Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Really Safe Essential Oil Used

Essential oils or essential oils are becoming an epidemic trend for use in various needs. Its use ranging from moisturizer, hair nurse, aromatherapy, cleaning products and others. However, is it really that essential oils are safe?

New research presented at ENDO 2018 or the 100th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Chicago states if essential oils, especially lavender and tea tree variants can disrupt hormones. The study was conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study is an assertion of some research in the past that connects essential oils with hormonal disorders. Such use may lead to abnormal breast growth in young boys or prepubertal gynecomastia.

The suspicion arose when a 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine states, there are three 10-year-old boys identified by a Denver pediatrician having large unexplained breasts. Doctors study the children regularly and are found to use essential oils with tea tree and lavender variants.

In all three cases, when the boy stops using the product, the problem disappears a few months later. When the researchers tested the oil on human cells in the laboratory, they decided that the oil appeared to disrupt hormone behavior in the cell.

The NIEHS researchers tried again to prove the old study by selecting eight compounds found in lavender oil and tea tree to be studied carefully. In the lab, they apply chemical compounds to human cancer cells and observe changes in estrogen and androgen receptor genes and other activities. They found that the compound had a varied effect, but all seemed to have hormonal activity.

"I personally can not recommend people to stop or reduce the use of this oil," said study author and graduate research researcher at NIEHS Tyler Ramsey, quoted by Time, Tuesday (20/3).

There needs to be further research to see the impact that will be given to humans. If essential oils cause disturbances, it is unclear whether these changes will have real health consequences. There is not enough human research to know for sure.

"However, people should consider these findings when deciding to use essential oils, because they contain endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) and there may be risks and health implications when using this oil," Ramsey said.

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