“Wellness
is often dismissed as frivolity, another way for wealthy white women to spend
money and obsess about their bodies. But you’re just as likely to find
essential oils in a small-town drugstore in the Midwest as in an organic market
in L.A., and their appeal is often less about indulgence than about anxiety”
(Monroe, 2017).
A few weeks ago, my
mother came home from a doTerra party, brimming with information on the
incredible effects of essential oils. The first thought I had was “They are exactly
that: incredible.” Still, she could not wait to tell me about using essential
oils to treat depression and migraines, two things we both suffer from, and to
show off her $90 oil diffuser that made our house smell like a Christmas tree
threw up. It was only after a week of smelling like the entire month of December
that I decided to research the “miracles” behind essential oils. While many
naturopathic medicine companies, like doTerra, like to boast about the “hundreds
of research trials that show the benefits of essential oils,” the Food and Drug
Administration begs to differ. According to an article in The New Yorker, “In
September, 2014, the FDA sent a sternly worded letter to doTerra, scolding the
company for distributors’ claims about oils and conditions including cancer,
brain injury, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and ADHD” (Monroe, 2017).
There
have been many studies done on the effectiveness of essential oils on chronic
conditions such as chronic pain, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, and many of
the results show a promising potential to be used in addition to traditional therapies for these conditions. For
instance, a study done on the benefits of using the compound breu to treat migraines states, “In this
work, we demonstrated that formulations containing essential oils from breu samples can produce in
vivo antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities when inhaled by
nebulization” (Silva et. al., 2017). Breu
has been used by Amazonian tribes as a method to treat migraines, and research
showed that when burned and inhaled, the breu
smoke reduces pain and swelling.
The problems begin to
arise when people use essential oils as an alternative
to traditional pharmaceuticals, especially in the treatments of more sinister
diseases. The founder of Young Living, Gary Young, “… opened the Young Life
Research Clinic, in Springville, Utah, which administered essential oils and
other alternative therapies to patients with heart disease, depression, and
cancer, among other conditions… Young, whose only medical degree is a doctorate
in naturopathy from a unaccredited school, [performed] gallbladder surgery and
[gave] essential oils intravenously at [a] clinic in Ecuador” (Monroe, 2017). Although
these were isolated occurrences, there is no shortage of information about the
potential dangers of using essential oils as a primary source of medicine.
One study done in 2017 “established
for the first time the cytotoxicity of the essential oil on several
mammalian cell lines. Results indicate that the hogweed essential oil is
more toxic to normal than cancer cell lines” (Skalicka-Woźniak et. al., 2017). Moreover,
the proposed “benefits” of these oils are often incorrect or misinterpreted. Carvacrol,
a chemical in the essential oil of oregano, is advertised on HealthyFocus.org
as having “an array of health benefits including antioxidant properties, liver
protection, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory abilities” (Seward, 2017). However,
carvacrol has been shown to have “a double-edged pro-oxidative effect,” that targets
both cancer and normal human cells (Günes-Bayir et. al., 2018).
It is easy for misinformation
to reach an uneducated public. It is much harder to rescind that information
once it has been put out there. While some essential oils can be used treat
unpleasant symptoms of a disorder or disease, it is very unlikely that the dogma
in the medical field will fully switch over to naturopathic treatments any time
soon. In my opinion, Family Medicine and
Primary Care Review put it best: “In conclusion, aromatherapy has
symptomatic rather than causal nature of action therefore it can be used in
anti-aging medicine, but it should not be a basic way of treatment” (Klepacki
et. al., 2014).
Works
Cited
Günes-Bayir,
A., Kocyigit, A., Güler, E. M., Bilgin, M. G., Ergün, I. S., & Dadak, A.
(2018). Effects of carvacrol on human fibroblast (WS-1) and gastric
adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells in vitro and on Wistar rats in vivo. Molecular and
Cellular Biochemistry. doi:10.1007/s11010-018-3329-5
Klepacki,
K., Minczakowska, K., & Zdrojewicz, Z. (2014). The role of aromatherapy in
medicine. Family Medicine and Primary Care Review. Retrieved March 25, 2018,
from https://www.termedia.pl/f/journals/FMPCR 2014 vol. 16 no. 4.pdf.
Monroe,
R. (2017, October 9). Something in the air. The New Yorker, 32-37.
Seward,
M. (2017, March 23). 6 Proven Benefits of Carvacrol. Retrieved March 25, 2018,
from https://healthyfocus.org/6-proven-benefits-carvacrol/
Silva,
E. R., Oliveira, D. R., Fernandes, P. D., Bizzo, H. R., & Leitão, S. G.
(2017). Ethnopharmacological Evaluation of Breu Essential Oils from Protium
Species Administered by Inhalation. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, 1-10. doi:10.1155/2017/2924171
Skalicka-Woźniak,
K., Grzegorczyk, A., Świątek, Ł, Walasek, M., Widelski, J., Rajtar, B., Elansary, H. O. (2017). Biological activity and safety profile of the essential
oil from fruits of Heracleum mantegazzianum Sommier & Levier (Apiaceae).
Food and Chemical Toxicology, 109, 820-826. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2017.05.033
I think this is a really interesting idea. I know lots of people who have tried essential oils and think they have amazing properties. I have never tried any oils but it makes sense to me that they are somewhat too good to be true. These are a good example of misinformation and how hard it is to correct particularly when it has not stopped spreading.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don’t think essential oils as a whole are bad, the way they are marketed and understood by the public certainly is. Essential oils were never meant to be a miracle cure and while they perhaps have benefits, that in no way eclipses those of proven treatments. I was somewhat familiar with Gary Young and I’m still kind of in shock over his body of work. Essential oils. In an IV. I’m sorry, what?
ReplyDeleteSamantha was actually the one who showed me that article in the first place and I was shocked. He was a "doctor" from an unaccredited school. He was certainly not a surgeon, and he is lucky that the woman didn't die, because one person can only be so ignorant.
DeleteOkay this made me laugh because my roommate recently spent $70+ on an essential oils diffuser and a bunch of essential oils. She saw it on the internet and wanted to join the fad. I understand they are somewhat beneficial, but is it really worth that money? In addition to medicine and proper health procedures, I'm sure their use is beneficial. Great post!
ReplyDeleteExactly, for some reason, people stopped trusting the medicine and started believing in magic again. If essential oils work for chronic migraines, then sure, have at it. But trying to cure someone's cancer with an oil is not only a rather dumb thing to do, it also gets their hopes up, only to have them be crushed again.
DeleteI personally use oils and a diffuser myself, and I cannot believe some of the wild claims made around the stuff. It's helped me sometimes relieve things like sinus issues and anxiety, but for sure it's no cure all-- simply nature's glorified Vaporub. You made some really strong points on why we should be very careful where our information's coming from with alternative treatments-- doTerra is trying to sell, just like any other company.
ReplyDeleteKeeping a reality check on treatments like this by making the fine print not so fine would really help the internet out. I've even found conflicting sources on if essential oils are dangerous for pets! Caution, with them, is key.
As you noted, essential oils as a panacea plague many varied communities because of their promise to solve so many important problems without the side effects that come with the more traditional and official treatments. Their relation to anxiety is clearly visible by the wide array of conditions essential oils are presented as treating all being relatively ‘quiet’ and difficult to measure. However, using them alongside more common methods is extremely interesting by bringing both the patient’s mental and physical response into focus. I would be interested in what happened to the patients who received essential oils intravenously though as that sounds rather dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThis fad is just another example of false claims being made about a product that reaches the public and then spreads like wildfire, regardless of whether it is true or not. I don't think essential oils are necessarily bad. However, it is how they are marketed that is the problem. If they claim to be a "solution" to these medical problems but there is not science to back them up, they are marketing them in an untruthful way.
ReplyDelete