.
Plug the search term “essential oils” into the PubMed health database and the results are staggering. Nearly 10,000 peer-reviewed and evidence-based studies have been published in scientific journals within the last decade. Essential oils are being used in the world’s top medical facilities and elite universities have made them one of the hottest topics of health research, but what exactly are they?
An essential oil is the essence of a plant, a lipophilic liquid containing aromatic compounds extracted from the leaves, roots, seeds, peels, and bark. An essential oil is why a rose smells like a rose and why a grapefruit has that amazingly uplifting aroma. These gifts of the Earth are precious. It takes approximately 60,000 roses to produce a single ounce of rose oil, and the quality and efficacy of an essential oil are greatly determined by where, when, and under what conditions it is harvested.
There is evidence that ancient Egyptians used cedar and juniper essential oil. Ayurvedic health care systems have included them as a core element for over four millennia. In Haiti, natives have used vetiver as a panacea for centuries. Modern aromatherapy was born in 1937 when French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse discovered, by pure accident, that lavender oil soothed the hand that he had badly burned in a lab accident. For the next few decades, essential oil knowledge was based on tradition and its use viewed as unconventional…at best. Recently, modern medicine has begun to embrace essential oils. Essential wellness, the movement toward optimal health through lifestyle habits such as informed use of essential oils, is the future.
The fact that essential oils are becoming more widely accepted by modern medicine comes as no surprise as they are simply natures’ conglomeration of chemical constituents, many of which have formed the basis of modern medicines and wellness products. Thus, menthol, the primary constituent of peppermint essential oil, is a featured active ingredient of common household products with a cooling and soothing sensation, including lip balm, aftershave, mouthwash, toothpaste, and brand name products such as IcyHot and VapoRub. Alpha Pinene, found in high concentrations in frankincense and eucalyptus, is commonly found in cold and respiratory ointments. Terpinen-4-ol, a component of melaleuca (tea tree), is found in many topical applications due to its ability to protect against seasonal threats. The synergism of these thousands of hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds, combined precisely by nature, result in substances whose benefits we are just beginning to understand.
So where do essential oils fit in the ever-changing health paradigm? We’ve all benefitted from the remarkable advances in modern medicine and the ready availability of this knowledge. A few clicks of a mouse provide access to the breadth of history’s health and medical research. With rates of infectious disease rapidly declining, thanks primarily to these medical advancements, our new world’s greatest health adversaries are those primarily tied to lifestyle behaviors. The components of essential wellness—better nutrition, more physical activity, and informed self-care—are the answers. Informed self-care is where all-natural, certified pure therapeutic grade essential oils are best utilized.
Until the last several years, essential oils were promoted as an alternative to modern medicine. Essential oil and other natural product users were sometimes regarded as nonconformist, eschewing the modern advancements of pharmacology for little bottles of aromatic lipids that they smelled, applied topically, and consumed in effort to ease health maladies. Without accepted standards for quality or purity for and a lack of available knowledge on essential oils, consumers looking to be proactive about their health by using essential oils truly had no idea what was inside that bottle or how to properly use it. With a new dedication to hard science, improved standards, and increased accessibility of information, this is all changing. Essential oils are beginning to take their rightful place as a tool for informed self-care and as a compliment to modern medicine. Those “nonconformists” are now joined by your next-door neighbors who are concerned about the effect of seasonal threats on their children, their grandparents’ achy joints, and their ability to get a good night’s rest. Your family physician may now be recommending essential oils as all-natural support for a number of their patients’ body systems. This changing landscape has empowered millions to take a proactive approach to their health and the health of those around them. The next step is to figure out how to responsibly disperse this knowledge and these compounds to all corners of the globe. With this growing body of knowledge comes responsibility, both from the industry and the consumer.
The essential wellness movement has begun. Our progressively health-conscious global population is creating opportunities for themselves and taking responsibility for their own well-being. With a continued focus on science, improved industry standards, and a dedication to working with modern medicine, essential oils are progressively becoming a more vital ingredient in the recipe for optimal health.
About the author: Dr. David K. Hill is the Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at dōTERRA.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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Essential Wellness
May 17, 2016
Plug the search term “essential oils” into the PubMed health database and the results are staggering. Nearly 10,000 peer-reviewed and evidence-based studies have been published in scientific journals within the last decade. Essential oils are being used in the world’s top medical facilities and elite universities have made them one of the hottest topics of health research, but what exactly are they?
An essential oil is the essence of a plant, a lipophilic liquid containing aromatic compounds extracted from the leaves, roots, seeds, peels, and bark. An essential oil is why a rose smells like a rose and why a grapefruit has that amazingly uplifting aroma. These gifts of the Earth are precious. It takes approximately 60,000 roses to produce a single ounce of rose oil, and the quality and efficacy of an essential oil are greatly determined by where, when, and under what conditions it is harvested.
There is evidence that ancient Egyptians used cedar and juniper essential oil. Ayurvedic health care systems have included them as a core element for over four millennia. In Haiti, natives have used vetiver as a panacea for centuries. Modern aromatherapy was born in 1937 when French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse discovered, by pure accident, that lavender oil soothed the hand that he had badly burned in a lab accident. For the next few decades, essential oil knowledge was based on tradition and its use viewed as unconventional…at best. Recently, modern medicine has begun to embrace essential oils. Essential wellness, the movement toward optimal health through lifestyle habits such as informed use of essential oils, is the future.
The fact that essential oils are becoming more widely accepted by modern medicine comes as no surprise as they are simply natures’ conglomeration of chemical constituents, many of which have formed the basis of modern medicines and wellness products. Thus, menthol, the primary constituent of peppermint essential oil, is a featured active ingredient of common household products with a cooling and soothing sensation, including lip balm, aftershave, mouthwash, toothpaste, and brand name products such as IcyHot and VapoRub. Alpha Pinene, found in high concentrations in frankincense and eucalyptus, is commonly found in cold and respiratory ointments. Terpinen-4-ol, a component of melaleuca (tea tree), is found in many topical applications due to its ability to protect against seasonal threats. The synergism of these thousands of hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds, combined precisely by nature, result in substances whose benefits we are just beginning to understand.
So where do essential oils fit in the ever-changing health paradigm? We’ve all benefitted from the remarkable advances in modern medicine and the ready availability of this knowledge. A few clicks of a mouse provide access to the breadth of history’s health and medical research. With rates of infectious disease rapidly declining, thanks primarily to these medical advancements, our new world’s greatest health adversaries are those primarily tied to lifestyle behaviors. The components of essential wellness—better nutrition, more physical activity, and informed self-care—are the answers. Informed self-care is where all-natural, certified pure therapeutic grade essential oils are best utilized.
Until the last several years, essential oils were promoted as an alternative to modern medicine. Essential oil and other natural product users were sometimes regarded as nonconformist, eschewing the modern advancements of pharmacology for little bottles of aromatic lipids that they smelled, applied topically, and consumed in effort to ease health maladies. Without accepted standards for quality or purity for and a lack of available knowledge on essential oils, consumers looking to be proactive about their health by using essential oils truly had no idea what was inside that bottle or how to properly use it. With a new dedication to hard science, improved standards, and increased accessibility of information, this is all changing. Essential oils are beginning to take their rightful place as a tool for informed self-care and as a compliment to modern medicine. Those “nonconformists” are now joined by your next-door neighbors who are concerned about the effect of seasonal threats on their children, their grandparents’ achy joints, and their ability to get a good night’s rest. Your family physician may now be recommending essential oils as all-natural support for a number of their patients’ body systems. This changing landscape has empowered millions to take a proactive approach to their health and the health of those around them. The next step is to figure out how to responsibly disperse this knowledge and these compounds to all corners of the globe. With this growing body of knowledge comes responsibility, both from the industry and the consumer.
The essential wellness movement has begun. Our progressively health-conscious global population is creating opportunities for themselves and taking responsibility for their own well-being. With a continued focus on science, improved industry standards, and a dedication to working with modern medicine, essential oils are progressively becoming a more vital ingredient in the recipe for optimal health.
About the author: Dr. David K. Hill is the Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at dōTERRA.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
