This past month, my long battle to protect the good name of essential oils from misleading headlines and biased scientific conclusions resurfaced. In a written plea to physicians, I provided evidence that they should not be swayed by flawed inferences from experiments. My publication in the naturopathic doctor’s journal, Naturopathic Digest News and Reviews (NDNR), dug deeper into the science of why it is not accurate to state that essential oils can cause hormonal havoc. Currently, it is available to read online at this link.

Those who have been following my blogs may remember my past articles regarding this topic that essential oils may act as “endocrine disruptors.”  The media uproar and accusations were based on how isolated constituents from lavender and tea oil behaved in cells in a petri dish. I previously reviewed four main points to the problems with the unwelcome sequel of the latest ruckus. These were:

  1. Essential oils have been found to have differing effects in petri dishes, living beings, and humans. Furthermore, isolates act differently than an essential oil in its whole form. This is due to the fact that there are hundreds of compounds in an essential oil that synergize and balance for overall harmony. Therefore, extrapolations of this study to essential oils is unfounded because (1) it wasn’t done in humans and (2) it didn’t use the intact essential oils.
  2. Petri dish studies have had varied outcomes due to inerrant flaws in their design. Basing conclusions on one study is not truly scientific.
  3. Interfering factors biased the “additional evidence” from a similar scare stating that young boys would grow “man boobs” when using the same essential oils. The cases that were highlighted were based on consumer products that contained tea tree and lavender and “proven” with isolates’ actions in petri dishes. As mentioned above, these are different than the actions of the therapeutic, grade essential oils themselves in humans.
  4. Essential oils have been found to have varied effects in individuals based on their body’s need for them. Furthermore, components in plants that act on hormonal receptors have a different mechanism than natural and synthetic hormones. They are modulators, not “activators” of estrogen.

I provided an overview in simple terms of this controversy here and here. After I completed this, I decided to continue my fight for the good name of other essential oils also claimed to be enemies of hormones by taking single oils. I’m doing this on a case-by-case basis. The latest article in the works in this series is geranium oil.

To read more of the science, or just to see my article, “In Defense of Essential Oils: Synergy, Nature’s Wisdom, & Misleading Studies,” click here.

 

It’s Back to School Time!

Why not use essential oils to calm the stress and start the school year with ease!

Check out my blog, Heading Back to School with the Smell of Ease- The Essential List of Back to School Oils for Children to learn about:  

  • a calming blend of citrus
  • a bright future blend
  • a calm focus blend

Soon, I will provide more information on using essential oils with children and highlight additional blends. Right now, it’s in the works!

Heading Back to School with the Smell of Ease- The Essential List of Back to School Oils for Children! is password protected and will be available to subscribers of my website. Stay tuned!

What’s your favorite blends for back to school?

Do you have a go-to oil for hormonal harmony?

Comment below!

Click here to read July 2018 Holistic and Integrative Health Top Reads.

This material is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe for any illness. You should check with your doctor regarding implementing any new strategies into your wellness regime. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. (Affiliation link.)

Disclaimer: This information is applicable ONLY for therapeutic quality essential oils. This information DOES NOT apply to essential oils that have not been tested for purity and standardized constituents. There is no quality control in the United States, and oils labeled as “100% pure” need only to contain 5% of the actual oil. The rest of the bottle can be filled with fillers and sometimes toxic ingredients that can irritate the skin. The studies are not based solely on a specific brand of an essential oil, unless stated. Please read the full study for more information.

Please note that the studies from PubMed aren’t specific for any essential oils company.

Thanks Pixabay!