Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is based on the usage of aromatic materials including essential oils and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological and physical well-being.^[1] It is offered as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine, the first meaning alongside standard treatments,^[2] the second instead of conventional, evidence-based treatments.^[3]

Aromatherapists, people who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of supposedly therapeutic essential oils that can be used as topical application, massage, inhalation or water immersion. There is no good medical evidence that aromatherapy can either prevent, treat or cure any disease.^[4] Placebo-controlled trials are difficult to design as the point of aromatherapy is the smell of the products. There is disputed evidence that it may be effective in combating postoperative nausea and vomiting.^[5][6]

History

The use of essential oils for therapeutic, spiritual, hygienic and ritualistic purposes goes back to ancient civilizations including the Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans who used them in cosmetics, perfumes and drugs.^[7] Oils were used for aesthetic pleasure and in the beauty industry. They were a luxury item and a means of payment. It was believed the essential oils increased the shelf life of wine and improved the taste of food.

Oils are described by Dioscorides, along with beliefs of the time regarding their healing properties, in his De Materia Medica, written in the first century.^[8] Distilled cedarwood oil was used by the ancient Egyptians, and the process of distilling essential oils like rose essence was refined by the 11th century Persian scholar Ibn Sina. Hildegard of Bingen used distilled lavender oil for medicinal treatments in the 12th century, and by the 15th century, oils were commonly distilled from various plant sources.^[9]

In the era of modern medicine, the naming of this treatment first appeared in print in 1937 in a French book on the subject: Aromathérapie: Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Végétales by René-Maurice Gattefossé [fr], a chemist. An English version was published in 1993.^[10] In 1910, Gattefossé burned a hand very badly and later claimed he treated it effectively with lavender oil.^[11]

A French surgeon, Jean Valnet [fr], pioneered the medicinal uses of essential oils, which he used as antiseptics in the treatment of wounded soldiers during World War II.^[12]

Choice and purchase

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Aromatherapy products, and essential oils, in particular, may be regulated differently depending on their intended use.^[13] A product that is marketed with a therapeutic use in the US is regulated by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA); a product with a cosmetic use is not (unless information shows that "it is unsafe when consumers use it according to directions on the label, or in the customary or expected way, or if it is not labeled properly".)^[14] The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates any aromatherapy advertising claims.^[14]

There are no standards for determining the quality of essential oils in the United States; while the term "therapeutic grade" is in use, it does not have a regulatory meaning.^[15][16]

Analysis using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry has been used to identify bioactive compounds in essential oils.^[17] These techniques are able to measure the levels of components to a few parts per billion.^[18] This does not make it possible to determine whether each component is natural or whether a poor oil has been "improved" by the addition of synthetic aromachemicals but the latter is often signalled by the minor impurities present. For example, linalool made in plants will be accompanied by a small amount of hydro-linalool whilst synthetic linalool has traces of dihydro-linalool.^‍

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