Topical application and inhalation are the usual methods of using essential oils. Some however are careful about ingesting oils. For safety reasons, many aromatherapy schools and literatures recommend to refrain from internalizing essential oil as their adverse effects could be life-threatening. It can also be dangerous to pregnant women as some oils can be abortifacient. In addition, there are chemical compounds in oils are are not suited or can be tolerated by our body.
Personally, I’m being careful about ingesting essential oils. However, upon watching an essential oil documentary and have seen that one of the resource speakers demonstrated that it is completely safe to take essential oils by putting three or four drops of essential oils straight into his mouth, I thought there are people who are in to ingesting oils. Hence this post was written to provide a safety guideline for those people who are taking or curious to ingest oils, and do it with caution. Most of the content in this post is taken from the documentary Ancient Secrets of Essential Oils.
Essential Oils Various Schools of Thinking
A lot of aromatherapy practitioners are on the careful side of using oils. The root for the contradiction on ingesting oils is the differing schools of thought with regard to the practice of using oils. Hence in this section of this post, let’s explore and discover the various school of thinking about aromatherapy.
1. German school
In a nutshell, this school of thinking believes that the most ideal way to consume oil is through inhalation method.
2. British School
This is more on the safe side. It considers that oils are intrinsically dangerous. While it’s hard to generalize, allegedly, individuals who belong in this category, mostly don’t recognize any healing properties of oils. (1) They think that undiluted oil should not be topically applied, hence diluting the essential oils not more than 2 to 5% and combining it with a massage is often recommended. They also believe that its dangerous to take oils internally. (1) The source of these fears and caution is concluded to be partly because of their usage of inferior grade oils (1) since it’s what’s mostly abundantly sold in their region. Due to their awareness of their oil’s content, they practice more caution (1). The oils that are probably mostly being sold in their area are only partly essential oil. (1) Thus, they may have toxic content that could be dangerous, thus making them unsafe for internal use. (1)
Meanwhile, the dangerous contents that can be found in inferior-grade oils are not present in independently tested, high-grade therapeutic oils. That’s why other cultures that abundantly produce high-quality good oils do not have the same worry as the other cultures who practice too much caution.
3. French school of thought
The perception in this school of thought is that as long as the essential oils are pure, organic, and are properly distilled, then they are safe to use. For this reason, the people in this culture do not fear taking essential oils orally, (1) or applying them directly on the skin (1) even without diluting them.
Daily consumption of essential oil
You might be unaware that some of the food you eat, beverages you drink, supplements you take and candies you munch are flavored and contain a certain amount of essential oil. (1) Some countries like France gives you the liberty to choose the kind of medication to take. (1) If you go to a drugstore, you’ll be asked whether you prefer to have an allopathic pharmaceutical-made medicine, or a natural medicament, and when you say natural, you will be handed with essential oil capsules. (1)
Why taking essential oils could be better than pills
1. Essential oils can penetrate the cell wall
Others claim that if you only stay using inhalation method or aromatherapy to enjoy your oils, then you will miss out the other benefits that oils can provide you. (1) Ingesting essential oils is another method to ensure that you can get the healthy compounds in it. One good reason for this is because essential oils that are known to be antibiotics are effective in killing bacteria and viruses in the body. However, typically, people are being prescribed with synthetically made antibiotics when we get sick. The concern with antibiotics is that bacteria may have already developed resistance capabilities on the pill. Moreover, most antibiotics cannot penetrate the cell wall. (2) Ergo, if we are considering this perspective, it appears that the antimicrobial, anti-fungal, and antiviral essential oils are more effective to be used because they are carbon-based, hence they can easily penetrate the cell wall. Thus making the essential oils therapeutic and enabling us to get well. (2)
2. Essential oils provide a balanced and reasonable amount of compounds that your body needs
The usual protocol before a physician would give a diagnosis is to check the symptoms that you are having. To ensure that they can provide you the accurate diagnosis, they will advice you to get tested to see any imbalances in your body. This will be the diagnosis basis as they are now able to determine the illness. Upon identifying the imbalances in your body that cause your illness, you will be prescribed with a drug that contains a certain chemical that could bring balance to your body and enable your body’s normal functioning again. These synthetically made drugs are concentrated as they only contain a specific kind of chemical, thus you may get a mega-dose by taking it. (1) The high concentration and large amount consumption of these pills could result to adverse effects.(1) On the other hand, essential oils provide you with a reasonable amount of chemical compounds that your body needs because it’s constituents are varied and more balanced thus making it safer.
Ways to ingest essential oils
- Add one or two drops of essential oil to a glass of drinking water (1, 2)
- Use them in food recipes. (2)
- Encapsulate the oils with vegetable capsules or gelatin capsules.(1,2) You can do this by filling the empty capsule makers with oils, then cap it back together. Then take the oil capsule and drink it with water. Be mindful though that while making the capsule, refrain from using water because the capsule’s coating can be dissolved in water.
- Drop the oil directly under your tongue or on your tongue and chase with water. (1, 2). Upon ingesting it, the oil will soak right through the lining of your mouth or tongue and will go straight to the bloodstream (1)
Guidelines when ingesting essential oils
- Familiarize yourself with essential oils by conducting your own research. There are oils that are safe to be taken, however other oils might be unsafe to be ingested or can be dangerous when it’s overdosed. To be safe, know the essential oils that are safe to be consumed and the right dosage when ingesting them. Moreover be aware of the side effects or the contraindication if you are taking a medicine before you ingest any essential oil.
- Opt for the pure high-grade therapeutic essential oils. Look for the ones that are independently tested
- Understand what being approved means. Look for essential oils that are FDA approved. Be mindful though that these approved essential oils are targeted for food and beverage use. (1) They are not encouraged to be used as a treatment, curing or preventive measure for illnesses and diseases. Moreover, other claims that the approved oils are normally not naturally pure essential oils, but synthetics. (1) This is because the food and beverage companies who are using essential oils in their products are trying to save money. (1) It’s also worth noting that when considering the FDA point of view, essential oils fall into two categories. (1) They are either Cosmetic Act oral or supplement. If its Cosmetic Act oral, the oils are aromatic but cannot be consumed or ingested, meanwhile if it’s categorized as supplement then it can be ingested. (1) If you are taking essential oils that are approved to be ingested, then as advised above, know is how much dose is tolerable for the body to take. They say that a few drops of each oil will be fine. (1) Be mindful that it is always best to use your common sense when ingesting essential oils. (1) To be properly guided, here’s a good reminder from the documentary “Too much of anything, even a good thing can be deadly, so don’t overdo it”
Just take what’s needed ❤
References:
- (1) Ancient Secrets of Essential Oils. 2016. Holy Moly Studios.
- (2) Fritz S. Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Birth Babies.2015. Gently Born Publications
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