With the return of the Website, Justin suggested that I might like to write a daily column.  This was a great idea until I realised that my random jottings, which I would normally reserve for the monthly newsletter, were being expended on a daily basis.  What on earth would I write about, come the end of the month?!

Fortunately, although I did not think so at the time, I went down with an absolute snorter of a summer cold.  I was in bed for almost a week. Of course this disrupted my daily writing, and enabled me to catch up a little with my store of ramblings. Still I do like the idea of a proactive website, with articles and features. I shall endeavour to continue to do the odd item from time to time, but I should really welcome some help.

It does occur that YOU might like to write something.  I don’t mind what it is about.  However I do believe that there are many who would like to know more about individual experiences with essential oils, and so that would probably be a good place to start.  I have named the column Ecce Signum! (Behold the Proof!), but you need not necessarily try to prove anything!

As a guest columnist, I should like to give you “star”billing and therefore a passport-size photograph to accompany the article would be greatly appreciated.  Should you prefer to remain anonymous, simply send in the copy with your name and address (which will not be disclosed). How much to write? I would have thought about 500 words. 

Meanwhile some of what follows was first published in the Ecce Signum! column: my apologies to those who have already read it!
Clearing the Mailbox.
So many asked where they could obtain Padma 28 that I have stocked a few packets. Albeit a 2,000-year-old formula, and therefore you would have thought that the development costs had been written off many years ago (!), they are not that cheap at £14.95 for 60 tablets or £42 for a maxi-pack of 180 tablets. Still they are here for those who asked. Fortunately no one requested the Chilean Rose tarantula spider!

If nothing else, my Where does Aromatherapy stand? piece did elicit that complementary medicine has probably gone an acronym too far....the plethora of initials can be quite hard work at the end of a busy day, after a glass or two!  However I should still dearly like to try just one more.

I have always preferred the term osmotherapy to aromatherapy [Newsletter, November 1997], although strictly it applies to treatment with smells alone (Birchall, A. (1990). A Whiff of happiness. New Scientist, 25th August 1990, pp. 44-47). Would not the International Society of Osmotherapists have a certain cachet? Few could doubt who was setting the standard [ISO: International Organization for Standardization]!

I was delighted to hear that IFOAM has finally won its battle against the USDA and W.R. Grace [Newsletter, June 2000] regarding the patent on Neem.  Linda Bullard, IFOAM President, hopes that the victory will mark a turning point in the struggle against biopiracy.

Dr. Gwen Griffith-Dickson emailed to suggest that I might like to look into Calophyllum inophyllum in combination with Ravensara aromatica for the treatment of genital herpes.... I recently conducted an extremely methodologically unsound “test”....and Ravensara in Calophyllum had much more impact on an outbreak of genital herpes than did either Melissa (5% in Jojoba) or Melissa Tincture. Has anyone else tried this combination for herpes?

Borage for Prostate?
Daily Mail (Thursday, 11th May)....The flower in Pimm’s that could prove to be a lifesaver ....Borage, better known by herbalists as starflower, is grown in gardens for the blue and white flowers which adorn salads and Pimm’s cocktails in summer....But it also contains concentrated amounts of gamma linolenic acid (GLA) which can kill cancer cells....It is already helping women beat breast cancer and could be used to fight both brain and prostate tumours.... [j.hope@dailymail.co.uk]

Several gentlemen contacted me to enquire whether our cold-pressed Borage Seed Oil (Borago officinalis L.) could help their prostate problems.  Prostate cancer currently accounts for 14,000 new cases each year in Britain and is the third most common cancer among British men [Lancet, May 22, 1993].  Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (i.e. enlarged prostate) affects about half of all men over 50 and virtually all men over 80. In the United States, the National Academy of Sciences estimates that 40% of men’s cancers, especially prostate cancer, are affected by nutrition, so nutritional supplements can help to effectively treat and especially prevent the condition.

With levels of 17-25% [P. Quinn et al., J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., 114, 511 (1989)], Borage is probably the richest source of GLA currently available. Evening Primrose Oil (Oenothera biennis L.) only contains between 8.3 to 10% [M. Pina et al., Oléagineux, 39, 593-596 (1984)].

As essential fatty acids (EFAs) are the nutritional precursors to prostaglandins, a group of several hormone-like, physiologically active substances of similar chemical structure, formerly thought to be produced only in the prostate but now believed to be produced by most body tissues, which inhibit testosterone from binding to the prostate [Prostate, 1983; 4: 247-51], Omega-6 supplements such as are found in evening primrose and borage may be particularly important.  Linoleic acid, of which borage contains 34-42%, has also been shown to reduce the risk of cancer cells forming within the prostate [Nutr. Cancer, 1987; 9: 123-8].

Although no side-effects of borage have been located, borage does contain low concentrations of unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids (UPAs), which are known to be hepatotoxic in both animals and man [Mattock, A.R. Chemistry and toxicology of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. London: Academic Press 1986, pp. 1-393].  In view of this, excessive or prolonged ingestion of borage should be avoided.  Still, there is limited information available on the constituents of borage and it is unclear whether borage oil, currently available in food supplements, contains any UPAs [Newall, C.A. et al. Herbal Medicines: A Guide for Health-Care Professionals. London: The Pharmaceutical Press 1996, p. 49].

I have spoken to our seed crushers who are unable to confirm, or deny, the presence of UPAs in their oil and, therefore, I have requested Analytical Intelligence to investigate on their behalf.  Personally I do not think that small doses would do any harm. Meanwhile a 10-15ml mix of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and Walnut (Juglans regia L.) oils, taken twice a day, has been suggested as the way to get all your EFAs [Men’s Health. A What Doctors Don’t Tell You publication: The Wallace Press 1996].

A Talented Tansy.
Whilst most aromatherapy books never fail to mention Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.) [as an oil which should never be used in aromatherapy either internally or externally], few include Blue Tansy (Tanacetum annuum L.). Amongst those that do are Jeanne Rose’s Guide to 375 Essential Oils and Franchomme and Pénoël’s L’aromathérapie exactement. 

Both books are quite enthusiastic about Blue Tansy, claiming it to be anti-inflammatory, antiphlogistic, antihistamine, analgesic, nervine, hypotensive and hormone-like. It is indicated for asthmatic crises (as it substitutes for theophylline which is a bronchodilator), emphysema, irritating skin problems, bruises, arthritis, sciatica, muscular rheumatism, diabetes, hypertension, varicose veins, and even certain forms of leukaemia. I am fascinated how T. annuum supplants theophylline as a bronchodilator: perhaps Messieurs Franchomme and Pénoël (or one of their licentiates) will let me know.

I know that theophylline, like caffeine and theobromine, is a derivative of xanthine and that beverages owe their stimulant properties to these substances. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and has a weak diuretic action, whereas theobromine acts in the reverse way. Theophylline has generally similar properties, with a shorter, though more powerful, diuretic action than caffeine, and relaxes involuntary muscles more effectively than either caffeine or theobromine. However it is still unclear how theophylline exerts these effects [Vasallo, R., Lipsky, J.J. Theophylline: recent advances in the understanding of its mode of action and uses in clinical practice. Mayo Clin. Proc. 1998; 73: 346-54], and yet aromatherapy may have had the answer several years ago?!

Also I note that the aromatherapy literature quotes limonene as a major monoterpene component of this deep blue oil: more modern research does not seem to support this [Greche, H. et al. Composition of Tanacetum annuum L. Oil from Morocco. J. Ess. Oil Res., 1999; 11: 3, 343-48]. 

Of the more than 130 compounds identified, amounting to about 90% of the oil, mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons represented an important fraction of the total oil composition (66%). Chamazulene was the major component of the oil (28%), while of the 16 monoterpene hydrocarbons identified (23.1%) the most important ones were sabinene (6.4%), beta-pinene (3.1%) and myrcene (4.4%). Limonene was only an average 1.3%.

The 19 sesquiterpene hydrocarbons made up an appreciable fraction of the oil (40.3%).  Among them, four azulene derivatives were identified: chamazulene (28%), 7,12-dehydro-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrochamazulene (1.7%), 3,6-dihydrochamazulene (3.7%) and 5,6-dihydrochamazulene (0.9%).

The oxygenated mono- and sesquiterpenoid components were relatively small (28.7%). Borneol (1.7%) and beta-eudesmol (5%) were the main alcohols, while camphor (7.2%) was the major component of the oxygenated fraction.

Tangled up?
Whatever will they research next?  I read the other day, in the Financial Times, that an octopus named Roger Moore is at the centre of an experiment at the Brighton Sea Life Centre to establish whether the common British octopus can choose between the food it likes and dislikes.

Presented with jam jars of delicacies [eight at a time I presume!], the poor creature has to remember what goody is in which jar.  Thus far it has not done too well, being considered rather stupid, with a memory span of just a few days. I just wonder if The Saint or 007 could do any better!

I know nothing of the taste and odour hedonics of octopods, but it got me thinking about human hedonics.  I remembered a paper by T. Hengen of the Department of Psychology, Brown University, Rhode Island, The acquisition of odour hedonics, in which he recounted a true story about affective responses to odour. A newlywed couple had checked into a hotel the evening before.  In the morning the smell of bacon drifted into their room from the kitchen below. She had grown up in a kosher home and woke up feeling sick, but he who was from a different religious background woke up hungry, urging her to go for breakfast!

Engen explains that pleasure or displeasure is not in the odour stimulus per se, but is part of an ecological situation involving an interaction of the individual and the odour [Van Toller, S. and Dood, G.H. Perfumery: The Psychology and biology of fragrance, p. 79].  He suggests that perception of smell, like taste, is characterized by plasticity. However, one can make certain predictions about food intake knowing the taste quality.

Olfaction, on the other hand, is even more plastic than taste. An odour is a nonfunctional environmental cue and a secondary factor, which plays no role in bodily need.  An odour may be an integral part of the perception of a situation, eliciting its memory later but without causing any need as does food, which in that way involves the gut.

Engen recalls a fundamental point made by P.T. Young [Psychogenic factor regulating the feeding process. Am. J. Nutrition, 1957, 5, 154-61] that new habits tend to form in agreement with body needs but established habits tend to persist as regulators of food selection even when the selections are out of line with (present) bodily needs.  Roger Moore may be smarter than we think!

Argument goes up in smoke?
What Doctors Don’t Tell You magazine (June, 2000) advises that scientists have found the perfect preventative for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s - smoke a lot, quaff a great deal of alcohol or drink bucketloads of coffee! Smoking and drinking are indicative of addictive behaviour, and it is higher levels of endogenous dopamine [in Parkinson’s disease there is a depletion of dopamine in the caudate nucleus of the brain] which triggers addictions and acts as a preventative to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, according to Patricia Willems-Giesbergen of Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

This argument, which has comforted smokers for some years, has now been dismissed by evidence from a long-term continuing study of more than 34,000 doctors.  Links between their smoking habits and any type of dementia were sought by a team from Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary led by Dr. Richard Doll, one of the UK’s leading researchers into smoking. The team concluded that persistent smoking does not reduce the risk of any dementia to any substantial extent [Doll, R. et al. B.M.J., 2000; 320: 1097-1102].

Pesticide Alert.
The Inside-Story [on Food and Health], June 2000, advises that PAN UK (The Pesticides Trust under its new name, Pesticides Action Network) reports that brightly coloured Spanish peppers, great favourites with children, are still being monitored after Finnish tests found high residues of methamidophos and endosulfan (both chemicals with high acute toxicity) in imported Spanish peppers. PAN asks whether other Spanish salad crops may be affected [www.pan-uk.org]. Also, recent government tests found that every one of 66 oranges from 9 countries contained pesticide residues [Food Facts: 020 7837 1228].

You’re never too big to be smacked, it seems!
Although well aware of the dangers of making medicinal claims, I was a little surprised to read the other day that Nestlé, the food giant, had been fined £7,500 after a magistrate ruled that the company made medicinal claims in labelling on packets of Shredded Wheat.  Nestlé UK also had to pay £13,601 costs after it was found that the company had inferred that eating Shredded Wheat reduced the risk of coronary heart disease.

Apparently more than 10 million packets of Shredded Wheat and Shredded Wheat Bitesize sold last year featured material relating to a “Healthy Heart Campaign”, mounted in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation. The fact that the promotional packs raised £250,000 for the BHF seems to have cut little ice with the Shrewsbury stipendiary magistrate. A wee bit harsh I would have thought, but sobering all the same.

Anise Ascertained.
The new, revised, enlarged and illustrated edition of Aromatherapy an A-Z is unequivocal: The essential oil of Aniseed is seldom used, on account of its relatively high toxicity. It contains up to 90% trans-anethole and in high doses, or taken over a long period of time, it is a narcotic which slows the circulation, damages the brain and is addictive.  The effects are cumulative.  It can also cause dermatitis in some people.  It is better to leave well alone. Undoubtedly very sound advice, but let us take a closer look.

In herbal use, aniseed is stated to possess expectorant, antispasmodic, carminative, and parasiticide properties. Traditionally, it has been used for bronchial catarrh, pertussis, spasmodic cough, topically for pediculosis and scabies, and specifically for bronchitis, tracheitis with persistent cough, and as an aromatic to prevent colic from cathartics.

Aniseed has also been used as an oestrogenic agent.  It has been reputed to increase milk secretion, promote menstruation, facilitate birth, alleviate symptoms of the male climacteric, and increase libido [Albert-Puleo, M. Fennel and anise as estrogenic agents.  J. Ethnopharmacol., 1980; 2: 337-344].
  
In fact the acute toxicity of trans-anethole is not very high (LD50 = 3.2g/kg in the rat). That of the cis isomer is higher (LD50 = 0.24g/kg in the mouse). The acceptable daily allowance in humans has been fixed by international authorities at 2.5mg/kg; the average American consumes on average an estimated 60mg of this type of product per day; the consumption is considerably greater in France. It is clear that the excessive consumption of anise-flavoured, alcoholic beverages is dangerous, but that their toxicity is linked to the ethanol present in substantial quantities in these products [Bruneton, J., Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants, p.440]! Next, let us distinguish between Anise and Star Anise. 

Anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) is an annual herb, native to Greece and Egypt, now widely cultivated elsewhere.  Some of the best known French alcoholic beverages and aperitifs owe their flavour chiefly to anise seed. The oil is obtained by steam distillation from the crushed seed.  The oil contains 75-90% trans-anethole [I recollect reading somewhere that you can calculate the percentage of anethole from the temperature at which the oil congeals. However, when exposed for long periods to the action of light or air, anise oil, especially in liquid form, slowly loses its capacity to crystallize, until finally it will no longer congeal]; estragole; anise ketone; and beta-caryophyllene. Other compounds in minor amounts include anisaldehyde, linalool, limonene, alpha-pinene, beta-farnesene, gamma-himachalene, ar-curcumene, amongst others.

Star Anise (Illicium verum Hook. f.) is an evergreen tree usually 4-6m high but can reach 12m; indigenous to southeastern Asia, it is now extensively cultivated in southern China.  The part used is the dried, ripe fruit that consists of 5-13, usually 8, seed-bearing woody follicles (one seed per follicle) attached to a central axis in the shape of a star, hence the name star anise. Star anise oil is obtained by steam distillation.

Japanese star anise should not be confused with true star anise (Chinese star anise).  Japanese star anise is obtained from a related species, Illicium lanceolatum A.C. Smith [formerly believed to be Illicium anisatum L. or I. religiosum Sieb. et Zucc.], which grows in southern China, Taiwan, and Japan.  It looks like a smaller, deformed version of Chinese star anise and is very poisonous.

Chinese star anise oil contains trans-anethole (80-90%) as its major component; other constituents include estragole, 1,4-cineole, beta-bisabolene, beta-farnesene, alpha-copaene, cis- and trans-alpha-bergamotene, caryophyllene, etc., etc., and traces of cis-anethole, and safrole [the presence of safrole has been disputed: R. Kaempf and E. Steinegger, Pharm. Acta Helv., 49, 87 (1974)].

Anise seed and star anise seed are subjects of German official monographs; 3.0g of seed or 0.3g essential oil (mean daily dose) is allowed as a bronchial expectorant for upper respiratory tract congestion and as a gastrointestinal spasmolytic [Monographs Anisi fructus and Anisi stellati fructus Bundesanzeiger, no.122, (July 6, 1988)].

Melissa Mentioned.
Further to my item in the March 2000 Newsletter, Absinthe aids Alzheimer’s, The Times [ www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/05/30/timfeabam02001.html]  reports that Professor Elaine Perry, Director of the Medicinal Plant Research Centre at Newcastle University, has evidence that Melissa oil (Melissa officinalis L.) interacts with brain pathways affected by Alzheimer’s.  She says...We have carried out detailed analysis of Melissa, and it seems that some component of the oil - probably the terpenes - reduces the activity of a brain chemical called acetylcholinesterase [an enzyme found in red blood cells, nervous tissue, and muscle; it is a catalyst in the hydrolosis of acetylcholine to choline and acetic acid].  The effect of this would be to raise levels of another chemical called acetylcholine [a chemical substance normally present in various body tissues and organs; it has several physiological actions; it is released from parasympathetic and voluntary nerve endings to activate muscle, secretory glands and nerve cells. It is important in the transmission of nerve impulses across the synapse between one nerve fibre and another], which is deficient in Alzheimer’s disease.

It is thought that terpenes - the active constituent of plant oils - can enter the bloodstream, following absorption through the skin or inhalation, cross the “blood-brain barrier”, and interact with the acetylcholine system.

Melissa oil is being given in the study as a twice-daily application to the arms.  The 72 subjects will receive either this or a placebo (non-aromatic sunflower oil) for four weeks.  The effects will be compared by psychologists and nurses using daily diaries and a set of detailed assessments.

Professor Jane Gilliard, Director of Dementia Voice, is excited by the prospects.  Aromatherapy in dementia care is a relatively new and under-researched topic.  Some earlier studies have shown that the use of essential oils can affect mood, reduce the occurrence of challenging behaviour and increase the ability to self-care, but there is a need for further research to demonstrate efficacy.

Because of the high cost of Melissa Oil, the Medicinal Plant Research Centre is also looking into low cost but equally active sources. 

Care Garden marches on!
Shiseido’s Care Garden range, which I mentioned briefly in my February 2000 Newsletter, is going from strength to strength; now being sold in over 1,000 stores in Japan.  Some may recollect that response to a questionnaire circulated by the company showed that “the body odour particular to senior citizens ranked second, after bad breath, as the odour people are most concerned about”.  When I last wrote about it, I thought that it applied only to older men but my latest information makes no such differentiation between the sexes.

Evidently, as we grow older, no matter how often we wash, we simply cannot compete with the increase in fatty acids that our ageing bodies secrete - most particularly, nonenal, a substance identifiable in body odour which increases with age.  According to Wataru Takekoshi of Shiseido, nonenal “is a type of unsaturated aldehyde and has an unpleasant and greasy odour with a grassy nuance”. It is, he adds, rarely found in the body odour of people in their 20s and 30s, but often appears in men and women in their 40s upwards.

I had thought that he was perhaps referring to nonanal, or pelargonaldehyde, which occurs in oil of orris root, cinnamon, lemongrass, mandarin, and certain types of rose oil.  It has a powerful odour somewhat reminiscent of rose, but with a fatty by-note.  It is, however, a saturated aliphatic aldehyde. Unsaturated aliphatic aldehydes also occur in some essential oils, the most representative probably being a-, b-hexenal, the so-called leaf aldehyde which has been obtained by steam distillation of green leaves and which possesses a pronounced odour of green foliage.

Still, greasy or fatty, grassy or leafy, I had better either have another bath or get on a plane to Japan!       






charles@essentiallyoils.com

P.S. Make a note in your diary!  September 24th! Open Day!  DETAILS NEXT MONTH.
 

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