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Aromatherapy and Essential oil Misconceptions
Jasmine absolute
Common belief: Jasmine is a galactagogue and so promotes the flow of breast
milk.
In India, jasmine flowers are traditionally applied as a poultice to the
breasts to suppress milk flow after a stillbirth. Since jasmine absolute is
produced from the flowers, traditional use indicates a lactation-inhibiting
effect. There is also some scientific support for this. A study involving sixty
women, compared the efficacy of bromocriptine (a lactation inhibiting drug) with
the application of jasmine flowers (Jasminum sambac) to the breasts. Both
treatments produced a significant reduction in milk production. It was
postulated that both tactile and olfactory stimuli of the flowers were
responsible for the suppression of lactation.
Fennel, Rosemary and Sage
Essential oils such as fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) rosemary (Rosmarinus
officinalis) sage (Salvia officinalis) and hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) promote
epileptic seizures in prone subjects.
There is not a single reported case of anyone having suffered an epileptic
seizure as a result of receiving aromatherapy massage. Nevertheless, it’s
well-known that almost any powerful odor (including perfume and gasoline) has
the potential to provoke epileptic seizures in certain sufferers. Consulting
psychiatrist Dr Tim Betts at the Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital in
Birmingham England, has been researching the uses of essential oils in the
treatment of epilepsy. Ylang ylang has proved to be helpful in many cases.
Overuse is Misuse
Daily applications of aromatherapy skin-care products will smooth out
wrinkles and make you look a decade younger!
Contrary to the hype, long-term use of any essential oil - especially in the
relatively high concentrations advocated in aromatherapy - can lead to skin
sensitization.
This is more serious than mere skin irritation at the site of application,
for it involves the immune system. Once the body is sensitized, the skin will
react negatively to any amount of the offending essential oil whenever it comes
into contact with the substance. Moreover, even inhaling the offending essential
oil (sometimes a number of oils may be involved) can be enough to promote a skin
reaction. Even if your immune system is perfectly comfortable with all essential
oils, there is absolutely no need to apply them to the skin day after day.
Essential oils are highly potent therapeutic agents and should be respected as
such. In my own experience, skin responds best to periodic aromatherapy
treatments - say, twice daily applications of an aromatic skin cream, oil or
lotion for 7 days each month. Provided the skin is given a rest period, it will
continue to respond positively to the treatment.
Sandalwood - The Sole distributor exaggeration
‘We are the sole distributors of the world’s finest ethically harvested
Indian sandalwood oil’. In truth, all legal supplies of Indian sandalwood are
ethically harvested. In an attempt to curb wanton deforestation, the collection
and distillation of sandalwood is tightly controlled by the Indian government.
Legally imported Indian sandalwood oil (supplies are extremely limited)
always carry a government seal of authenticity. IIf there is any doubt ask your
supplier for a copy of the official government certificate.
Much of this oil is from immature trees, the resulting low-grade oil may then
be adulterated with a level of sophistication that can be extremely difficult to
detect. Moreover, sandalwood is one of the easiest aromatics to replicate in the
laboratory, hence the reason why the market is flooded with synthetic
counterparts.
Mythical Rosewood:
"We sell rosewood oil distilled from trees grown in government controlled
plantations in South America."
Like Indian sandalwood, rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora var amazonica) is on the
verge of extinction. It is a rainforest tree found mainly on the banks of the
Amazon river in southern Brazil.
In an attempt to provide the indigenous people with a long-term source of
income, the Brazilian government has sanctioned a replanting programme. Even if,
the agencies involved do find a way to breathe life into the remaining subsoil,
it will take at least 30 years before the new trees are mature enough to produce
a commercially viable quantity of essential oil.
If cultivated rosewood oil is non-existent, then what are we being sold? The
answer is simple: the oil derives from rosewood leaves.
Wheatgerm oil: To
prolong the life of your massage blends, add up to 15 per cent of wheatgerm oil.
The reasoning behind this statement is that wheatgerm oil is high in vitamin E,
a natural antioxidant. So by adding it to other vegetable oils, it guards
against rancidity. Now, anyone who is familiar with wheatgerm oil, both the
volatile solvent-extracted type or that which is warm pressed, will know that
the oil turns rancid very quickly. Therefore, it must be kept refrigerated and
used up within a few months of opening the bottle.
Contradiction in quantity
The relatively small amounts of essential oil commonly used by clinical
aromatherapists to treat infections cannot possibly be as effective as larger
doses of antibiotic drugs. Back in the 1930s, aromatherapy pioneer Rene-Maurice
Gattefosse noted that essential oils diluted to a degree at which they no longer
have any effect on cultures in vitro (in a test solution outside the body),
still have a clear, rapid and beneficial action in vivo (in the living body).
Research carried out in 1978 by Dr Jean Valnet , as well as agreeing with the
findings of Gattefosse, Valnet’s team found that essential oils do not operate
in the same manner as antibiotic drugs in vivo.
As indicated above, minute concentrations of essential oils are often more
potent than the relatively massive doses of antibiotics normally prescribed.
Moreover, antibiotics wipe out beneficial micro-organisms along with the
infection, and thus compromise the immune system; whereas essential oils
stimulate the body’s immune defences. (Incidentally, it should be made clear
that medical treatment with essential oils to treat infections entails taking
the encapsulated oils by mouth or sometimes in the form of suppositories.)
For those who advocate standardized essential oils or insist on specific
chemotypes for certain conditions, Valnet’s team conclude: The existence of
several chemotypes of the same oil does not significantly impair our results. On
the contrary, even if Thyme for, example, varies in its composition of thymol,
carvacrol, terpineol etc, it still acts in each case in the same way, provided
that the essence is completely pure. Often their mode of action cannot be
explained in terms of current scientific knowlege.
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