“Can you ingest small amounts of essential oils?”
I am a 35 year old female. I want to know if you can ingest small amounts of essential oils?
19 Answers
This is not a question for an Acupuncturist to answer. I suggest you find someone who is an expert in essential oils to ask this question.
Not advised. Essential oils are very harsh and can kill beneficial bacteria in the body system. I do not advise ingesting them at all.
Lejla Fazlicic
Acupuncturist
I am not an expert in essential oils. I don’t know anything about them.
I don't. I have read that some people think it's safe for certain ones. But you need to talk to an expert to find out what they are.
Yes, you can ingest small amounts of many essential oils safely, but not all essential oils are appropriate for that. DoTerra has a good blog post to answer some of those questions: https://www.doterra.com/US/en/blog/healthy-living-reasons-to-use-oils-internally
First, I would like to mention I am a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which involves herbs, but not necessarily essential oils. I have learned treatments with essential oils for TCM, but I do not claim to be an expert in this field and to my understanding France is one of the few places that accept this as a professional therapy.
It is very dependent on the essential oil. Some oils are fine to take a few drops like peppermint and orange oils in cooking. Others are chemically manufactured usually like winter green and should definitely not be ingested at all. There isn’t too much research into ingesting oils and it’s a risk if you’re unsure which are edible, so I would avoid that and keep the use of essential oils more as a topical or as aromatherapy, scent/smelling. The possibility of poisoning is too high. Even topically, it is suggested to use a carrier oil like caster oil. Taking it internally is too much risk. Please check with your primary and/or consult with a professional aromatherapist/herbalist.
Live Happy,
Michael
It is very dependent on the essential oil. Some oils are fine to take a few drops like peppermint and orange oils in cooking. Others are chemically manufactured usually like winter green and should definitely not be ingested at all. There isn’t too much research into ingesting oils and it’s a risk if you’re unsure which are edible, so I would avoid that and keep the use of essential oils more as a topical or as aromatherapy, scent/smelling. The possibility of poisoning is too high. Even topically, it is suggested to use a carrier oil like caster oil. Taking it internally is too much risk. Please check with your primary and/or consult with a professional aromatherapist/herbalist.
Live Happy,
Michael
It is a good question. It depends what kind of essential oil. Some of them we can ingest, some of them we could not ingest if they poison our bodies.
Mr. Anthony James Lorenzo
Acupuncturist
I do not recommend it, especially if it's not diluted, 100% organic, and 100% steam distilled. But I am aware that some multi-level marketing scheme essential oil companies promote this. Essential oils are highly concentrated forms of aspects of herbs and are not traditionally ingested, but applied in diluted form to the skin. However, everything has an exception.... I have recommended to a cancer patient to internally take one drop a day (diluted, again) of frankincense essential oil, but there's usually an exception to every rule.
Some brands of essential oils carry specific ones that can be ingested, like peppermint for stomach problems. You'd need to check with the company from which you are purchasing your oils. But for most part, essential oils are not ingested.
To my knowledge, essential oils are limited to external use only with the exception of steaming. Essential oils may seem harmless, but they are indeed very potent which is why it can be dangerous to injest them. This is why it's necessary to dilute them in a carrier oil at about a 1:30 ratio. When steaming, add only a few drops to a large bowl of hot water.