What is the merit behind essential oils, and can they actually be used for treatment?

 Essential oils have recently made a resurgence in popularity. However, societally, they have been most commonly associated with medical industry outsiders and lay people looking for alternative treatments to ailments. Despite their remoteness from pharmacological industries and the societal and media clash between modern science and home remedies, can essential oils be used as effective treatment?

 

To answer this, we must break down the chemical components found in essential oils to best learn what they are and how they may interact with the biology of our bodies. Essential oils are complex mixtures that are made up of volatile aromatic compounds. This means that they contain organic molecules that can change from liquid to gas fairly readily and that they tend to have potent smells. They are also characterized by their significant resistance to hydrolysis. Most commonly, compounds isolated from the process of extracting the oils include terpenes, aldehydes, alcohols, and esters. These compounds are naturally found in plants as they are often used in defense against pests and microorganisms, for signaling processes, and to attract pollinators.

 

 

When looking at a specific essential oil, like that of oregano, the chemical compounds contained within the plant relay different efficacy. In oregano essential oil, the principal terpenes involved are carvacrol, thymol, γ-terpinene, and p-cymene. These compounds, amongst the other present, have been observed to have significant impacts in treating a wide range of health issues. Carvacrol and its isomer thymol have demonstrated the ability to block virus-target cell fusion while not disturbing the other stages of the cell. 

Beyond this, the essential oils of oregano also contain antifungal, antiproliferative, and anti-inflammatory properties within its aromatic compound makeup. When supplemented in sows, essential oils from O. vulgare, a species of oregano, demonstrated the ability to reduce stress markers in their piglets, lowering the likelihood of DNA damage, senescence, cell death, and other problems caused by oxidative stress, revealing essential oil of oregano to be a powerful antioxidant. These findings have pointed many researchers in the direction of essential oils to treat neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, chronic inflammation, etc. because of their positive correlation with elevated oxidative stress.

Essential oils, while not considered conventional medication, can contain chemical compounds that provide proper healing and aid to many different health issues we may undergo. In their very essence, they are agents of science that have the capacity to engage in biochemical reactions that ultimately work in our favor.


Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6152729/#:~:text=Essential%20oils%20of%20oregano%20are,antidiabetic%20and%20cancer%20suppressor%20agents  

https://www.mayanssecret.com/blogs/best-aromatic-essential-oils-blog/essential-oils-are-complex-mixtures-of-aromatic-compounds 

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JVI.00147-20 


Anthony Nassar (3)

Comments

  1. Caitlin HooperOctober 5, 2022 at 9:59 AM

    Hi Anthony! This was really interesting to read because I personally use essential oils every day so it was really interesting to see chemically how they are broken down and how many things they can really treat. Do you think eventually these essential oils could be used medically for further treatments?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 7, 2022 at 1:45 PM

      Hey Caitlin! The whole movement for holistic and natural remedies has been pushing pretty progressively as of late. I feel that people are finding more and more that the compounds used in medications are mostly derivatives or the same compounds found out in nature. The difference is usually the concentration of those compounds, other compounds added for enhancement and stability, etc. Because of this, pharmacological medicine usually sees faster, more potent results than people may notice using essential oils. However, the list of side effects for modern medicine is a catalogue compared to what studies have reported on certain essential oils (keeping in mind that studies are still being conducted on essential oils). So, I think that is would make sense to be able to treat patients with these oils that contain the desired healing compounds. Though I am not certain about all of the logistics behind it, I would imagine treatment would have to be more preliminary and gradual in order for full efficacy of the oil to take place.

      - Anthony

      Delete
  2. Victoria FlynnOctober 5, 2022 at 8:18 PM

    Wow Anthony, this is fascinating. I always hear people talking about essential oils and the whole craze around it. However, I always found it had to separate the science from the marketing. While I have always veered on the more hesitant side to join in on the trend, I also suspected that had to be some sort of science behind them. For example, many cultures utilize herbal medicine and other natural resources for healing. I found it unique how you described the chemical properties of the different components. When it comes down to everything, the polarities and bonds formed between compounds is what causes the real response in us. Hypothetically do you think that essential oils would be able to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's from a holistic medicine stand point or more so from a symptom regulation and quality of life perspective?

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  3. AnonymousOctober 7, 2022 at 2:04 PM

    I was in the same boat when it came to the discourse between modern science vs trending holistic treatments due to the lack of explanation behind what is actually taking place in herbal and alternative medicine. On the manner in which I believe essential oils may be used to treat diseases like Alzheimer's disease, it is definitely an interesting route to explore, and a necessary ones by those conducting studies. Of what I saw, there was mostly mention of taking the next steps in applying what has been learned about essential oils, particularly from certain oregano species, to an issue that is correlated with diseases like Alzheimer's disease: elevated oxidative stress. According to Leyva-López et al. from the first paper linked above, "Oxidative stress can cause an increasing in cell proliferation, adaptation by up-regulation of defense systems, DNA damage, senescence and cell death. Consequently, many studies have positively correlated oxidative stress with the pathogenesis of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease..." So, in theory, using essential oils of oregano, which contains potent antioxidants, it may be able to treat some of the symptoms mentioned above. However, as mentioned in the paper, there is no guarantee that essential oils of oregano would be able to neutralize all of the effects of oxidative stress. If it could neutralize those effects of oxidative stress, then many, if not all, of the symptoms listed above from the paper would likely be treatable.

    - Anthony

    ReplyDelete
  4. Victoria LeongOctober 12, 2022 at 7:03 PM

    Hi Anthony,
    I found it very interesting that essential oils can be used for treating neurodegenerative disorders. Those diseases affect so many people in our communities today, that if we are able to find treatments of any kind, it is worth investing our time into. Do you know if essential oils can be used as a long term treatment? Or is there any drawbacks for using essential oils over other types of treatment? Thanks for sharing!

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