The following is a guest post by my good friend Marnie Clark. Please be sure to visit her fabulous and informative website: http://marnieclark.com/
Plants have been used for centuries for their wonderful healing properties. As long ago as 3,000 BC, the Chinese and Egyptians used plants extensively for healing. Indigenous cultures in Africa, Australia and the Americas all used herbs in their healing rituals.
Later researchers were surprised to discover that people in different parts of the world tended to use the same or similar plants for the same purposes.
With the advent of chemical analysis in the early 19th century, chemists began to extract and modify the active ingredients in plants, making their own version of plant compounds. You might be surprised to know that almost one quarter of pharmaceutical drugs are derived from plants. Over time, the use of herbal medicines declined in favor of drugs.
While the pharmaceutical companies are creating patentable drugs that imitate the healing properties of natural essential oils derived from plants, the problem with these drugs is that they work quite differently in the body and often have many side effects. Essential oils are the best thing nature could offer us in the way of medicine and their side effects are often more energy,improved digestion, better sleep, less disease, and so much more.
Herbs vs Essential Oils
These days, people are quite familiar with herbal medicine, it is one of the fastest growing industries. Herbs vary quite significantly from essential oils, however.
Herbs that are grown for the purpose of creating supplements are generally not grown organically. Regardless of that fact, the herbs are then harvested and taken into warehouses where they are dried with big blowers, chopped, capped, bottled, packaged and sent to be marketed. It may be weeks, months, or even years later that they are purchased and taken as a supplement. They may still assist us, but it usually takes awhile.
The main problem is that once a fresh plant is dried, not much of the essential oil is retained, and it’s the essential oil that gets us well! Herbs can lose up to 90% of their healing nutrients and oxygen carrying capacity in the drying process.
Essential oils are the life blood of a plant and are 50-70 times more therapeutically potent than dried herbs. They have many and varied healing properties, one of which is to protect the host plant’s immune system. The great thing is that essential oils can do the same thing for our immune system.
Essential oils are, quite simply, the subtle, volatile liquids distilled from plants, flowers, shrubs, trees, seeds and bushes. Distillation of these oils was nearly forgotten until a handful of passionate 20th century pioneers brought it back to life. It is a very precise art and there are still only a handful of people in the world who know exactly how to extract all of the life-giving phytochemicals from each plant – and it’s different for each plant!
Properly distilled essential oils retain all of their healing phytochemicals (plant chemicals). They are not simple substances, each oil is a complex structure containing anywhere between 80-300 different plant chemicals.
When you apply essential oils to your skin (the biggest organ of absorption), the oils will penetrate every single cell in your body within 20 minutes, thus bypassing the digestive tract,which, if faulty, can severely slow down or impair the healing qualities or whatever nutrient you are ingesting. Not so with essential oils!
Why Do Essential Oils Work So Well In The Body?
Therapeutic grade essential oils that are carefully grown without chemicals and distilled so as to retain all of their life-giving and potent phytochemicals retain a wonderful amount of energy and life force. This is what our bodies need and crave.
Essential oils have a great synergy with the human body. They were meant to be our medicine.One of their actions is to carry molecules of oxygen and when you realize that cancer likes ananaerobic (meaning without oxygen) environment, you begin to understand the role that essential oils can play in healing.
Research Indicates Essential Oils Are Powerful Healers
Essential oils are now being used as medicine by some of the world’s most prominent doctors.Clinical research (see below for just some of the studies) indicates that essential oils have immune stimulating properties, they are also anti-viral, anti-tumoral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial,anti-inflammatory – all the important “anti’s”!
Essential oils have been pivotal in helping many people back to health – pain free, disease free,and much more. Recent research has also shown that many of the so called “super bugs” like MRSA which has doctors and hospitals so concerned can not survive in the presence of certain essential oils. Interestingly, the pathogens do not mutate in resistance to essential oils. The author has had a personal experience with MRSA and can attest to the fact that essential oils are very potent little healers.
Citrus oils like lemon, grapefruit and orange are high in a phytochemical known as d-limonene, a well researched plant chemical. For instance, in 1996, Charing Cross Hospital in London achieved close to a 15% remission rate in patients with advanced colon and breast cancer usingdoses from 1 to 15 grams of d-limonene from orange oil as their only form of treatment. Some patients who only had weeks or months to live were given the limonene treatment and it extended their lives by up to 18 months. (Vigushin DM et al., Phase 1 and pharmacokinetic study of D-limonene in patients with advanced cancer. Cancer Research Campaign Phase I/II CliniclaTrials Committee. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 1998;42(2):111-7.)
Here are a few more studies that have been done on d-limonene:
Human breast tissue disposition and bioactivity of limonene in women with early-stage breast cancer : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23554130
Induction of apoptosis by D-limonene is mediated by inactivation of Akt in LS174T human coloncancer cells : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23117412
D-limonene rich volatile oil from blood oranges inhibits angiogenesis, metastasis and cell deathin human colon cancer cells : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935404
Frankincense is another potent anti-tumoral essential oil:
Frankincense essential oil prepared from hydrodistillation of Boswellia sacra gum resins induces human pancreatic cancer cell death in cultures and in a xenograft murine model: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23237355
Boswellia sacra essential oil induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis and suppresses tumor aggressiveness in cultured human breast cancer cells: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22171782
Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19296830; another great article is:
http://www.universityherald.com/articles/6350/20131220/frankincense-christmas-gift-ovarian-cancer-cells-leicester-university-gum.htm
Geranium also has anti-tumoral properties:
Effects of a Chinese medical herbs complex on cellular immunity and toxicity-related conditions of breast cancer patients : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21864416
Lavender has been studied for its anti-tumor effects:
Comparative Studies of Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Properties of Different Extracts and theEssential Oil of Lavandula angustifolia on Malignant and Normal Cells :http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24571090
Thyme has anti-cancer properties:
Activities of ten essential oils towards Propionibacterium acnes and PC-3, A-549 and MCF-7 cancer cells : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20657472
Clove exhibits anti-estrogen and anti-tumoral properties:
Structure-based design of eugenol analogs as potential estrogen receptor antagonists: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23144548
Comparative anticancer potential of clove (Syzygium aromaticum)–an Indian spice–againstcancer cell lines of various anatomical origin : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22292639
Idaho Balsam Fir has anti-cancer activity:
Abibalsamins A and B, two new tetraterpenoids from Abies balsamea oleoresin (discussingIdaho balsam fir) : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22394397
One Last Word – Make Sure Your Essential Oils Come From A Trusted Source
Without sounding like an infomercial, not all essential oils are created equally. There are many companies out there who are just concerned with the bottom line – creating a reasonable smelling oil for as little dosh as possible. If you intend to use essential oils on your wellness journey, you must do your homework. Find out who the world leader is in therapeutic grade essential oils.
Case in point : It takes pretty close to 5,000 pounds of rose petals to create one pound of rose oil,and yes, it is one of the most expensive essential oils to produce. Consider this – if those rose petals were laden with chemicals and pesticides, or distilled with toxic chemicals to bring out more of the oil, that oil would be quite toxic and you would not want it in your body.
Make sure your essential oils are organically grown and properly distilled, from someone who controls the whole process of production from the seed to the bottle, so as to create the most health-giving essential oils available.
I am not proposing that essential oils be used for the treatment of any disease. The purpose of this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional. You should not use the information in this article for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem and please be sure to consult your healthcare professional when making decisions about your health.
Marnie Clark is a natural therapist (17 years), a breast cancer survivor (10 years) and breast cancer coach (2 years) based in Perth, Western Australia. If you have any questions about essential oils, feel free to contact her at info@marnieclark.com.
Elyn
~~If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any~~
Elyn Jacobs is a breast cancer survivor, professional cancer strategist, speaker, and the Executive Director for the Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation. Elyn empowers women to choose the path for treatment that best fits their own individual needs. She is passionate about helping others move forward into a life of health and well-being. Elyn has been featured on CNN Money, Breast Cancer Answers, Courage and Grace, and Talk About Health, and has written for the Pink Paper, Breast Cancer Wellness, Integrative Oncology Essentials, Surviving Beautifully, Body Local and more, and writes the Options for Life column for the Natural Healing-Natural Wellness Newsletter. Elyn hosts the Survive and Live Well Radio Show on the Cancer Support Network. She lives in New York with her husband and two young boys. https://elynjacobs.wordpress.com/about/
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