THE 4 MAIN QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR IN ESSENTIAL OILS

I hold a certificate in Aromatherapy, and a Diploma for Master Aromatherapy from the American College of Healthcare Sciences (ACHS). I am a Certified Professional Aromatherapist through the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). I also decided to take my education one step further and became a Registered Aromatherapist through the Aromatherapy Registration (ARC) – allowing me to proudly place the initials RA after my name. The ARC is a non-profit organization and to qualify to take the exam you must have a minimum education level of at least 200 hours of a level 2 program from a board approved college, adhere to a strict discipline policy, pass the ARC exam and further, you must have a minimum of 100 continuing education hours within a 5-year period. I am providing the link for the ARC “Find a Registered Aromatherapist,” please feel free to check my credentials. https://aromatherapycouncil.org/find/

Welcome to the “fleur aromatherapy'” blog. This topic is especially important to me. There is so much confusion regarding essential oil quality that I am going to lay this topic out as simply as possible.

Essential oils are currently unregulated in the USA. To be perfectly honest with you I wish they were. This would certainly rid the industry of unscrupulous distributors selling very inferior essential oils to make a quick profit. These profiteers have zero education, integrity, and knowledge of essential oils, and aromatherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not currently regulate essential oils because essential oils are not technically considered a drug. So as of the date of this blog there is no “FDA List” of approved essential oils. You will find this disclaimer on reputable essential oil companies’ websites to include “fleuraromatherapy.com” – THIS STATEMENT HAS NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FDA. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE.

Let us dissect “organic” labelling of essential oils. I am going to try to explain this as concisely as possible. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows four different organic labels:

1. USDA 100% Organic – 100% of the ingredients need to be organic. A USDA 100% Organic Seal and the name of the certifying agent is displayed on the product.
2. USDA Organic – Only 95% of the ingredients need to be organic, the other 5% do not. A USDA Organic Seal and the name of the certifying agent is displayed on the product.
3. Made with Organic Ingredients – Only 70% of the ingredients need to be organic, 30% do not. A USDA Organic Seal is not permitted on these products. The verbiage is allowed to be written.
4. Specific Organic Ingredients – Less than 70% of the ingredients are organic. A USDA Organic Seal is not permitted on these products. The verbiage is allowed to be written.

The only type of organic seal I have ever seen on an essential oil is “Organic” this means that only 95% of the essential oil is organic. I have yet to find an essential oil labelled 100% Organic. Here is a link to a PubMed Abstract article with the conclusion that none of the “organic’ essential oils were free from pesticides although they did have much lower amounts than the conventionally grown essential oils. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29054150/

Is being “Organic” a marketing tool? It can be, but not always – you be the judge! So being “Organic” does not mean an essential oil has NO SYNTHETICS, NO PESTICIDES, NO STRETCHING, NO ADULTERATION – these being THE 4 MAIN QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR IN ESSENTIAL OILS.

Here is a great blog link to the wonderful college that I graduated from (ACHS) regarding essential oil quality. It is worth a read!

https://achs.edu/blog/2014/01/07/essential-oil-quality/

Let us dig deeper….

1. What is a synthetic oil? – Synthetic oils are fragrance oils that are man-made in a lab and have no aromatherapy therapeutic qualities – they are typically cheaper to manufacture and can mimic certain aromas.
2. What is a pesticide? – The official definition of a pesticide is a substance used to destroy or repel insects/pests – harmful to cultivated plants and animals and obviously not good for human consumption.
3. What is stretching in an essential oil? – This means diluting the essential oil to make it go further – it is normally done with a base oil. This is fine if the product is clearly labelled, and it has base oil added. If it is not labelled with this, then the supplier is deceiving the customer.
4. What is adulteration in an essential oil? – Adulteration simply means changing up the chemical compositions by adding synthetics, cheaper essential oils, or stretching the oil by adding a base oil. It could be any or all of these factors. So, adulteration is a hybrid between synthetic and stretching with the potential addition of adding a similar aroma essential oil that has a much cheaper cost factor. Here is an interesting and informative link to a PubMed article regarding “Adulteration of Essential Oils” with the conclusion that adulteration will show up with a Gas Chromatography analysis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8471154/#:~:text=Common%20adulterations%20of%20EO%20consist,is%20another%20type%20of%20adulteration.

So how do we test essential oils? The standard testing is Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). So, what does this mean? Let us take a look….

1. GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY – Is an analytical test whereby the essential oil is vaporized to separate volatile components. This separates the different molecules into percentages of various active constituents.
2. MASS SPECTROMETRY – Is like a fingerprint of the essential oil with analytical chemistry presented in a peak graph form that makes up the various components of each specific essential oil.

Lastly, and by no means least, make sure you check the essential oil label for the Latin Name on the bottle. This is especially important to make sure you are getting the correct essential oil and any reputable supplier will have this information on the essential oil bottle.

All Fleur Aromatherapy Essential Oils are Professional Clinical Aromatherapy Quality and have – THE 4 MAIN QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR IN AN ESSENTIAL OIL. No Synthetics, No Pesticides, No Stretching, No Adulteration. All Fleur Aromatherapy Essential Oil Products are GC/MS tested.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. My objective here is to simplify, educate and stop the confusion when it comes to essential oils and their quality.

LIVE YOUR LIFE!

Fleur. 🙂

References:

American College of Healthcare Sciences, (2014), ACHS Blog: Top 5 Ways to Check Quality of Essential Oils. Portland, OR.

ARC, Looking for an Aromatherapist? https://aromatherapycouncil.org/

Ethical Choice, (2021), Understanding Organic Food Labels. Chang, M.

https://myethicalchoice.com/en/journal/organic/understanding-organic-food-labels/

NIH, PubMed, (2017). Pesticides in essential oils: Occurrence and concentration in organic and conventional orange essential oils from eleven geographic origins. Fillatre Y, Gray Francois-Xavier, Roy C. PMID:295054150 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2017.08.039

NIH, PubMed, (2021), Adulteration of Essential Oils: A Multitask Issue for Quality Control. Three Case Studies: Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck and Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel. Capetti F, Marengo A, Cagliero C, Liberto E, Bicchi C, Rubiolo P, Sgorbini B. PMI:34577081 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26185610