Heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of victims
of the recent horrific bombings.
Our thoughts are with you and the people of London
at this difficult time.

Within seconds of the announcement of this ghastly tragedy, e-mail messages of sympathy flowed in from across the world.  Thank you all so very much. It was greatly appreciated.

Thank God, in spite of the terrible human cost, July 7th’s terrorist attacks were not London’s September 11. However, almost four years after the assault on New York, they do serve as a reminder of the continuing risk and the need for unrelenting vigilance.  Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe. [John Milto n 1608-74: Paradise Lost (1667)]

The Challenge Test.
Can you tell me what a ‘challenge test’ is, pertaining to cosmetic base products, and if your products have had this test? I was asked recently.

In the 1960s and 1970s surveys showed that some cosmetic creams and lotions supported large numbers of organisms.  Voluntary Guidelines were published.  By publicity, education by workshops and increased awareness through symposia and scientific and trade literature, legislation was warded off by the almost universal control of products according to the Guidelines.

In the UK in 1990 the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumery Association (CTPA) published guidelines under the title MQM (Microbial Quality Management). These included suggested microbial limits for cosmetics.  Although these limits are a useful standard to aim for it is necessary to determine whether growth increases, stays the same or decreases; and because organisms can recover with time and growth can restart, checks are carried out over months and a comprehensive dossier built up of the effectiveness of the preservative system.

Most companies accomplish this standard by challenge testing products with selected organisms at the formulation stage to assess the efficiency of the preservative system of the product in final packaging.  Small companies invariably have all challenge testing carried out by an independent microbiologist so that they do not have to handle live, virulent organisms themselves.

It must be stressed that the microbiologist’s authority to pass or reject samples must be respected and the customer must realise that testing takes time. Accelerated tests are available and are useful as screening tests but they have disadvantages. They need accurate calibration and must be validated by the standard plate count methods.  Computerized electronic methods can measure impedance, conductance or capacity of low numbers of organisms and the time to detection is reduced to hours instead of days.

Complete documentary records must be kept in the company and should be available if asked for by Regulatory Bodies.  These should include (apart from results of tests on, for example, raw materials, water and factory) a dossier for each product showing results of challenge tests during development and routine tests during manufacture.

All our cosmetic bases, which are produced by an independent manufacturer, comply with these guidelines.  Nevertheless, you should be aware that, if you intend to add your own ingredients to such bases and on-sell them as finished products for retail sale, you will first have to submit your own formulated products to similar challenge tests.

Indian gooseberry?
Hi, I’m looking for an Indian oil that is reputed to have very potent healing properties and wondered if you had ever come across it. Amla, or Indian gooseberry, is used by Indian women to give them strong healthy hair and to restore its colour.  I understand that it is also being researched for use in other areas too.  Do you have any knowledge about it? asked Lynda Smith.

As I had never heard of Amla before, I reached for Light Miller’s Ayurvedic Remedies in the hope that I might learn more: Vitamin C - Acerola, Citrus, Ascorbate Acid, Sago Palm, Amla .  Believe it or not, there is no further mention whatsoever of Amla anywhere in the book.  Still, based solely on this very scant information, it seems that the Indian gooseberrry may be a rich source of Vitamin C, which is a start of sorts.

Nevertheless, experience has taught me that trivial names can vary from region to region, particularly in India. Amla could perhaps be better known by another name.  I scoured my well-thumbed copy of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Himachal Pradesh.  Found it!  Emblica!

Amla, sometimes called botanically Emblica officinalis Gaertner, is Phyllanthus emblica L., a member of the Euphorbiaceae family.  The plant is a deciduous tree, growing to nearly 12 metres tall, which occurs throughout tropical and sub-tropical India. The fresh fruits are fleshy, globular, of yellow-green colour with an obovate-obtusely triangular, 3-celled nut, each cell containing two seeds. It is a rich source of Vitamin C!

The seeds contain a fixed oil and an essential oil.  The fruit and leaves contain tannins, polyphenolic compounds, 1,3,6, trigalloylglucose, terchefin, corialgin, ellagic acid, and the alkaloids phyllantidine and phyllanthine.  The leaves and stems yield lupeol and b-sitosterol.

Traditionally, it is considered to be diuretic, laxative, cardiac, astringent and a liver tonic. It is said to be useful in anaemia, diarrhoea, dysentery, dyspepsia, haemorrhage, inflammation of the eyes, irritability of the bladder, jaundice, leukorrhoea, menorrhagia and discharge of blood from the uterus. It is also used for blackening hair, as Lynda mentions.

The fruit, which is edible, is a prized expectorant and has tumour-inhibiting properties.  Fruit, juice, sediment and residue act as an antioxidant due to the gallic acid content. Juice in ghee is used for abdominal and glandular tumours and in cancer. A decoction of the pericarp is reputed to cure peptic ulcers. Liquor fermented from fruit is good for indigestion, anaemia, jaundice, certain heart complaints, bad colds and for promoting urination. It is an important ingredient of Triphala, a famous Ayurvedic remedy for constipation, and is a major part of Chyavanprash Avleha, a tonic and restorative in Indian medicines.  The aqueous extract of Emblica has significant antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity.

However, to date, I have been unable to find out anything about the constituents of the volatile and fixed oils, but I shall continue to try.  Meanwhile, I do not think that we can automatically assume that they will have the same properties as those ascribed to the fruit and leaves.

Sounding things out!
The therapeutic use of ultrasound - sound waves too high-pitched to be detected by the human ear (approximately 20 kilohertz, which can be heard by animals such as dogs - hence dog whistles, which humans cannot hear) - is known as ultrasonics.  The waves are produced by placing a quartz crystal in an electric field, which causes it to vibrate at high frequency.

Ultrasonics is a form of Sound Therapy, and is said to be particularly effective for treating sports injuries, sprains and strained muscles.  It is thought to work by producing heat when used in higher doses, and by bringing about direct changes in body cells at lower doses. Therapists who use the technique say that the effect is to speed up healing in soft tissue and bones, and to relieve pain by changing the way in which nerve impulses are conducted.

In orthodox medicine, ultrasonic waves are used to build up pictures of organs and tissues inside the body, for example, to diagnose the state of a person’s heart or check the progress of a baby in the womb.  High-frequency sound waves are directed at the appropriate part of the body and an image of its internal appearance is then created from the echo that comes back.

In fact sound therapists have it pretty right, because scientists have known for decades that ultrasonic waves can be used for purposes far beyond sound. Scientists at the US National Space Biomedical Research Institute are working on devices that increase the amplitude of ultrasound and focus it on a small area.  This can generate heat inside the body with great accuracy, without affecting surrounding tissue.  According to the researchers, this could be used to cauterise blood vessels or break up tumours.

In industry, ultrasound has been used for cleaning delicate objects. This is done by using sound waves to create tiny bubbles in a liquid cleaner.  When the bubbles burst, the energy released dislodges dirt from the objects, such as jewellery, watches, surgical instruments and industrial components. This process is known as cavitation, which has considerable potential for researchers.  As the bubbles collapse, the gas inside them becomes very pressurized and is at high temperatures for very short periods. So extreme are the conditions inside the bubbles that they can emit flashes of light, a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence.  The high temperatures and pressures are also such that they can cause organic contaminants in the fluid degrade, which makes ultrasound a potential way of cleaning water!

Nothing to lose?
Can you advise me if there are any oils suitable for aiding my husband who has just been diagnosed with inoperable carcinoma of the head of the pancreas?  In the circumstances, there is nothing to lose. What a brave lady and gentleman.

Although rare below the age of 30 the incidence of pancreatic cancer rises steadily with age; overall, malignant neoplasms of the pancreas account for about 3% of all cancers.

Pancreatic cancer has a very poor prognosis; apart from a small number of patients with carcinoma of the head of the pancreas in whom potentially hazardous surgery offers some chance of cure [Carter, D.C. Clinical features and management of carcinoma of the pancreas. Br. J. Hosp. Med. 1995; 54: 459-64], almost all patients with pancreatic malignancies will be dead within 2 years.  Although there are occasional reports of individual patients who respond to fluorouracil, or combination chemotherapy regimens, the results of chemotherapy are generally disappointing and often no better than no treatment at all [Porta, C. et al. Doxorubicin/methotrexate/fluorouracil in advanced pancreatic cancer. Lancet 1990; 336: 1454-5].

Nevertheless, it was reported not so long ago that markedly improved survival had been shown in patients treated with flutamide [Greenaway, B.A. Effect of flutamide on survival in patients with pancreatic cancer: results of a prospective, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Br. Med. J. 1998; 316: 1935-8]. Although flutamide can have unpleasant adverse effects, I do wonder if there has been any further research.

Unfortunately no essential oils jump immediately to mind but the late David Horrobin, the author of around 500 publications in the scientific literature, mainly in the areas of cardio-vascular disease, prolactin, prostaglandins, essential fatty acids, alcoholism, schizophrenia, diabetes, and cancer, had considerable faith in Evening Primrose Oil (Oenothera biennis L.).

In 1987, Van der Merwe and Booyens [Br. J. Clin. Pract. 1987; 41: 907] reported GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) treatment of 21 patients with advanced malignancies.  This therapy was based on the finding that GLA suppresses the proliferation of malignant cells in tissue culture and on the observation that evening primrose oil, containing a high level of GLA, reduces the rate of growth of mammary carcinoma in rats. Subjective improvement was observed in almost all 21 patients, and a survival benefit was reported in hepatocellular carcinoma patients, increasing from a mean 40 days to 90 days, but using historical controls.

Ongoing studies sponsored by Scotia Pharmaceuticals, of which David Horrobin was Chief Executive at the time, were hoped to answer the question of clinical benefit.  A single-course, 10-day infusion of lithium GLA for nonresectable pancreatic cancer is said to have prolonged significantly survival [Scotia Pharmaceuticals: Appendix I, Clinical Study Protocol ISN 930095, 1994]. Intratumoral GLA is reported to shrink lesions significantly without toxicity.     

Although I am unqualified to comment, Dr. Horrobin was previously Professor of Medical Physiology at the new Nairobi Medical School in Kenya, Reader in Medical Physiology at the University of Newcastle Medical School and Chair of Medicine at the University of Montreal and, therefore, might have known a thing or two.   
 
Papyrus Oil?
I got your name from a friend - she said you would be able to tell me about Papyrus Oil.  I am using it on myself and eager to use it with friends.  Can you help?

Without knowing its origin, botanical name, what it smells like, or whether it is a volatile or fixed oil, it is always difficult to answer such a question.  However, I have never come across ‘Papyrus Oil’, and there appears to be no reference to it in the standard literature. Still, that does not necessarily mean that it does not exist.

Perhaps the most famous of the Cyperus species, Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) provided fibre for the first writing paper, invented by the Egyptians.  It was also chewed like sugar cane, and used medicinally in eye compresses, to bandage wounds, and to open and dry fistulae, but I can find no record of it having been used to produce a fixed or volatile oil.

However, many other species of Cyperus are used as foods or medicines. For example, Chufa nuts (Cyperus esculentus L.), which contain 20-36% fixed oil, have been a popular food in the Nile Valley region since ancient times and are also used in Ayurvedic medicine.

Various essential oils from the roots of certain tropical grasses appear on the perfumery market under the name ‘Cyperus’ oil. Could this be one? The one with which I am most familiar is Nagarmotha (Cyperus rotundus L.), which is an orange to amber-coloured oil with an interesting odour. The overall body-note resembles Virginian Cedarwood (Juniperus virginiana L.) and Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides (L.) Stapf.) oils. The oil has been known for ages in India where it is used for scenting saris and other items of women’s clothing.  Indian literature suggests that it is used for the treatment of stomach disorders, which more modern European publications tend to confirm.

The only way that I shall probably find out what is the source of ‘Papyrus Oil’ is if  someone sends me a drop or two to analyse: this has yet to happen!

True Pine Oil.
I am trying to find information about the properties of the essential oil of Pinus palustris, e-mailed Mary Beth Skellorn.

Pinus palustris Miller, the Longleaf Pine, is also known as southern yellow pine, Georgia pine, hard pine, hill pine, heart pine, and longstraw pine.  The original virgin pine forests from the Carolinas to Texas comprised largely longleaf pine.

It is a tall, evergreen, up to 150 feet with attractive, reddish-brown, deeply fissured bark and with long stiff needles, which vary from 8 to 18 inches in length and always occur in bundles of 3.  It exudes a natural oleoresin from the trunk, which provides much of the source for the production of turpentine in the United States.

True Pine Oil is obtained by the steam distillation of wood chips from the heartwood and stumpwood of Pinus palustris and other Pinus species.  The crude oil is then submitted to fractional distillation under vacuum or steam distillation at atmospheric pressure to yield Pine Oil.  The lighter fractions from this distillation are known as Wood Turpentine. It is normal to extract the wood chips after the steam distillation since the high-boiling and main chemical constituents of Pine Oil do not distil readily with steam. True Pine Oil comprises less than 2% of all distillable and extractable oil-matter from the wood.  The main part being wood turpentine. The trees are felled for lumber, and the wood chips for distillation are obtained only from the waste wood.

Production takes place mainly in the United States, but significant amounts of pine oil from related Pinus species are produced in China.  In fact, pine oils are produced in numerous countries, but these products often consist of fractions or by-products from the terpineol production, starting with a-pinene-rich turpentine (European terpineol). These pine oils may present quite similar olfactory, chemical and physical characteristics when compared to the true “natural” pine oil, and their application is frequently that of a replacement for “natural” pine oil.

Pine Oil is a water-white to pale amber coloured, somewhat viscous liquid with a sweet. pine-woody, somewhat balsamic-anisic odour.  The main chemical constituents of the oil
are sesquiterpene alcohols, terpineol in particular, ketones, ethers such as estragole, fenchone, fenchyl alcohol, borneol and terpineol amongst others.

There are no traditional uses documented for the essential oil, but it appears analgesic, 
antirheumatic, antiseptic, bactericidal, expectorant, insecticidal and stimulant.

It has been considered a powerful antiseptic spray and disinfectant, especially in veterinary medicine. Some aromatherapy authors suggest that it could be used externally as a massage for arthritis and muscular aches and pains, and stiffness. It has often been inhaled for asthma and bronchitis.

Nevertheless, it is an untested oil and should be avoided on sensitive or damaged skin.  Also, it should be avoided in pregnancy and with babies and children.  Although it appears nontoxic and nonirritant, it may cause sensitization in some.   

Cause for alarm?
I wonder if you could put my mind at rest over an event that took place last week, e-mailed Pip Jacobs. 

I work in a hospital, on this occasion in the chemotherapy suite and was using 1% grapefruit, rosewood and cypress in 10ml sweet almond on a patient’s feet. She was having the chemo into her left arm.  I’d just finished the right foot and had started on the left when she said she felt hot, and very quickly felt ill.  I stopped therapy immediately, nursing staff arrived and administered hydrocortizone and piriton and I put cold compresses on her ankle. The doctor was called, who said that the other five treatments had been OK and the only thing that was different was the treatment I’d given her (after oxygen was administered, she recovered quickly). I have looked through my books on the ingredients of these oils and I cannot find any reason for this to happen. All I could find was that grapefruit could possibly irritate the skin and that it would be a local manifestation. I hope you can help

As nothing came immediately to mind, I gave the question quite an airing around several therapists and, finally, I posed it to Jeannie Dyer, the Complementary Therapy Team Leader at the Royal Marsden Hospital, a specialist cancer hospital.  Here are some of the thoughts.....

“The therapist unknowingly stimulated a reflex or acupuncture point in the foot/ankle.”

“Cypress can be stimulating and is sometimes described as a thermo-regulator.  I cannot imagine what the implications of chemotherapy are on the actions of EOs but perhaps it could turn the ‘regulating’ activity haywire or be over-stimulating as a combination.”

“I believe that true Rosewood is very difficult to obtain and that it is frequently replaced or adulterated with Ho Wood.  As a result, I wouldn’t be confident using Rosewood during chemo.”

“My personal reaction to this therapist’s blend is that it is potentially risky in combination with chemotherapy, but not because of the Grapefruit.  I would personally have played it very safe indeed (unless I had some extensive training with someone who does know - has worked with, researched, etc. - the use of EOs in chemo). In my opinion, there would be an argument for not using EOs during chemo because they could overburden the already burdened liver, kidneys, etc.”

“Poor therapist, enough to put her off ever going into a chemo suite again.  I can’t say I  have had a similar experience during chemo. I have asked one of our senior nurses here (Royal Marsden), who is experienced in giving chemo, and she felt that in a similar situation she would assume it was the chemo and not the oils, as it is a reaction which can occur with chemo, albeit more often with a first or second lot rather than a fifth lot.

Grapefruit is a funny substance itself, the fruit juice I mean, in relation to various drugs, but I think the essential oil does not have the offending substances, but perhaps there is something to look at in this? I wonder whether the patient had used any essential oils before?”

Interestingly, Grapefruit had also occurred to me, because citrus bioflavonoid preparations, if they contain naringin, may interact with drugs. The flavonoid is found in grapefruit juice, but not in orange juice. Studies in humans have shown grapefruit juice (i.e. naringin) to increase the bioavailability of drugs like nifedipine, felodipine, verapramil, and terfenadine, as well as inhibiting the breakdown of certain drugs, particularly caffeine, coumarin, and oestrogens.  Nevertheless, I have no evidence that any of the components in the volatile oil would have a similar effect.  However, I suggested to Jeannie Dyer that Bob and Rhiannon Harris might know more. They did indeed!

A knowledgeable opinion.
Bob is editor of the highly respected International Journal of Aromatherapy and Rhiannon runs an annual course at the Royal Marsden for aromatherapists already practising in a cancer care environment. Together, they run Essential Oil Resource Consultants which conduct seminars and courses worldwide concerning aromatic medicine, aromatherapy and essential oil related studies, including the established and respected Advanced Clinical Aromatherapy (ACA) series.

“Firstly, the speed of the reaction cannot be linked to the essential oils chosen, especially given the part of the body being massaged.  If it were the head, you could argue that inhalation might have provoked some inexplicable and unpredictable negative reaction. This is extremely unlikely given the doses used.

There is no way that the oils applied in high dilution to the feet could have conflicted with the chemo drugs during the session, given that the reaction was virtually immediate, so there is no point getting sidetracked by the grapefruit issue. Absorption via the skin takes longer and you would need a dose over time to impact on metabolic enzyme systems to provoke the sort of reaction people fear with grapefruit juice and certain medications.

My feeling is that this was a vagal [vagus: the parasympathetic pneumogastric nerve] attack brought on by either the chemo alone or the chemo plus the action of massage. The physiological stimulation from the massage may well have tipped her over into a vagal attack, with peripheral flushing, a fall in blood pressure, etc. Perhaps some pressure points on the feet also contributed to this, but I am very sure the essential oils had nothing to do with it from a pharmacological point of view.

Concerning grapefruit, there have been several papers looking at this issue of drug incompatibility, and the furanocoumarins [and unlikely to be naringin, a flavonoid, as thought earlier] such as bergamottin [contained in much higher levels in the juice than the essential oil] have been shown to reduce Phase I enzyme systems when ingested. This leads to drug accumulation and therefore drug potentiation, hence its contraindication via ingestion.”

I passed all this on to Pip.

I am aware of meridian pathways as I use them as an acupressure practitioner so I feel reassured that it was most likely the chemotherapy that the patient was having, i.e. a mix of taxol and carboplatin.

Phew!  That’s a relief. 



Finally.....
My sincere thanks to those who provided the answer.
 

charles@essentiallyoils.com

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