Liver/essential oils

[Guest guest]

Hi Jonas

Firstly I don't use oregano (origanum vulgare) or any of its family members

including thymus capitatus (Spanish origanum) because they're listed as

hazardous

essential oils. This is because they contain large amounts of thymol and

carvacrol

(I can give you the figures for the various chemotypes if you're interested).

Tisserand and Balacs list thymol and carvacrol as especially hazardous,

particularly

in dermal application where they can cause sensitisation. Patricia Davis

warns

that these oils are toxic and " capable of damaging the liver to the extent where

very serious illness or even death would follow " . The reason why they shouldn't

be

used, then, is because of their chemical make-up. They would be good

anti-virals,

you're right, but there are other oils, like thyme, containing phenols which act

as

good anti-virals but are less damaging than those in oregano. Your use of lemon

is

a good example, not that it contains any phenols.

 

Tisserand and Balacs, in 'Essential Oil Safety', quote clove bud, stem and leaf

to

be avoided in liver disease, amongst other oils: anise, basil, W. Indian bay,

betel

leaf, cinnamon leaf, fennel, Indian dill, ocimum gratissimum (what's this - a

kind

of basil?), parsley leaf and seed, pimento berry, star anise and Tejpat leaf. I

don't see why lavender or tea tree wouldn't be good for the liver.

 

< So it seems reasonable that some EOs are beneficial

to the liver function (these are called " hepatic " ). As I

understand it, rosemary and lemon are among the best

hepatics. >

I don't have carrot and celery seeds on my list (not that it's exhaustive), but

do

see peppermint, geranium, thyme and cypress. To my mind though, the camomiles

are

the best hepatics, but Patricia Davis lists peppermint, rosemary and thyme as

her

favourites.

 

< But how do you know when to use an

antiviral against HCV and when to withhold it because of

danger to the liver?>

If someone has hepatitis (any form), then their liver is seriously compromised.

Therefore you need to use essential oils that will strengthen the liver, like

camomile, rosemary etc. from the above list, and I would use half the usual dose

to

allow for the liver damage, or even less if they're on lots of medication too.

Hitting the poor ol' sick liver with heavy phenols like those in oregano won't

do

much good and in fact could cause a great deal of harm. Better to keep the

anti-virals for flu and viruses that don't attack the liver specifically.

 

Another concept concerning liver damage that is very important, is over-use of

essential oils. I don't mean just using too much at one time, but also using

the

oils in lots of different ways, every day. I think I wrote once before about

someone with a cold, for instance, who sniffs eucalyptus all day, sleeps with

some

on the pillow, vapourises it, does a steam inhalation, takes a few drops

internally,

has a massage, uses a gel, and then has a bath, all with essential oils (I

don't

mean just eucalyptus) every day over a period of a week or so. This would be

overkill, and can do serious damage to your liver. This damage would be worse,

of

course, if you used oils that could harm the liver.

 

Interesting about cypress. I have a couple of books that list it as hepatic,

but

then don't mention anything about the liver in the description of the oil. As

cypress is useful is cases of excess fluids, I think what is meant is that it's

good

for biliousness or liverishness, hmm, I think so. Quite cleansing, isn't it.

But I

would agree with you that it doesn't appear on closer inspection to be hepatic.

Anyone help here?

 

Phew, sorry this is long!

Helen in Cape Town

[Guest guest]

Dear Helen,

 

Thank you, that was very helpful information. I will get

rid of my oregano oil and lay off on the basil oil. I

mostly do rosemary, but from time to time I quit it so as

not to overdo it.

 

Too bad, I love basil. I wonder what makes ti bad for the

liver. Oddly, last night I looked into Nikki Goldstein's

book Essential Energy, and she listed basil EO as good for

the liver! This makes you want to know exactly what these

assertions are based upon.

 

Is fennel oil on Tisserand's bad-for-the-liver list because

it's so strong? Because in herbal medicine, fennel in

herbal tea is used to help the liver. Likewise with

parsely: when on a juice diet, I juice a lot of parsely

with the carrot juice and garlic juice. If you use garlic,

a lot of parsely is necessary to counter the tremendous

garlic breath!

 

I noticed in Aromatherapy for Dummies a brief mention of

pennyroyal and French tarragon oil as bad for the liver.

 

 

 

=====

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In the first springtime

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi All......

 

Delurking for just a bit here....

 

On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, Jonas Erelis wrote:

 

> Thank you, that was very helpful information. I will get

> rid of my oregano oil and lay off on the basil oil. I

> mostly do rosemary, but from time to time I quit it so as

> not to overdo it.

>

> Too bad, I love basil. I wonder what makes ti bad for the

> liver.<SNIP>

 

Don't throw the oregano away.....if nothing else, mix it with some olive

oil and use it for cooking.....or....add it to a jar of the grocery spice

to boost it's intensity.....The primary rap against oregano (be it Thymus

capitatis, Oreganum vulgaris or...) is it's skin irritant potential...

And yes...regular use of the EO could raise cain with one's liver...

Oregano oils are typically high in carvacrol and thymol...and the liver is

going to have to work hard in dealing with these components....

 

In the case of basil.....well...there's basil and then there's basil.....

I think the villain in basil would be the methyl chavicol......

Now...Exotic basil(Ocimum basilicum) the methyl chavicol content is way

higher than in French basil (also Ocimum basilicum).....

Now both *do* have methyl chavicol, so you do have to pay attention to how

much, etc., but the French basil is the preferred....

 

One of the reasons ya have to know a bit about chemistry when dealing with

EO's is that certain components....notably phenols and ketones....do make

the liver work overtime in performing it's function....and can possibly

damage it....

 

> Is fennel oil on Tisserand's bad-for-the-liver list because

> it's so strong? Because in herbal medicine, fennel in

> herbal tea is used to help the liver. Likewise with

> parsely: when on a juice diet, I juice a lot of parsely

> with the carrot juice and garlic juice. If you use garlic,

> a lot of parsely is necessary to counter the tremendous

> garlic breath!

 

This is an important point to note: herbal usage of a botanical can often

be *very* different from its EO......You have to remember that not only is

the EO *concentrated* with respect to the original botanical because of

the distillation process, but that the EO is made up of the

non-water-soluble components of the botanical.....in the case of a

tea....well, that's an infusion of the water-soluble parts.....

 

The EO may act like the herbal....but then again, it may be very

different...You have to take it on a case-by-case basis....

 

>

> I noticed in Aromatherapy for Dummies a brief mention of

> pennyroyal and French tarragon oil as bad for the liver.

>

 

Could be.....ketones and phenols again......

 

I guess my point here would be is that you have to study the EO's and

know *which* EO you're dealing with and what it's potentials and hazards

are...and whatever you do, do not make the mistake of assuming the EO will

do the same thing as its herbal counterpart.....

 

The nice part of that is that it can be a life-long fascination...<G>...!

 

--

Gary Bourbonais

L'Hermite Aromatique