A Subject Of Great Controversy

A Subject of great controversy is whether or not essential oils can be used in oral applications. In the United States, most people avoid this conversation all together because most don't want to be involved in the subject so they give the advice of "when in doubt, don't."

With any subject we should take the time to think the situation through. The commercial Food industry has used essential oils for years as flavoring agents, and the American FDA provides a food-grade rating to indicate purity and safety even for some aromatic oils which are synthetic. These oils have no therapeutic effect however and should never be used for aromatherapy application.

In France and Germany, it is not unusual for a physician to prescribe oral doses of pure essential oils to treat many conditions that are routinely treated with antibiotics in other countries.

We now live in a world where knowledge and information travels, literally, around the globe in mere seconds making the world a very small place in reality. As people learn more about essential oils they will want to be able to take advantage of their potential healing power. It is important to remember that in almost every example, a little may do you great good but an overdose can do you great harm. The use of essential oils is no different in their applications.

The key to any subject is the willingness of the individual to engage in real and honest research so that they become informed consumers.

Current research has shown that assimilation of orally ingested essential oils occurs primarily in the duodenum and the first third of the intestinal tract. No digestion of fats occur in the stomach. Absorption of the active ingredients in essential oils occur on contact with the surface of the mucous membranes. Now think about the contact of 1 drop of essential oil, it is a very small area and the oil is very concentrated. If that same drop is then dissolved in an excipient such as a vegetable oil, honey, or water then the surface of contact is greatly increased and not so concentrate. This is why most therapist recommend that oral doses of essential oils be taken in an excipient for efficacy as well as safety. In fact a lot of therapist have recently started recommending that drops of essential oils be placed in gelatin capsules and then swallowed, however this application while useful and effective tends to defeat the purposes behind AROMA-therapy because it bypasses the olfactory system and does not include the brain in the message system.