What are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are the aromatic, volatile liquids which are extracted from many parts of plants, i.e. flowers, leaves, bark, seeds, roots and resins. Science is rediscovering the incredible healing power of essential oils and beginning to acknowledge their therapeutic value. They have been found to be antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic.

Essential oils are highly concentrated and a drop or two can produce significant results. An entire plant, when distilled, might produce only a single drop of essential oil. That is why their potency is far greater than dried herbs. Pressing or distillation extracts the subtle, volatile liquids (meaning they evaporate quickly) from plants, shrubs, flowers, trees, roots, bushes, and seeds, that make up essential oils.

They can be derived from many different parts of plants as you can see from a few examples below: Root Ginger, Vetivert Resin Frankincense, Myrrh Wood Cedar, Sandalwood Leaf Eucalyptus, Geranium, Basil, Tea Tree Needle Pine, Fir, Spruce Fruit Lemon, Grapefruit, Bergamot, Orange Flower Lavender, Chamomile, Rose Seed Carrot, Coriander, Dill

Essential oils are very different from vegetable oils (also called fatty oils), such as corn oil, olive oil, peanut oil, etc. Fatty oils are produced by pressing nuts or seeds. They are quite greasy, are not antimicrobial nor help transport oxygen, and will go rancid over time. Essential oils, contrary to the use of the word "oil" are not oily at all. Most essential oils are clear, but some oils such as patchouli, german chamomile and lemongrass are amber, blue or yellow in color. Essential oils will not clog the pores like vegetable oils can.

The oils are contained in glands, sacs and veins of different plant parts. They are the essence of that particular plant form and are responsible for giving the plants its unique scent. When you sniff rose petals, you experience the essential oils being released into the air.

Essential oils are volatile (volatile comes from the Latin root “volare”, which means “to fly”) and they disappear very quickly because they change from a liquid to a gas very readily at room temperature.

Scientists agree that essential oils may perform more than one function in living plants. In some cases they seem to be a part of the plant's immune system. In other cases they may simply be end-products of metabolism. Essential oils contain hundreds of organic constituents, including hormones, vitamins and other natural elements that work on many levels.

Essential oils are highly complex substances. They are mosaics of hundreds - even thousands - of different natural chemicals. The average essential oil may contain anywhere from 80 to 400 known chemical constituents. Many oils contain even more, occurring in minute quantities - but all contributing to the oil's therapeutic effects. It requires years of study to understand these constituents, their activity and functions.

Different varieties of the same oil can have widely different therapeutic actions, depending on their chemistry. For example, basil high in linalool or fenchol is primarily used for its antiseptic properties. However, basil high in methyl chavicol is more anti-inflammatory than antiseptic. A third type, basil high in eugenol, has both anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effects.

In addition, essential oils can be processed in different ways, which dramatically effects their chemistry and medicinal action. Oils that have been redistilled two or three times are obviously not as potent as oils that have been distilled only once. Also, oils that are subjected to high heat and pressure in processing have an inferior profile of chemical constituents, since excessive heat and temperature fractures and breaks down many of the delicate aromatic compounds within the oil -- compounds that are responsible for much of the therapeutic action of the oil.

Of even greater importance is the fact that some oils are thinned or cut (i.e. adulterated) with synthetic chemicals.