essential oil simply can't compete with the therapeutic power of a good quality essential oil, since it will not have a high enough percentage of the necessary active constituents to deliver an effective treatment. Having been diluted with a foreign substance to lower its price, this is the very opposite of a good quality essential oil.

Quality defined

The term 'quality' when applied to essential oils can be very subjective, since each industry that uses them does so according to their own specific requirements and standards, and the needs of the aromatherapy market are quite different to those of the flavour and perfumery industries, for example. Above all else in aromatherapy we need essential oils that are therapeutically active, whereas for the perfumer or flavourist it is the aroma or taste that is the primary concern.

Of course, aroma is important to healthcare professionals, but the prime consideration must always be the healing benefits of an essential oil. So the first thing we discover about the notion of quality is that it can only be measured in relation to the purpose it will be used for.

What is Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade?

doterrablog.com - The purity of an essential oil is its most important characteristic. Proper methods of growing, harvesting, and distilling are crucial to maintaining purity. Poor production practices and the development of synthetic essential oil variations suggest that it is impossible to accurately identify a pure essential oil without scientific analysis.

dōTERRA employs its testing methods for validation of quality at multiple production points. Directly after plant selection, harvesting, and distillation, each essential oil is reviewed for chemical composition. A second testing sequence is initiated when the oil is received at our production facility to ensure that what was distilled and tested is the same essential oil received. A third review of the chemistry is conducted in a three-phase procedure during the actual filling process. Each of these testing steps confirms that the essential oil has remained free of contaminants and unexpected alterations during production.

Organoleptic testing involves the use of the human senses— sight, smell, taste, and touch. To expert distillers, the senses are used as the first line of quality testing to provide immediate clues to the acceptability of a product. Oil that has an unusual smell, uneven consistency, or strange color instantly tells the distiller that something is wrong. Often times, this testing is used as a preliminary quality control step before any other tests are conducted.

Microbial testing involves analyzing a batch of essential oils for the presence of bio-hazardous microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, and mold. The process involves drawing a sample and then adding that sample to a sterile growth medium in an enclosed dish or plate. The sample is incubated for a period of time and then observed for microbial growth. This test is performed on product entering the manufacturing facility and on finished products prior to distribution to ensure that the product has not been contaminated during the filling process.

In Gas Chromatography, an essential oil is vaporized and passed through a long column to separate the oil into its individual components. Each component will travel through the column at a different speed, depending on its molecular weight and chemical properties, and is measured as it exits the column. Using this testing method, quality control analysts can determine which compounds are present in a test sample.

Mass Spectrometry is used together with Gas Chromatography to further determine the composition of an essential oil. In Mass Spectrometry, the constituents previously separated by GC are ionized and sent through a series of magnetic fields. Using molecular weight and charge, the amount of each constituent can be identified, providing additional insights into the potency of the essential oil.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is conducted to ensure the potency and consistent quality of a batch of essential oil. This testing method identifies the structural components of essential oil compounds. In an FTIR scan, infrared light of different frequencies is shined through a sample of essential oil and the amount of light absorbed by the sample is measured. The quality of the sample is determined by comparing the results from an FTIR reading to a historical database with absorption patterns of high quality samples.

Heavy Metal testing shows the amount of heavy metal content in the essential oil. When properly distilled, essential oils should not contain heavy metals. ICP-MS testing uses a high-energy medium called Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) to ionize the sample. The sample is then run through a mass spectroscope, which separates the sample into its elemental parts and provides a reading about which elements are present and at what quantities.

Sourcing Testing – Oils are sourced from the most potent geographic origin.

www.doterratools.com - CPTG Testing Methods.pdf

View Here the CPTG quality protocol for independent laboratories' standardization and testing.

Source www.penny-price.com - Penny Price Academy

The ultimate value of the essential oils used is totally dependent on the quality of the live plants, the way the oils are extracted, and the way they are handled after extraction. High standards that focus on product purity are critically important. The best oils come from wild, naturally farmed or organically grown plants. Quality oils will always be priced according to the value and rarity of the particular oil, and will never be lumped into one price point based on bottle size…

Farming methods employed for growing oil producing plants for aromatherapy should be free of pesticides, artificial fertilizer, located away from main roads and grown in countries with suitable weather conditions. Many factors influence the growth – the amount of sun and rain, the soil condition, the height above sea level. The nearer the sun, the cleaner the air and the more energy is absorbed by the plant…to read in entirety… www.penny-price.com

Source - aromaticscience.com

This modern evolution of essential oil use encourages many people to seek options for their own wellness, to effectively manage their health on a day-to-day basis, and to have alternatives to manage health issues as they arise. Many health professionals are effectively incorporating essential oils into their practices. Modern consumers are drawn to oils as effective alternatives to drugs. Many essential oils are now even found on the GRAS list and more relevant toxicology information is becoming available. These advances allow an educated user of essential oils to apply a more targeted approach to wellness based on science rather than solely on tradition or folk wisdom.

Modern technology also makes possible the testing for purity and efficacy of plant extracts of all kinds while controlling both quality and content in a way that allows for a much more consistent essential oil experience. Though no governing body exists to enforce a universal standard on oil quality, some suppliers have implemented testing to monitor their essential oils and to ensure a superb product. Though critics might dismiss this practice as potentially biased, a self-created standard can put into place very high standards that would exceed any proposed universal guidelines. The terminology behind these quality standards may be unique to a given company, but the oils should:

Contain only the natural aromatic compounds present after the distillation process.
Be 100% pure oil, free of any synthetic compounds or contaminants, including heavy metals or microbial organisms.
Be subjected to mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatography testing to ensure consistent extract composition and activity.
Be derived only from the distillation of the correct and clearly stated plant part.
Meet organoleptic tests (consistency in taste, sight, touch, and smell).

Organic sourcing can be very expensive and difficult due to differing or non-existent standards in the hundreds of countries where essential oils are harvested. If you can be assured that each batch is tested for residue, that clean farming is practiced (meaning only the plant of interest is included in the harvest), and that the product is confirmed to contain only aromatic compounds, then you will meet or exceed organic certification.

By following these protocols, a consistent quality product can be sourced; thereby allowing mainstream health care professionals, educated users, and alternative healers to all have access to the purest oils possible. More importantly, the efficacy of the oil becomes consistent and reliable, a hallmark of trust and an expectation of those who are accustomed to pharmaceutical-grade products.

top

Essential Oils' Industry Standards Testing

Testing Quality Standards: Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS) separates the individual constituents of an essential oil and measures the amount of each constituent present. It confirms oil’s botanical identity by comparing presence and amount of each constituent. GC can screen for non-natural or missing constituents, or constituents occurring in unnaturally high ratios, signifying adulteration.

What Does GC/MS Testing Mean?
GC/MS stands for Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. Gas Chromatography (GC) is a method of separating the volatile compounds in essential oils into individual components. Mass Spectrometry (MS) identifies each of these components and their percentages. This process can also tell us if the essential oil has been adulterated. All the main components and some of the trace components will be listed on these reports.

The precise breakdown of the chemical components in an individual oil is SO important! Why? Because the therapeutic benefits and safety issues of an essential oils are determined by their chemical composition. This process is vital for medicinal blending and quality assurance!

You can expect to pay a little more for essential oil that have been batch-specific tested, but it is money well spent when you want purity and the best results possible from your blends.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (National Institute of Health) reports,

Essential oil analysis has basically had one technical goal: to achieve the best possible separation performance by using the most effective, available technology of the day. The result achieved from this may then be used to answer the research or industrial analysis questions which necessitated the analysis. This may be for comparative purposes, where one oil is contrasted with other(s) for quality control or investigation of adulteration, to discover new components, or to characterise the chemical classes of compounds present.

Clearly, today the analyst turns to chromatography as the provider of separation and then may supplement that with mass spectrometry to aid identification. The power of GC-MS means that advances in both the separation technique, and improvements in mass spectrometry detection - along with improved data handling tools - will immediately be relevant to the essential oil area. This present review outlines the developmental nature of instrumental approaches to essential oil analysis using gas chromatography.

Mass spectrometry will be included to the extent that it represents the hyphenation of choice for most analysts when analysing essential oils.

www.thieme-connect.com - journal

…Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the most important technique for the analysis of essential oils [2]. However, there are some fundamental problems in their analysis including baseline drift, spectral background, noise, low S/N, changes in the peak shapes and co-elution (overlapped, embedded peaks) [3]. Mathematical chromatography (MC) as a branch of chemometrics [4] attempts to develop new tools to handle these problems….

www.aromahead.com

The precise breakdown of the chemical components in individual oils is important, because the therapeutic benefits and safety issues of essential oils are in large part determined by their chemical makeup. GC/MS testing is also used to identify any adulteration of the essential oil tested…

GC/MS testing cost about $75 per oil, and tests are the responsibility of the supplier. Distillers do not always complete these tests, and the tests are too expensive for an individual to afford. However, for a supplier or essential oil company, this is a low cost that applies to the entire batch purchased. It is becoming industry standard for aromatherapy companies to provide these test results, and they are vital tools for true medicinal blending.

An interesting note is that the country of origin can affect the chemical makeup of an essential oil. Helichrysum is a good example. Helichrysum from Corsica has a large percentage of specific esters. These esters have a strong antispasmodic effect.Helichrysum from Croatia has almost no esters and is high in sesquiterpenes and ketones—known for healing damaged skin. Each Helichrysum is unique. We can only know exactly what’s in it with GC/MS testing. Once the analysis is completed, we can look at the report and know more clearly what the best therapeutic uses of that oil will be.

Some plants have the genetic ability to produce different chemical constituents based on the environment they grow in. This is called a “chemotype.” One example is Rosemary. Depending of the country of origin and the growing conditions, Rosemary can produce very different essential oils. The oils vary so dramatically, their primary chemical families change. This is important, as different chemotypes are used for different medicinal purposes, and have different safety concerns.

Being able to identify the specific “chemotype” of an oil is also important. This can easily be done through GC/MS.

When shopping for essential oils, always look for current GC/MS reports. Whether you’re blending medicinally or not, it’s important to know that you’re purchasing quality, unadulterated oils. Remember that fragrance oils and synthetics can cause a myriad of problems, from headaches to allergic reactions. If you’re not sure if the company you’re purchasing from performs full GC/MS reports, simply call or email their customer service.

Aromatherapy practitioners need pure essential oils of the highest quality. Important criteria to consider when selecting essential oils include the following: 100% pure and natural, country of origin, growing season, extraction method (e.g., distillation, expression), plant part used and the reputation of the company providing the oils.

top

Clinical Research

Although essential oils have been used therapeutically for centuries, there is little published research on many of them. However, this is beginning to change as more scientific studies on essential oils are conducted around the world.

Clinical studies are currently underway in Europe, Australia, Japan, India, the United States, and Canada. Many of these studies describe the remarkable healing properties of various oils.

Why do I need to know about essential oils? There is a growing body of research from laboratory and clinical studies that points to the remarkable healing properties of essential oils. They are widely available in markets, co-ops, and pharmacies and are increasingly used in clinics and hospitals.

While most essential oils are safe and free of adverse side effects when used properly, it is important for you to pay attention to dosage, purity, administration, and possible interactions with other medications you might be taking. You should also look for quality products, as there can be big differences between what a professional aromatherapist would use and what is sold in retail stores

What does the research say? Research studies on essential oils show positive effects for a variety of health concerns including infections, pain, anxiety, depression, tumors, premenstrual syndrome, nausea, and many others…

Clinical studies are currently underway in Europe, Australia, Japan, India, the United States, and Canada. Many of these studies describe the remarkable healing properties of various oils.

Who is doing the research? A significant body of research on essential oils has been conducted by the food, flavoring, cosmetics, and tobacco industries. They are most interested in the flavor, mood alteration, and preservative qualities of essential oils. Some of these companies have also conducted extensive research on the toxicity and safety of essential oils.

Although much of this research is proprietary and not generally available to consumers, some of it has made its way into cosmetic and plant product journals. These journals are important sources of information as we accumulate a growing body of knowledge on essential oils.

Most of the studies that have been published in the English language scientific literature have been conducted in laboratories and they have not been tested on humans, but this is changing.

What are some issues in conducting research on essential oils?

Essential Oils Are Not Standardized: The chemistry of essential oils is influenced by the local geography and weather conditions, as well as the season and time of day when the plants are harvested, how they are processed, and how they are packaged and stored. Each plant is unique in its chemistry so essential oils are never exactly the same—this is different from pharmaceutical drugs that are synthetically reproduced to be identical every time.

Essential oils can be altered to achieve standardization (for example, a certain chemical that was found to be at a lower concentration in the whole oil in a particular year can be added to make it the same percentage as last year’s batch). The problem with standardized essential oils is that they are no longer natural, genuine, and authentic. This variability in essential oils by time, place and conditions is a big challenge to conducting valid research. Currently the International Standards Organization sets standards for each essential oil that include a range of acceptable concentrations for its major chemical constituents.

It Is Difficult to Conduct Blinded Studies with Aromatic Substances: Typical research studies involve testing two groups – one group gets an experimental substance and another group gets a placebo, or inactive, substance (this group is referred to as the “control” group). When using aromatic substances, it is very difficult to conduct a blinded study. Some researchers have used masks or other barriers to blind participants. Other researchers have used alternate scents assumed to have no therapeutic properties as controls. These approaches are problematic, however, because people associate smells with past experiences; Thus, it is difficult to account for individual variation in how essential oils affect people.

It Is Difficult to Get Approval and Funding for Research on Essential Oils: Essential oils have been used on humans for thousands of years. As a result, they don’t fit into the conventional clinical science approach of testing a substance in the lab first, then on animals, and then on humans. As a result, if a researcher proposes to test an essential oil with humans first, they may be turned down. This is because research review boards tend to approve research studies that follow the more usual scientific research path.

Many conventional drug studies are funded by the pharmaceutical industry. There is little motivation for these companies to fund research on natural plant substances because they cannot easily be patented, limiting the potential for profit. Thus, finding funding for essential oils studies can be challenging.

It Is Difficult to Tell What Caused the Outcome: In conventional research studies, it is important to be able to determine exactly what caused the outcome. In essential oil therapy, the oils are sometimes applied with massage, which makes it difficult to tell whether or not the outcome was due to the essential oil alone, or the massage, or the combination. Also, essential oils are composed of hundreds of chemical constituents, and it is hard to determine which ones may have produced the desired effect.

top

Clinical Research Studies

aromaticscience.com

Clinical and Scientific Articles - Read articles by essential oil experts addressing their experimental and experiential understanding of essential oils.

Ongoing Developments - Learn more about the on-going projects currently underway by AromaticScience professional partners.

Professional Forum - Where professionals and medical personnel can collaborate on integrating essential oils into their clinical and research practices.

top

ONLINE ESSENTIAL OIL RESEARCH DATABASE

components.aromahead.com

A reference database of medicinal actions, therapeutic behaviours and research for essential oil components. Created by Andrea Butje and professionally edited by Robert Tisserand.

Access to the Component Database is $300 for the first year and $75 for annual renewal. This searchable database is invaluable when researching therapeutic properties and medicinal actions of individual essential oil components.

View molecular structures, chemical families, safety considerations and therapeutic properties of essential oil components.
Search by chemical family and/or specific health issues.
Essential oils with high levels of specific components are identified.
Research references included for every component.

top

Exploring Aromatherapy Resources

www.naha.org

The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy features a varied selection of links to various websites that provide information on aromatherapy and related topics that are mainly noncommercial. NAHA does not endorse nor profit from these links; they are here to help you with your explorations in holistic aromatherapy.

www.ijca.net

"The International Journal of Clinical Aromatherapy (IJCA)" provides research, information and education in the field of essential oils. Advanced clinical aromatherapy and aromatic medicine. The IJCA presents solid practitioner-orientated and evidence-based information in a professional format. All articles are peer reviewed and referenced where possible. Members of the editorial board are all highly experienced in the essential oil field.

www.agoraindex.org

AGORA, The Aromatherapy Global Online Research Archives is a unique non-commercial, website, contributed to by about eighty people world-wide. We are working to promote the serious, intelligent and SAFE use of essential oils for healing the body, mind and spirit. The various pages on this website are hosted in different places, internationally, reflecting the worldwide nature of the interest and participation in aromatherapy. The origin of this project came from a dream of Michel Vanhove, who hosts the official homepage.

top

Therapy Treatment Ailment Guide

Link to Treating Symptoms and Conditions with Essential Oils

top

On-line Products

Listings of Premier On-line Sites to Purchase Essential Oils

top

Online Courses Learn Aromatherapy

Listings of Professional Online Aromatherapy Courses

Professional Organizations

Listings of Professional Aromatherapy Professional Organizations

top