Essential Oils vs Pharmaceutical Medicine

June 1, 2008 by Evelyn Vincent

Alternative treatments have been around since the dawn of humankind and have been virtually all the medicine we have ever used. When we consider this fact it's difficult to imagine why something that has sustained us for that long became unpopular, enter the reasons... much of what we have used for centuries is plant-based and not patent-able. When we consider the industry with the largest profit margins on earth is in pharmaceuticals it is much easier to understand why 'natural' medicine was thrust into the back seat for so many years.

Essential oils, one of humankind's first medicine's, is beginning to be recognized in the US as being a valid modality for treating illness. Resistance is still strong in the science of Aromatherapy particularly in the institutional-medicine/pharmaceutical industries. The pharmaceutical industries, who are dedicated to producing, patenting, marketing, and selling new chemical-based compounds that are suppose to treat all of our illnesses it's no wonder that there is strong resistance - they spend billions of dollars per year convincing us that 'their' medicine is the only viable option and everything else is nothing more than a placebo. Thankfully, there are alternative physicians who believe natural treatments and modifications in ones lifestyle are the only way to get to the root of the illness and cure the illness. 

Just how effective are essential oils and the science of aromatherapy in facilitating the human body? And, how can we regain the knowledge our ancestors had in using essential oils to treat stress and disease? 

Just as 'Big Pharma' uses chemical compounds for their creations, The Aromatherapist relies on botanical compounds, it just happens that essential oil compounds happen to smell really nice - hence the name 'aroma' therapy.

Some pharmaceuticals are derived from what's called the 'active ingredient' from a plant. While some may find that a plus we need to remember that the isolated compound is no longer a part of the 'whole.' Botanical compounds, when they are isolated, no longer are the same as when they are kept intact. The pharmaceutical industry does 'not' include a plant compound because they want a medicine that's closer to nature but because there are plant compounds that are effective and when the industry isolates a compound they can combine it with chemicals, and only then, patent it. Of course, once they've done this they then say they have created a medicine that works better than the plant. 

As James A. Duke points out, pharmaceutical drugs taken as prescribed "kill more than 140,000 patients" annually in the US, in comparison with herbs' fewer than 100 attributable deaths, and half of all approved pharmaceuticals are withdrawn from the market in their first decade, "often because of unexpected side effects." Despite this, many allopaths, the mass media, and the "megapharmaceutical" industry, remain decidedly "herbiphobic". He uses lemon balm (Melissa offinalis) as just one example of the relative safety of herbs, whose constituents have been known to humans for thousands of years, as opposed to novel synthetic chemicals. 

The human body evolved with everything that is natural on earth. This is not to say everything natural on earth is good for us, some plants are deadly to humans while others are nourishing and healing. Plants have served humankind during our entire existence. Humans and plants evolved together, certain plants have always served as food and medicine. When we ingest or apply an essential oil our body is recognizing compounds that have been with us since day one. Thus, our bodies know how to utilize those compounds and eliminate them once they have done their thing for us. This is also why plant medicines and essential oils do not have side-effects.

When a compound is isolated from an essential oil that portion it is no longer an essential oil and is not kept in check by the other compounds that would otherwise 'prevent' it from potentially causing a side-effect. If they made a medicine with only the plants so-called active ingredient... there is absolutely no way you could convince me to ingest it as medicine - NONE! In my mind, that would be the kiss of death and one of the most stupid things we could do. This is precisely 'why' it is vital that when using an essential oil, topically or internally, it MUST be of 'therapeutic grade' quality. 

What sets therapeutic grade essential oils apart from all the rest is that great care was taken from the ground up. Meaning from the seed, to soil, to the time of day the plant is harvested, to the length of time it takes to get the plant material into the distiller, to the heat, amount of pressure, and length of time the plant material is distilled(each plant has an optimal length of time / optimal amount of pressure / optimal amount of heat - knowledge of all of this and more is not only an art-form but if it is not done correctly it can mean the difference between an essential oil that has little if any efficacy to one that brims with the plants healing life force. 

For example, the use of therapeutic grade Peppermint essential oil in treating irritable bowel syndrome, where a study of 50 children comparing the effects of a common chemical preparation and peppermint oil capsules on alleviating their symptoms showed that therapeutic grade peppermint essential oil to be drastically more effective, with fewer side effects, than the pharmaceutical drug. The nature of the essential oil is that it will eliminate bacteria causing disease symptoms, while leaving much-needed natural intestinal flora unharmed. This is the beauty of therapeutic grade essential oils, aromatherapy, and properly utilized natural medicines in general. CAUTION: never use an essential oil in this manner that is not therapeutic grade and never use more than one or two drops in a capsule without also adding some olive oil to the capsule. The only essential oil I use, trust and recommend is Young Living Essential Oils.

When I walk into a store, any store health food store included, I read the label, shake my head, smell their sample, gag from the scent and wish there were some way I could reach more people and inform them that they are wasting their money on a product that has not been properly produced. I am hoping to reach and educate more people by having this website and blog - this is information people need to know about. 

There are thousands of ways the industry can ruin an essential oil, there's only one way to get it right. That takes years of dedicated studying, knowledge, practice, patience and money. Which amongst the big companies today are going to make that kind of investment? Which of them do you really think are going to care if the healing molecules are fractured in the aromatherapy product you buy? Why should we buy a poorly produced product from a company who doesn't give a hoot about these things and only cares about profit margin?

After 20 years of using essential oils, this is why I can confidently say...

"if you want the best essential oils, you need to get them from Young Living Essential Oils. "