Essential oils – Health warning (2024)

FAQs

Essential oils – Health warning? ›

Inhalation of certain essential oils can trigger asthma symptoms in sensitive individuals. Strong odors, such as those from essential oils, may act as irritants and lead to bronchoconstriction (tightening of the smooth muscles around the airways), coughing, or shortness of breath.

The law treats Ingredients from plants the same as those from any other source. For example, “essential oils” are commonly used in so-called “aromatherapy” products. If an “aromatherapy” product is intended to treat or prevent disease, or to affect the structure or function of the body, it's a drug.

Check the label for terms like "therapeutic grade" or "pure essential oil." Avoid oils that are labeled as "fragrance oil" or "perfume oil," as these often contain artificial fragrances. Botanical Name: Each essential oil comes from a specific plant.

Safe use of aromatherapy

These include lavender, peppermint, citrus, such as sweet orange or mandarin, and ginger. Choosing from these four options, try different oils to find the ones your child finds pleasurable and calming. Buy essential oils from a reliable source.

“It is important that physicians are aware that lavender oil and tea tree oil possess endocrine-disrupting activities, and although the effects we saw are very rare, such oils should be considered when evaluating unexplained early breast development in girls and gynecomastia in boys and adult men,” Korach said.

Samples taken by CDC from a bottle of the Better Homes and Gardens Lavender & Chamomile aromatherapy room spray in the home of the Georgia victim found the presence of these dangerous bacteria. Walmart has stopped sale of the product.

Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) Regulations

doTERRA does not market essential oil products as drugs. Instead, we choose to focus on statements about the structure and function of the body, as opposed to statements about disease.

Care should be taken with the following essential oils as they can be very irritating to the eyes, nose and throat: basil, Ceylon cinnamon, tarragon, wintergreen, clove, helichrysum, peppermint, compact oregano, mountain savory and thyme with thymol.

Just because it's from a plant doesn't mean it's safe to rub on your skin, or breathe, or eat, even if it's “pure.” Natural substances can be irritating, toxic, or cause allergic reactions. Like anything else you put on your skin, it's best to test a little bit on a small area and see how your skin responds.

Who Cannot use essential oils? ›

The combination of Peppermint and Thyme may lead to stomach irritation. There is also some evidence that skin irritation may be caused by the combination of Peppermint and Ylang Ylang, or Grapefruit blended with Lemon.

The neurotoxic essential oils

Sage officinale (Salvia officinalis) : thujone. Rosemary camphor (Rosmarinus officinalis): camphor. Mint pouliot (Mentha pulegium) : pulegone.

Still, the doctors concluded that Lavender and Tea Tree have enough estrogenicity to have caused prepubertal breast growth. This study has gone on to be cited numerous times as evidence of Lavender and Tea Tree's estrogenicity.

Results of lab studies are promising — one at Johns Hopkins found that certain essential oils could kill a type of Lyme bacteria better than antibiotics — but results in human clinical trials are mixed. Some studies indicate that there's a benefit to using essential oils while others show no improvement in symptoms.

Before entering the US market, fragrance ingredients must meet the US FDA's cosmetic ingredient requirements. Although fragrances and fragrance ingredients are exempt from US FDA approval before entering the market, they must adhere to labelling regulations and ensure consumer well-being during use.

The quality of an oil may be identifiable by its label, but it is important to keep in mind that Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration do not regulate essential oils, thus there is no way to validate the truth of the claims on the bottle label.

As a calcium channel blocker, (−) menthol is responsible for the spasmolytic effect of peppermint oil, and it has been used as a carminative and antispasmodic for esophageal spasm and irritable bowel syndrome [10]. The FDA has listed peppermint and peppermint oil as being “generally recognized as safe” [11].