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  Dr Joy's Brain-Dump                   
      (aka Blog)

What research is there on ingestion of essential oils in capsules?

4/3/2021

7 Comments

 
I've been getting questions on my Facebook Group "Essential oils and internal use" about what scientific research there is on the safety and efficacy of ingestion of essential oils. As a starting place, I tried a search in PubMed, but came up with too many references to nano-encapsulation methodology. 

So then I thought I would go into my EndNote library which I've been saving references into for about 20 years, and search for the word "capsule". About 50 articles turned up, so I've made a bibliographic list of these, plus a table summarising the oils or constituents used in the capsules, and the conditions the encapsulated oils were used for (see PDF at the end of the article). The list is not an exhaustive list of the research on trials using ingested encapsulated essential oils, but it gives you an idea of the trials available. In addition to my reference list, p. 50 of "Essential Oil Safety", by Tisserand & Young (2014) lists trials on: Cinnamon Bark for loss of appetite; Geranium oil for stress and hypertension; Juniperberry oil for dyspepsia; Oregano oil for intestinal parasites.

Some of the products like GeloMyrtol, Tavipec, Silexan/Lasea, Colpermin and Rowachol seem to have been allowed onto the market without very much in the way of clinical trial evidence. I imagine they are formulations firstly developed in herbal medicine and phytotherapy, which, being known to be effective, were allowed to be sold as over-the-counter preparations, much in the same way as Vicks Vaporub and TigerBalm muscle rub. In particular, I'm curious that there doesn't seem to be much work done to determine the minimum effective dose, but rather the dosages used range from 80 mg to 1200 mg of essential oil per capsule without discussion of why those quantities had been chosen. The reported benefits of the essential oil capsules appear to be moderate to good improvement of symptoms (though I wonder about publication bias, and the non-reporting of non-effective treatments). Most of the clinical trials on the list mention adverse events, if there were any, and mostly these are limited to burping, nausea and mild stomach pain. 

What we need to feel confident in safe and effective internal use of essential oils is some careful research to determine the therapeutic window for each oil (and for each condition we are using the oils for). Unless we use high enough dosages, we are unlikely to see much effect (beyond perhaps a placebo effect), but if the doses are too high (or repeated too frequently or for too long), we are likely to start seeing adverse events. And for most oils, we don't know how much EO must be ingested for which effect, or at what dosage level people are likely to experience adverse events. 

Herbalists, phytotherapists and aromatic medicine practitioners are more likely to be able to recommend dosages that may be effective, but even they are experimenting, as we don't have clinical studies on enough people. There is nothing stopping someone from experimenting on themselves and possibly finding much benefit, but there is not enough evidence yet for us to know what are the safe AND effective internal dosages for most of our essential oils. In my opinion, the likely risks of toxicity and ill-effects of long-term internal use are too high to warrant the home-use of essential oils in capsules, unless under medical supervision. Unless you want to offer your body to science... in which case, please document the treatment and the results and let us know!!

papers_using_eos_in_capsules_for_oral_treatment_march2021.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: pdf
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7 Comments
Alynn
6/3/2021 12:53:18 am

"Unless we use high enough dosages, we are unlikely to see much effect (beyond perhaps a placebo effect)".
What is "high enough dosages", i have experimented on myself few essential oils internally, as an example, i used to have recurrent "urine infection" (confirmed by tests). I tried a specific EO internally (2 or 3 drops max in a capsule filled with olive oil), i always healed in less than 1 day. I wonder if this was placebo effect!

Reply
Dr Joy
6/3/2021 11:49:58 am

Dear Alynn,
It sounds like you found the "high enough" dosage to get the effect you desired. You could have tried just one drop to start with, then increased to 2 or 3 drops if that didn't work. I'm delighted to hear that you were able to experiment safely on yourself - the fact that the infection was solved with in 1 day also means that you are less likely to experience toxic side effects. Did you notice any? This experimental approach is known as the empirical approach, and it used to be the way herbal medicine was practiced. A body of expert experience can be built up by practitioners, and that can give the starting points for treatments for other people. A clinical trial would ideally have three groups of people with the same infection: Group 1 would have the EO + Veg oil capsule; Group 2 would have the Veg oil capsule only; Group 3 would have a capsule with a known anti-biotic treatment. And no-one would be told which group they were in. This sort of trial would let you know if the EO+veg oil is having an effect more than just a veg oil (placebo), and how good the effect is compared to a known pharmaceutical treatment.

Reply
Alynn
7/3/2021 04:44:09 pm

Reading your reply made me look again into my old notes to double check the dosage i used to take. In fact, indeed i was just putting 1 drop of eo in the capsule filled with olive oil. Now luckily i do not get UTIs anymore, it's been more than 3 years. Not sure if this is also thanks to eo or simply because i am now drinking more water! Haha.

The only side effects i had was "mild burping" which didn't bother me at all.

DR JOY
8/3/2021 10:51:26 am

Either way, that's good news! I'm curious which EO you were trying, if you got 'mild burping' from only 1 drop in a capsule with olive oil?

Reply
Alynn
8/3/2021 01:47:46 pm

I can tell you privately as i don't want to encourage people to self-medicate without proper guidance from a certified aromatherapist. What's your email address please.

Reply
DR JOY
8/3/2021 02:52:04 pm

drjoy@ejoybowles.com should reach me. That's care-full... thank you :-)

Alynn
8/3/2021 03:07:34 pm

Haha yes i am careful, especially with this particular oil. Will send you an email right away :)

Reply

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  • Home
  • Store
    • Aromasummit discount
    • e-gift-card
    • Dr Joy's AT - 14 copies - 40% discount
    • Dr Joy's Aromatherapy book
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    • Bulk-order Dr Joy's AT
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