About this blog

After seeing news articles say there was NO EVIDENCE that essential oils work for Ebola and hearing that the FDA has not approved any oils for any sort of disease, I decided to see what was out there and expose the essential oil industry. Instead, I found a mountain of peer reviewed studies for all kinds of serious diseases saying how well they work, even on Ebola! So, I decided to set up this blog to post a few studies a week to expose the real frauds and show the world what NO EVIDENCE looks like.
If you find value in my service, please donate to the blog since there is a cost to search and post these articles. I have waded through hundreds, if not thousands of difficult peer-reviewed articles to bring you those related to essential oils and ailments. I hope you find what you are looking for. I wish you great health, wealth and happiness!

(TIP: When looking for an article look in the Archive for titles but also use the Search Box because some articles may delay with say cancer in the title but also mention another disease so they may have tags that allow you to find them in the Search Box.)

Weight Gain from Drugs and Lime Essential Oil

"The data obtained in this study suggested that lime essential oil plays an important role in weight loss and could be useful in the treatment of drug-induced obesity and related diseases."

 2010 Dec;24(12):1893-7. doi: 10.1002/ptr.3227.

Essential oil from Citrus aurantifolia prevents ketotifen-induced weight-gain in mice.

Abstract

Obesity is a major health problem world-wide. Medical intervention is often needed to tackle this problem, and accordingly the need for developing more effective, safer and cheaper weight reducing drugs has become paramount in recent years. In the present study, the effects of lime (Citrus aurantifolia) essential oils in reducing body weight, individually and in co-administration with ketotifen, an antihistaminic drug that causes weight gain, has been investigated using a mouse model. During the 45 days experimental period, the mice that received ketotifen demonstrated an enhancement both in the amount of food intake and body weight compared with the control group. Groups treated with lime essential oil displayed a reduction in body weight and food consumption in mice, possibly through promoting anorexia which might have played a role in weight loss. Interestingly, co-administration of the lime essential oil and ketotifen caused significant suppression in gaining weight, as well as decreased body weights of mice. The data obtained in this study suggested that lime essential oil plays an important role in weight loss and could be useful in the treatment of drug-induced obesity and related diseases. The GC-MS analysis of the essential oils of C. aurantifolia was also performed and approximately 22 main components, with limonene (28.27%) being the principal one, were identified and quantified.
PMID:
 
20623616
 
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to full text here.

You are reading The Essential Oil Skeptic.
 Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils.

Asthma and Allergies and Lavender


"Lvn (lavender essential oil) inhibits allergic inflammation and mucous cell hyperplasia with suppression of T-helper-2 cell cytokines and Muc5b expression in a murine model of asthma. Consequently, Lvn may be useful as an alternative medicine for bronchial asthma."

Lavender essential oil inhalation suppresses allergic airway inflammation and mucous cell hyperplasia in a murine model of asthma.

Abstract

AIMS: 

Lavender essential oil (Lvn) has been reported to have anti-inflammatory effects. Bronchial asthma is characterized by bronchial allergic inflammation with airway remodeling. Therefore, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of Lvn on experimentally induced bronchial asthma in a murine model.

MAIN METHODS: 

BALB/c mice were sensitized by an intraperitoneal injection of ovalbumin (OVA) at days 0 and 14, and subsequently challenged with nebulized OVA on days 28-30 (Control-Asthma group). Mice in the treatment group inhaled Lvn on days 14-31 (Lvn-Asthma group). The allergic inflammatory response was determined on days 32 and 33.

KEY FINDINGS: 

An increase in airway resistance was inhibited in the Lvn-Asthma group than in the Control-Asthma group. The Lvn-Asthma group showed lower total cell numbers and eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids and peribronchial and perivascular tissues when compared with the Control-Asthma group. The Lvn-Asthma group also had less mucin hyperplasia than the Control-Asthma group. Furthermore, the Lvn-Asthma group showed lower interleukin (IL)-5 and IL-13 cytokine levels in BAL fluids, as well as reduced IL-4 and IL-5 mRNA expression in lung tissue, compared with the Control-Asthma group and determined by FlowCytomix and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. In addition, Lvn inhalation reduced Muc5b mRNA expression in the lungs without significantly changing the expression of Muc5ac mRNA.

SIGNIFICANCE: 

Lvn inhibits allergic inflammation and mucous cell hyperplasia with suppression of T-helper-2 cell cytokines and Muc5b expression in a murine model of asthma. Consequently, Lvn may be useful as an alternative medicine for bronchial asthma.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS: 

Alternative medicine; Asthma; Cytokines; Lavender; Mucin
PMID:
 
24909715
 
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 

Link to full article.

You are reading The Essential Oil Skeptic.
Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils
http://essentialoilskeptic.com

Depression and Rosemary


"The present study clearly reinforces the notion that R. officinalis has a therapeutic potential as an antidepressant, since the effects of all fractions, isolated compounds and essential oil in the TST are similar to that produced by the classical antidepressant fluoxetine."

Antidepressant-like effects of fractions, essential oil, carnosol and betulinic acid isolated from Rosmarinus officinalis L.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the antidepressant-like effect of fractions from Rosmarinus officinalis L.: ethyl acetate 1 and 2 (AcOEt1 and 2), hexane (HEX), ethanolic (ET), and essential oil-free (EOF) fractions, as well as essential oil, the isolated compounds carnosol and betulinic acid in the tail suspension test, a predictive test of antidepressant activity. Swiss mice were acutely administered by oral route (p.o.) with fractions, essential oil or isolated compounds, 60 min before the tail suspension test or open-field test. All of them produced a significant antidepressant-like effect: AcOEt1, ET, EOF fractions and essential oil (0.1-100mg/kg, p.o); HEX (0.1-10mg/kg, p.o) and AcOEt2 fraction (0.1-1mg/kg, p.o), carnosol (0.01-0.1mg/kg, p.o.) isolated from the HEX fraction and betulinic acid (10mg/kg, p.o.), isolated from the AcOEt1 and AcOEt2 fractions. No psychostimulant effect was shown in the open-field test, indicating that the effects in the tail suspension test are specific. This study suggests that carnosol and betulinic acid could be responsible for the anti-immobility effect of extracts from R. officinalis.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PMID:
 
23122155
 
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Link to full article here.


You are reading The Essential Oil Skeptic.
Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils?
http://essentialoilskeptic.com

PMS and Lavender


"The present study indicated that lavender aromatherapy as a potential therapeutic modality could alleviate premenstrual emotional symptoms, which, at least in part, is attributable to the improvement of parasympathetic nervous system activity. This study further implies that HRV could evaluate the efficacy of aromatherapy using various fragrances to relieve premenstrual symptoms, and ultimately, support the mind and body health of women."

 2013 May 31;7:12. doi: 10.1186/1751-0759-7-12. eCollection 2013.

Does lavender aromatherapy alleviate premenstrual emotional symptoms?: a randomized crossover trial.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: 

A majority of reproductive-age women experience a constellation of various symptoms in the premenstrual phase, commonly known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Despite its prevalence, however, no single treatment is universally recognized as effective, and many women turn to alternative approaches, including aromatherapy, a holistic mind and body treatment. The present study investigated the soothing effects of aromatherapy on premenstrual symptoms using lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), a relaxing essential oil, from the perspective of autonomic nervous system function.

METHODS: 

Seventeen women (20.6 ± 0.2 years) with mild to moderate subjective premenstrual symptoms participated in a randomized crossover study. Subjects were examined on two separate occasions (aroma and control trials) in the late-luteal phases. Two kinds of aromatic stimulation (lavender and water as a control) were used. This experiment measured heart rate variability (HRV) reflecting autonomic nerve activity and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) as a psychological index before and after the aromatic stimulation.

RESULTS: 

Only a 10-min inhalation of the lavender scent significantly increased the high frequency (HF) power reflecting parasympathetic nervous system activity in comparison with water (aroma effect: F = 4.50, p = 0.050; time effect: F = 5.59, p = 0.017; aroma x time effect: F = 3.17, p = 0.047). The rate of increase in HF power was greater at 10-15 min (p = 0.051) and 20-25 min (p = 0.023) in the lavender trial than in the control trial with water. In addition, POMS tests revealed that inhalation of the aromatic lavender oil significantly decreased two POMS subscales-depression-dejection (p = 0.045) and confusion (p = 0.049)-common premenstrual symptoms, in the late-luteal phase, as long as 35 min after the aroma stimulation.

CONCLUSIONS: 

The present study indicated that lavender aromatherapy as a potential therapeutic modality could alleviate premenstrual emotional symptoms, which, at least in part, is attributable to the improvement of parasympathetic nervous system activity. This study further implies that HRV could evaluate the efficacy of aromatherapy using various fragrances to relieve premenstrual symptoms, and ultimately, support the mind and body health of women.
PMID:
 
23724853
 
[PubMed] 
PMCID:
 
PMC3674979
 

Link to Full Article here.



You are reading Essential Oil Skeptic.
Want to see more scientific studies on essential oils? Subscribe at www.essentialoilskeptic.com

Essential Oils as Antivirals


"Nevertheless, the relative success achieved recently using medicinal plant/herb extracts of various species that are capable of acting therapeutically in various viral infections has raised optimism about the future of phyto-antiviral agents.

Unlike bacterial cells, which are free-living entities, viruses utilize the host cell environment to propagate new viruses. They use the reproductive machinery of cells they invade causing ailments as benign as a common wart, as irritating as a cold, or as deadly as what is known as the bloody African fever. The viruses that cause Lassa fever and Ebola fever and the retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are examples that researchers call hot agents – viruses that spread easily, kill sometimes swiftly, and for which there is no cure or vaccine."

 2003;95(3):412-27.

Novel antiviral agents: a medicinal plant perspective.

Abstract

Several hundred plant and herb species that have potential as novel antiviral agents have been studied, with surprisingly little overlap. A wide variety of active phytochemicals, including the flavonoids, terpenoids, lignans, sulphides, polyphenolics, coumarins, saponins, furyl compounds, alkaloids, polyines, thiophenes, proteins and peptides have been identified. 
Some volatile essential oils of commonly used culinary herbs, spices and herbal teas have also exhibited a high level of antiviral activity. However, given the few classes of compounds investigated, most of the pharmacopoeia of compounds in medicinal plants with antiviral activity is still not known. Several of these phytochemicals have complementary and overlapping mechanisms of action, including antiviral effects by either inhibiting the formation of viral DNA or RNA or inhibiting the activity of viral reproduction. 
Assay methods to determine antiviral activity include multiple-arm trials, randomized crossover studies, and more compromised designs such as nonrandomized crossovers and pre- and post-treatment analyses. Methods are needed to link antiviral efficacy/potency- and laboratory-based research. Nevertheless, the relative success achieved recently using medicinal plant/herb extracts of various species that are capable of acting therapeutically in various viral infections has raised optimism about the future of phyto-antiviral agents. 
As this review illustrates, there are innumerable potentially useful medicinal plants and herbs waiting to be evaluated and exploited for therapeutic applications against genetically and functionally diverse viruses families such as Retroviridae, Hepadnaviridae and Herpesviridae
PMID:
 
12911688
 
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 


Full Text of Article




Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils? http://essentialoilskeptic.com

Yellow Fever/Hemorrhagic Fever and Oregano, Mugwort and various Verbenas



The essential oils evaluated in the study showed antiviral activities against YFV.(Yellow Fever Virus) The mode of action seems to be direct virus inactivation.


Inhibitory effect of essential oils obtained from plants grown in Colombia on yellow fever virus replication in vitro

Rocío Meneses12*Raquel E Ocazionez12Jairo R Martínez13 and Elena E Stashenko13


1Centro Nacional de Investigaciones para la Agroindustrialización de Especies Vegetales Aromáticas y Medicinales Tropicales, CENIVAM. Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
2Centro de Investigaciones en Enfermedades Tropicales, CINTROP, Laboratorio de Arbovirus, Piedecuesta, Colombia
3Centro de Investigación en Biomoléculas, CIBIMOL, Bucaramanga, Colombia
For all author emails, please log on.


Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials 2009, 8:8  doi:10.1186/1476-0711-8-8

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.ann-clinmicrob.com/content/8/1/8

Received:25 November 2008
Accepted:6 March 2009
Published:6 March 2009
© 2009 Meneses et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Abstract

Background

An antiviral drug is needed for the treatment of patients suffering from yellow fever. Several compounds present in plants can inactive in vitro a wide spectrum of animal viruses.

Aim

In the present study the inhibitory effect of essential oils of Lippia alba, Lippia origanoides, Oreganum vulgare and Artemisia vulgaris on yellow fever virus (YFV) replication was investigated.

Methods

The cytotoxicity (CC50) on Vero cells was evaluated by the MTT reduction method. The minimum concentration of the essential oil that inhibited virus titer by more than 50% (MIC) was determined by virus yield reduction assay. YFV was incubated 24 h at 4°C with essential oil before adsorption on Vero cell, and viral replication was carried out in the absence or presence of essential oil. Vero cells were exposed to essential oil 24 h at 37°C before the adsorption of untreated-virus.

Results

The CC50 values were less than 100 μg/mL and the MIC values were 3.7 and 11.1 μg/mL. The CC50/MIC ratio was of 22.9, 26.4, 26.5 and 8.8 for L. alba, L origanoides, O. vulgare and A. vulgaris, respectively. The presence of essential oil in the culture medium enhances the antiviral effect: L. origanoides oil at 11.1 μg/mLproduced a 100% reduction of virus yield, and the same result was observed with L. alba, O. vulgare and A. vulgaris oils at100 μg/mL. No reduction of virus yield was observed when Vero cells were treated with essential oil before the adsorption of untreated-virus.

Conclusion

The essential oils evaluated in the study showed antiviral activities against YFV. The mode of action seems to be direct virus inactivation.

Full text of this article

You are reading The Essential Oil Skeptic.
Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils?http://essentialoilskeptic.com

Arthritis, Muscle and Stomach Pain-Boswellia Sacra

Document heading

"The present study provided the scientific justification about the analgesic properties of the essential oils, extract, and various sub-fractions obtained from the resin of B. sacra, thus validating its use in traditional folk medicines and other products; and hence supporting the development in the analgesic properties of bioactive natural substances"
.

Analgesic effects of crude extracts and fractions of Omani frankincense obtained from traditional medicinal plant Boswellia sacra on animal models 


Abstract

Objective

To investigate the analgesic effect of Boswellia sacra (B. sacra), which could support the Omani traditional uses of frankincense for muscle, stomach, and arthritis pain.

Methods

The crude extract, the essential oils and various sub-fractions of the crude methanol extract (each 300 mg/kg of the body weight of the animal) obtained from the resin of B. sacra were administered orally, and were evaluated for their analgesic activities by using two well known models of pain in mice, viz. acetic acid induced writhing test and formalin induced pain test in mice.

Results

Of 13 samples, almost all of them were effective at an orally administered dose of 300 mg/kg of the body weight. The acetic acid induced writhes were inhibited in all the three phases with comparable values to the standard drug aspirin (300 mg/kg of body weight) with inhibition of 67.6% in phase I, 66.8% in phase II, and 37.9% in phase III. At the same time, all the tested samples were found effective in both the early and the late phases of formalin test. In formalin test, most of the tested samples showed more inhibitory effects as compared to the standard drug aspirin (300 mg/kg of body weight), which showed 36.2% and 29.6% inhibition in early and late phases respectively. Among the tested samples, the most significant inhibition was produced by Shabi frankincense oil (57.5% in early phase, and 55.6% in late phase). Interestingly, the extracts showed comparable percentage of inhibition to the oil and found in the following order: 60% chloroform/n-hexane sub-fraction (55.3% in early phase, and 66.7% in late phase), and 70% chloroform/n-hexane sub-fraction (59.6% in early phase, and 63.0% in late phase).

Conclusions

The present study provided the scientific justification about the analgesic properties of the essential oils, extract, and various sub-fractions obtained from the resin of B. sacra, thus validating its use in traditional folk medicines and other products; and hence supporting the development in the analgesic properties of bioactive natural substances.

Keywords

  • Frankincense
  • Essential oil
  • Boswellia sacra
  • Analgesic activity
  • Nociception

Full text to article here

You are reading the Essential Oil Skeptic.
http://essentialoilskeptic.com

Research Council (Grant No. ORG/CBS/10/002) and University of Nizwa (Grant No. A109-10-UON/28/A & S/IF).

Corresponding author: Ahmad Al-Harrasi, Ph.D, Department of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nizwa, Birkat Al-Mouz, Nizwa-616, Oman. Tel: +96825446329

Colon Cancer and Components of Rose, Palmarose and Citronella

Geraniola Component of Plant Essential OilsInhibits Growth and Polyamine Biosynthesis in Human Colon Cancer Cells

Abstract

Geraniol and other monoterpenes found in essential oils of fruits and herbs have been suggested to represent a new class of agents for cancer chemoprevention. Aa first step in clarifying the mode of action of geraniol on colon carcinogenesis, we studied its effects on the growth of a human colon cancer cell line (Caco-2). Geraniol (400 μM) caused a 70% inhibition of cell growth, with cells accumulatinin the S transition phase of the cell cycle, and concomitant inhibition of DNA synthesis. No signs of cytotoxicity or apoptosis were detected. Geraniol caused a 50% decrease of ornithine decarboxylase activity, a key enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, which is enhancein cancer growth. This led to a 40% reduction of the intracellular pool of putrescine. Geraniol also activated the intracellular catabolism of polyamines, indicated by enhancepolyamine acetylation. These observations indicate thapolyamine metabolism is presumably a target in the antiproliferative properties of geraniol.
Numerous epidemiological studies revealed that high consumption of fruits, vegetables, and other plant products may reduce the incidence and development of colorectacancer (Tuyns et al., 1988Steinmetz and Potter, 1991Steinmetz et al., 1994). Since colorectacancerare difficult to treat with existing therapeutic modalities, identifying dietary phytochemicals that have antitumor activity and investigating their mechanisms of action may lead to significant advancein the prevention of human cancer (Block et al., 1992). The monoterpenes, found in essential oils of citrus fruits, cherry, mint, and herbs, are non-nutritive dietary microconstituents mainly responsible for the distinctive fragrance of many plants. They are used as flavor additives in food, beverages, and perfumes.
Recents studies have shown that monoterpenes exert antitumor activities and suggest that these componentare a new class of cancer chemopreventive agents (Elson and Yu, 1994Kelloff et al., 1996Crowell, 1999). Limonene, a main constituent of orange and citrus peel oils, has been reported to exert antitumor activity against mammary gland, lung, liver, stomach, and skin cancerin rodents (Elegbede et al., 1986Wattenberg and Coccia, 1991Crowell and Gould, 1994Mills et al., 1995Kawamori et al., 1996). Similarly, perillyl alcohol, a hydroxylated limonene analog, exhibits chemopreventive activity against liver, mammary gland, pancreas, and colon cancerin rodents (Haaand Gould, 1994Stark et al., 1995Reddy et al., 1997). More recently, geraniolaacyclic monoterpene alcohol found in lemongrass and aromatic herb oils, has been shown to exert in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity against murine leukemia, hepatomaand melanoma cells (Shoff et al., 1991Yu et al., 1995Burke et al., 1997).
No information is available on the potential effects of geraniol on colon cancer. Therefore, we examined its effect on Caco-2 cell growtha human colonic cancer cell line. We also measured the effect of geraniol on polyamine metabolism, which is known to be enhancein cancer cells and which might be one of the targets of the chemopreventive action of geraniol (Seiler et al., 1998).   

...In conclusion, our results are the first to describe a potent antiproliferative effect of geraniol on the growth of human colon cancer cells. Geraniol has no cytotoxic effect, is mainly cytostatic, and inhibits DNA synthesis, leading to the accumulation of Caco-2 cells in the S phase. Inhibition of ODC expression may be one of several targets involved in the antiproliferative effects of geraniol. However, it remains to be determined whether polyamine depletion by itself is directly responsible for the observed antiproliferative effect. The low toxicity of geraniol makes it attractive for in vivo studies in colon cancer prevention and treatment.

Link to Full Text Here

Subscribe by email for free for a limited time to see more scientific studies on essential oils?

http://essentialoilkeptic.com        

 
site design by designer blogs