Calamansi or Citrus macrocarpa is a citrus fruit from the Philippines and select countries in Asia. It is also called a Philippine lemon in English being a native version of lemon in the country. Calamansi belongs to the Rutaceae family or the citrus category of fruits.
Compared to other kinds of essential oils that are easy to find, calamansi oils are less common. Most of the producers of this oil are located in the countries they are abundant in hence there are fewer manufacturers of it compared to other essential oils sold commercially. Unlike other oils, there is also fewer research conducted regarding its therapeutic properties. Moreover, there are also still areas for improvement that are calamansi oil production-related.
This post focuses on two concerns observed about calamansi essential oil
Know what’s in your bottle and its chemical content profile.
Some calamansi oil manufacturers are small to medium-scale businesses. Some of them are still in the process of developing their production, packaging, and labeling, that’s why some calamansi oil we can buy from the market still needs some improvement with regard to the provided details on their label. However, this does not mean that their essential oil is not of good quality. It only needs to contain enough details to ensure that buyers can understand their calamansi essential oil better and be able to properly use it and enjoy its therapeutic effects.
Some of the calamansi essential oils do not include instructions, ingredients, and cautions on their label. The scientific term of the essential oil used is also not indicated though this is important when buying oils to make sure you are getting the right essential oil for you. One kind of plant can have a different variety, and though they are having the same kind does not mean they have the same therapeutic effects. Hence it is important to carefully find the right essential oil for you.
In addition, the plant part used to make the calamansi essential oil is sometimes not indicated on the label. This detail is important to determine the chemical content of the essential oil to identify the main constituents and therapeutic properties of the oil.
Several calamansi oil producers state that the plant part they use is the rind, however, other calamansi oils are made of the leaves or the flower. By looking at two types of research, the components of calamansi oil according to the plant part used as well as their antibacterial activity were described in the succeeding paragraphs.
a. Calamansi peel essential oil
The main components of fruit peel essential oil are D-limonene, (R)-(+)-citronellal, 3-isopropenyl-5,5-dimethyl-cyclopentene, γ-terpinene, citronellol, and α-terpineol (Husni et al., 2021). Using the diffusion method, it was revealed that the calamansi peel oil has a moderate to strong inhibitory power on bacteria such as MRSA, S. aureus, S. mutans, P. aeruginosa, and E. coli. (Husni et al., 2021)
b. Calamansi leaf oil
In the research conducted by Nguyen et al. (2018), they reported that the major component of calamansi leaf oil is lemon and also has sesquiterpene. Whereas citronellal, citronellol, 3-carene, and β-phellandrene were listed as the constituent of calamansi leaf oil in the paper of Husni et al. (2021)
About the antibacterial activity test of calamansi oil, it was found by using diffusion and dilution methods that calamansi leaves oil was more potent than fruit peel oil. Bacterias that it can strongly inhibit are Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus mutants. This is consistent with the findings in the paper of Nguyen et al, 2018
that calamari leaf oil can inhibit six microbial strains. Furthermore, it was reported in the same study that the calamansi leaf essential oil antioxidant activity is higher than Vitamin C.
c. Calamansi flower essential oil
Limonene is the major component of calamansi flower oil (Nguyen, 2018). Just like the calamansi leaf essential oil, the flower oil also has antioxidant activity higher than vitamin C and can inhibit one fungus strain, A. niger. (Nguyen, 2018)
Meeting the need for case study reports and evidence-based research
Inspiration for this post: When I realized that I will be writing about calamansi essential oil, I felt a little scared, because it was my first time writing about calamansi oil. It’s not that it’s my first time to write about essential oils but although calamansi is a subject I am so familiar with, it is more special to me because it is ‘native’ to my country. I also had trauma in writing about some subjects that’s why I did not write for a long time. It’s not that I don’t want to write, but sometimes I am reminded of the fear to write again. Although I was spotted to be writing about my favorite subject, writing formally about subjects I’m also love like calamansi oil can still be intimidating for me. On top of this, there is also a “scarcity” of research on calamansi oil. Finding reliable research and case studies is a challenge which makes it hard for me to find enough reliable details that can be included to write a blog post. Despite the limitations, I want to write about calamansi oil because it is a subject I’m passionate about. Knowing the promising therapeutic effects of calamari oil made me firmly want to do my duty to research and write about it because I know it is worth writing about.
As an oil blogger, I am hoping that future researchers will remember to fulfill their sworn statements in their papers that they will deliver accurate, unbiased, and good research results. Their research is needed for me to provide an evidence-based essential oil article hub.
Calamansi essential oil is an exciting subject that needs to to be further researched so we can understand better its therapeutic properties and its effectiveness. I am hoping that future researchers will delve deeper into this subject and deliver the right and accurate results. I am also looking forward to writing about it.
I have read different papers done by different researchers, but I discarded them all and chose the two research presented above. Veracity, reliability, timeliness, honesty, and relevance are important ingredients for me to pick a research paper. Loyalty to providing evidence-based blog posts is my priority in Oil Therapy.
Ought to do an oath to do 💋❤
References:
- T. Nguyen-Thao Nguyen, T. Ngoc-Ni Huynh, Vinh-Thien Tran, Chi-Hien Dang, T. Kim-Dung Hoang & Thanh-Danh Nguyen (2018) Physicochemical characterization and bioactivity evaluation of essential oils from Citrus macrocarpa Bunge leaf and flower, Journal of Essential Oil Research, 30:4, 285-292, DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2018.1435428
- Husni E., Yeni, F., Dachriyanus. Chemical Contents Profile of Essential Oil from Calamansi (Citrus macrocarpa Bunge) Peels and Leaves and Its Antibacterial Activities. Advances in Health Sciences Research, volume 40. 2021. Atlantis Press International B.V
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