BALOT AMECHACHURA DEL ROSARIO

AROMATHERAPIST |  COACH | TEACHER

Help Me Understand Essential Oil Ingestion


Let’s have a healthy conversation.

I really don’t get the promotion of essential oil ingestion for daily use, i.e., a drop of peppermint/lemon in your water. What is the purpose of this? Can someone please enlighten me?

Is it a supposed to be a supplement? I hope not because oils do not contain vitamins>>. It’s not the same as putting fresh lemon slice in your afternoon tea!

So what exactly is in a lemon essential oil? Well, if you have the right supplier, they would have a GC/MS report, which would show you exactly what is in the bottle of essential oil you are holding.

A GC/MS report would show you all the constituents in your essential oil. Let me show you an example of the GC for a lemon essential oil –

Look. No ascorbic acid. No vitamins or minerals. Nothing.

But how is it therapeutic, you ask?

Because as seen above, lemon EO has d-limonene, among other constituents, that has been researched to have therapeutic properties. In this case, d-limonene is a volatile compound constituent which is known to give the lemon oil its analgesic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory properties (among others).

In most, if not all cases, we are told that essential oils are so concentrated so won’t taking them in water (which also makes them undiluted because oils and water don’t mix) be irritating to the mucous membranes of the stomach and potentially taxing to the liver if your body doesn’t really need it?

Am I missing something here?

Please enlighten me.

I really want to understand because I looove my oils but safety is not always discussed and it is very disconcerting for me.

News such as the one below from Tennessee Poison Center show that people should be more mindful of using these amazing, powerful substances.

“Contrary to what several essential oil companies recommend, the oils generally should not be swallowed, Power says. The body absorbs more this way, boosting the chance that they will interact with medications or cause an allergic or toxic reaction. Even continued exposure to small amounts (a few drops a day in a water bottle) can lead to fatigue and headaches. Taking in larger amounts of certain oils — like tea tree oil, wintergreen, and camphor — can lead to throat swelling, a racing heart, vomiting, and even seizures, says the Tennessee Poison Center, which saw the number of toxic essential oil exposures double from 2011 to 2015.”

Source: https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20170809/essential-oils-natural-doesnt-mean-risk-free

I hope that one day admins of essential oil groups and business builders would have the heart to really study the oils so that they pass on accurate information to the thousands of people who follow them. For now, this is the only venue where I can voice out my concern.

Even certified aromatherapists who are not trained in pharmacokinetics cannot recommend EO ingestion because we just don’t know how these powerful substances affect the insides of our body, most especially in the long run.

So my question again is… WHY?

 

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