In fact, many doctors of Functional Medicine today are incorporating these into their practices, as well as nutritionists and health coaches.

Transcription

1 Hey, Everyone. Dr. Axe here. Welcome to Week 4 of Essential Oil training, as part of our Nutritional Leadership Program. I know people are still jumping on here, so we re going to give it about a minute or so before we get started. For me, essential oils have really become a passion, it s something that I used in practice. I ve been using them for almost 10 years now in different forms. But, really, a few years ago, about two years ago, I started using them more extensively on a daily basis, both as a form of plant-based medicine, as well as being used, really extensively in personal care products and just for general therapeutic benefits. We re going to talk, this week, about essential oils, how do you use those with your clients, your patients, yourself, and when and how they should actually be used. There s a few questions that I ve even gotten on our Facebook page about them. Anyways, I m going to spend some time answering those questions about essential oils and how they can be used. Let s go ahead and jump right in. Week 4, here, and we re going to discuss essential oils and their medicinal benefits as being used as plant-based medicine. Now, we ve covered several things over the last several weeks. Week 1, we talked about Diet Trends and Common Deficiencies. We ve also covered Digestive Health and Hormone Balance. This week, we ll talk about Essential Oil Therapy. Next week, we ll get into Fitness and Weight Loss. We ll talk about different forms of exercise and putting clients on a weight loss program, and how to help clients break through weight loss plateaus. Week 6, we ll cover creating a customized program for patients. Week 7, Lifestyle Strategies for Healing. Week 8, Detoxification and Alternative Therapies and we even discuss cancer more during that week. These are Weeks 1 through 8, we will continue to cover these things. So, Essential Oil benefits. There are many benefits, here, of essential oils, as you can see. They ve been used to treat the common cold and flu, they re used for treating many different types of medical conditions, and they can help relax your body and soothe sore muscles. 1

2 They re used for healing different and various types of skin conditions from burns and rashes to eczema and psoriasis. They ve been show to alleviate pain, whether that be headaches or muscle and joint pain. They re also used to balance hormones. They re certain oils that have actually been shown to improve or help your body detox excess estrogen. There s other oils that improve progesterone balance. There are actually oils, out there, that can improve low testosterone in men. They ve been used to improve digestion and treat conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Also, they can be used to clean your home and be used in personal care products. Why essential oils? Why now? Well, they ve been used and proven for well over 5,000 years, that s been documented. They are AN important part of daily lives. Also, here s another thing and another reason to use essential oils now, is our medical system today according to some stats, is the third leading killer in the United States behind heart disease and cancer. We know that thousands and thousands of people die per year, in-fact, hundreds of thousands of people, die per year because of the side effects of drugs and medications. Oils can replace drugs and offer superior results. In fact, many doctors of Functional Medicine today are incorporating these into their practices, as well as nutritionists and health coaches. Also, essential oils have been proven to improve chronic medical conditions like diabetes, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, auto-immune diseases, high blood pressure, depression, cancer, these are just a few of the chronic medical conditions, lifethreatening medical conditions, that essential oils have been proven to be useful for, in using them as medicine. Also, they can replace chemically-laden personal care products and reduce the toxic load on the body. All of these great reasons to start using essential oils with our clients and with our patients and using them yourself at home. Before I jump into the exact medicinal uses of Essential Oils, I want to cover a few things. 2

3 One is the history of Essential Oils and how they were used. One of the first references, in history, is essential oils being used in biblical times. They were used widely by the Egyptians, they were used by the Romans, and the Greeks, also. The Jews and Israelites used them and they re referenced throughout books of the Bible. You can see here this is the prophet Samuel anointing King David. They were referenced in being used as medicine in the Bible. In fact, they re referenced over 300 times in the bible and there s something in the Bible called Holy Anointing Oil. If you were during that day, God commanded the priest, Aaron and his people, he said Hey, if you re sick, go to the priest, have them pray for you for healing and have them anoint your head with oil. But the Holy Anointing Oil reference in the Bible is actually a specific blend of Essential Oils and it included cinnamon oil, calamus oil, cassia, myrrh essential oil, as well as olive oil, as the carrier and base. They would mix these oils together, in a very specific ratio. If somebody was sick, they would actually pour it over their head and rub it on their body and that s what they used for medicine. We know today that cinnamon has powerful anti-microbial properties. We know myrrh oil has been shown to help act as an antiseptic and, actually, also work by balancing hormones and improving skin health. Again, Essential Oils were the main form of plant-based medicine used in the Bible and throughout the entire old-testament. Also, there s a reference to them being used a gift to the infant Jesus, in the story of the three wise-man. I think, almost anybody, no matter what your religious background is, has heard this story, and is familiar with the story of the three wise-men, or magi, bringing baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We know the value of gold, but during those days, 2,000 years ago, frankincense and myrrh were equal to the value of gold. Frankincense was used during the natural immunize booster and immune support during those days. After Jesus would have been born, or more wealthy children during that day, they would have taken frankincense oil, rubbed it on his chest and body, and it would have 3

4 supported him and kept him from getting infections or if he was exposed to virus. We know children are more delicate, so trying to keep them well younger is very, very important. Again, they would ve used frankincense to support immunity. Also, frankincense has powerful anti-inflammatory processes. I m sure that the birthing process was much better than we do it today, because the birthing process today, they were going against gravity, I don t know if she did a water birth or not. Anyway, just a point here, as she s using frankincense oil, it s been shown to reduce neural or brain inflammation. So, if a child had a little bit more of a traumatic birth experience, actually, they would use frankincense as well, and it reduced inflammation throughout the body. Those are some the way frankincense oil was used and it would have been used as a gift during those days. Also, myrrh essential oil was used as anti-microbial antiseptic and they would rub it around the umbilical cord to keep the area from getting infected after pregnancy, It would have also been used on Mary to keep her from getting infected. It, also, actually, during those days, was also used for beauty treatments for reducing stretch marks and supporting hormone balance. Those are some of the biblical references of essential oils. In fact in the past, I ve done entire classes on just this topic, on essential oil medicine and how essential oils are used in the Bible from spikenard to hyssop to cedarwood to myrrh to frankincense, all greatly beneficial and again, really proven throughout the bible to have been used as the number one form of plant-based medicine during those days. Also, in the history of essential oils, we actually found, and it s documented, that they went they opened up King Tut s tomb, they found 350 alabaster jars that still contained essential oil residue in them and a few of them were full. Cleopatra was referenced as opening the first beauty spa. She used essential oils for natural beauty treatments and anti-aging. The father of modern medicine, his name is Hippocrates, he s famous for saying many things, including Let food be thy medicine, 4

5 but he used essential oils extensively for treating medicinal conditions. If you look back, and I actually spent some time reading a lot of the work of Hippocrates and what he actually used as medicine, you ll actually be surprised at how out of context it s been taken. Hippocrates is also famous for saying First, do no harm and all physicians, upon graduation, before they go into practice, they take an oath and it s called The Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath states First, do no harm. I ll tell you, if you look at our conventional medical system today, they are doing a lot of harm and they re first doing harm in the body. When medical doctors, or physicians of any type, are prescribing prescription antibiotics for a common ear infection, they are first doing harm. We know that, long-term, that does way more damage than good. We know that when they are prescribing aspirin, constantly for long-term use, we know that it s been linked to bleeding of the stomach, as well as liver and kidney toxicity. In fact, aspirin is the 15th leading killer in the America today. We know that most of these medications, things like birth control pills, are linked with chronic candida. We know medications like methotrexate, which are given for migraine headaches, increase the likelihood of death by five times. We know, again, I could go on and on and on, but just to say this, Hippocrates never prescribed it. What we re talking about was completely against his philosophy and they call him the founder of modern or western medicine. When the truth is, when you look back at ancient documentation, he used a combination of things like changing your diet. He had people do a lot of fasting for healing, actually extensive fasting. He had people change their lifestyle and go for long walks in sunshine therapy, so getting more vitamin D. He prescribed and used essential oils. All of these things are the things Hippocrates used and prescribed as medicine over 2000 years ago and it s really how we should be treating and working with our patients 5

6 today, not what s currently being done in our current medical model unfortunately. But again, Hippocrates, another person who used Essential Oils extensively. These have been used throughout history. They were used extensively in World War II, actually, as the natural antiseptics and antimicrobials. They were used as medicine throughout the ancient world, in many different areas, as well. Let me tell you what an essential oil is, exactly, and some of you may be familiar and some of you may not, but I will say this, Essential Oil Therapy, it s kind of a lost art. It was very, very popular in ancient days. In fact, today, it s still very popular in the Middle East and India and Asia. We kind of lost this, or didn t pick up on it, in America, but it is the fastest growing form of plant-based medicine out there today. If you re going to be a health coach or you re already a medical doctor or chiropractor or nutritionist or someone going through the program, you re going to see more and more of your patients and clients asking questions about essential oil and their uses. Also, it s something that most nutritionists today, health coaches, medical doctors, chiropractors, decide to start using in their practices, as well. So what is an essential oil? These are the natural aromatic compounds from plants. So, if you have a leaf of peppermint and smell it, you re smelling the Essential oil. Those are the compounds you re smelling. Essential oils are created, typically, through a process of either steam distillation or coldpressed extraction. Most citrus oils today, are done through cold-pressed extraction. They re not done on the lemon flesh, but the citrus peel or lemon peel, and it s done very, very similar, pretty much exactly like you would do a cold pressed olive oil today. A very, very clean and pure process. The most common way, though, essential oils are created is through a process of steam distillation. Steam distillation is done, basically, where you have the plant, you let steam rise through it, and it s going to separate water from oil. Now, I will tell you, essential oils, the oil-based compounds, are different than a lot of the fatty oil compounds found in plants today. They re much smaller and they can pass through things more readily and easily, and so again, essentially, you re just separating the water from oil. 6

7 You re really separating, also, the oil from oil, you re separating the larger oils from the smaller, more molecular, minuscule oils in that way. So that s steam distillation. Essential oils are also, they have safe benefits and they re more recognizable, by the body, compared to medication. Really, I would say essential oils work with your body rather than against your body. And that is a major difference today between most medications and vitamins and supplements in essential oils, to where if you re consuming vitamin C, it works with your body helping you reach a level of health; It works with your body, it supports - is the best word - it supports your body in doing what your body already needs to do. Where, most medications are helping drive something in your body in an opposite reaction your body is trying to take it. Most essential oils have a concentration between a 10x concentration to upwards of a 70x concentration. Frankincense essential oil, for instance, has a 10x concentration. Oil of oregano and rose oil have closer to a 70x concentration, so a great concentration there. This is amazing to me, but essential oils, they are highly concentrated to where 150 pounds of lavender flowers, it takes that many pounds of lavender flowers to equal one single bottle of lavender essential oil. Again, we know they are highly concentrated healing compounds. One of the unique things about essential oils, as well, is they are transdermal. I mentioned earlier that they re so small because they re transdermal. You can put them on your skin and get many internal therapeutic benefits that way. Also, you can smell them, you can inhale them, and get many benefits that way. We ll talk about those different uses here as well. Also, Essential Oils have the ability to pass through your cells, into your cells and kill viruses. Also, certain oils can even pass through the blood-brain barrier, as we ll talk about with frankincense later, is why it s so effective in the treatment of things like auto-immune illness, neurological issues, even tumors of the brain. How are essential oils used today? Several ways. 7

8 One of the most common ways is topically, it is the most common way it s used today. Basically, typically rub it on the bottoms of the feet to get into the system more quickly. Also used on the neck area is also a very, very common area. They re used aromatically. Many people have diffusers and will diffuse these throughout their home. I know many doctor s offices who will diffuse them for patients. I know hospitals that diffuse them. I know plenty of yoga and bar studios actually who diffuse these during their workouts, actually, to improve connectivity and focus and grounding the body. I know that I use them, extensively, aromatically as well. Essential oils can be taken internally, which, I ll talk more about that in a minute. I will mention this, if they re taken internally, they need to be taken in a specific form and only certain oils should, others shouldn t. You should just be cautious when using them internally. Also, they re used extensively in personal care products today as lotions, in toothpaste recipes, in homemade deodorant, in anti-aging serums, in cellulite reducing creams, in just a number of ways. They re a great thing in replacing other toxic personal care products today. So much of what we struggle with today, even with issues like thyroid conditions, autoimmune disease, and weight gain, a lot of it is due to toxic illness. If you can replace your fluoride laden toothpaste with homemade toothpaste with baking soda, coconut oil, and peppermint oil, it s a great thing to do. It s a great thing to teach your clients and patience, it s a great thing to do practically for your own health. These are the four most common way essentials oils are used today. Let s talk about internal uses. This is a question I get fairly often is Are Essential Oils safe for internal use? Let me start off saying this, if you weren t biased on Essential Oils, which, by the way, it s very easy to become biased with your company or brand or just resenting something, and so, there are many different opinions on its essential use. If you can use them internally, or if you should only use them internally if your physician recommends you use them internally. Here s the thing I want to say is many essential oils are safe for internal use if used in specific doses for certain periods of time. Of course, like everything, and I ve really experienced this in my practice over the last five years, people tend to go overboard sometimes with things. It s medically proven 8

9 taking it, peppermint oil, a drop a day, or at 1 to 3 drops a day is beneficial. But there is actually one report which people will use and pull out of context where there was a woman actually, who had peppermint oil overdose from mentha in peppermint oil, but if you read the entire study, you ll actually find out that she was attempting suicide. She actually drank an entire bottle of Essential Oil, literally, she started bottles of Essential Oil, and one of the bottles she drank was peppermint oil, and she was hospitalized because of it. Of course, if you drink an entire bottle of Essential Oils, if you drink an entire bottle of fish oil, same thing. Fish oil, omega-3 fats, these are therapeutic oils, but you know what, it would thin your blood to the point to where you would go into a temporary coma and get put into the hospital, same thing happened. People will take those out of context and say Oh, well you shouldn t use essentially internally because of this case and I heard somebody happened to this. You know, I can tell you from being in practice, I used to carry raw honey in my practice, and have patients pick it up. We d have a co-op and people would go and pick up these health foods, many of my patients did. I have a patient who, I couldn t figure out why she wasn t losing weight and I came to find out that she was literally doing two cups of honey a day. I told her to do 2 tablespoons or 1 tablespoon, 2 cups. So, again, this can happen with patients, it can happen with clients over time. Again, essential oils, again, I want to reference that they are plant-based medicine. They should be used in very specific ways. This is why the safest way to use them is topically, through aromatically, through inhalation with a diffuser, but in certain instances, we are using these as a great replacement to many medications out there with way less side effects. Essential Oils in certain instances may be used internally. If you have a sensitive GI system or you have a patient with a sensitive GI system, certain Essential Oils should not be taken internally, like clove oil, cinnamon oil, and oregano. Now, all of these oils, actually, have been shown to be effective in the treatment of 9

10 parasites, in chronic yeast, and in candida, but these oils you don t want to take over too long periods of time. In fact, most of these you shouldn t take more than 10 to 14 days in a row. If you re on a parasite reduction program, a yeast or candida cleansing program, in small amounts. I m talking about 1 to 2 drops, or 1 to 3 drops, a few times a day for a short period of time. There was a study done on clove oil that said that, actually, the reason why you don t want to do it more than 10 days, in small amounts, is that it actually causes over antioxidation. So you can actually get too many antioxidants in your body in cloves, cinnamon, and oregano. Clove and cinnamon rank as too of the top three compounds, period, overall. What s call an ORAC score, that s oxygen radical absorption capacity. They re very, very high in antioxidants and, believe it or not, yes, you can have too much of a good thing. You can have too many antioxidants in your body and because of they re so strong, with their antimicrobial properties, you wouldn t want to take those internally, more than 10 to 14 days. I want to say this, many medical studies have proven the efficacy of essential oils on internal use. Those who say never, again, they shouldn t be used never, but again, they re plant-based medicine. They should be used cautiously. Then oils, like citrus and frankincense which are only a 10x concentration are really much, more safe for frequent use. In fact, many anti-inflammatory supplements today, really have a 10x concentration at least. If you look at curcumin which is used as medicine, it s an extract from turmeric, today, that s a 10x concentration. Boswellia, which is actually from frankincense, is used. D-Limonene from citrus essential oils. We actually know even in just multivitamin and supplements that are whole-food based used these in these exact same compounds, so we know those are safe for internal use. Let me answer the question about grades of essential oils. When using essential oils, it s important that if you re using them, you re using a therapeutic medicinal grade essential oil. Now, first and most commonly used today, are synthetic essential oils. 10

11 The truth is that they re not even essential oils. These are made in a lab, basically to molecularly resemble the fragrance of essential oils. The most common oils, specifically lemon, rose and jasmine oils are chemically made to mock those scents. Bergamot and sandalwood, two of the most popular in male colognes today, but again, these essential oils are completely synthetic, in fact, they re toxic to the body because they re not really the real thing. This happens in all the time today. There are actually oils today that they ve tried to resemble, or foods they ve had to try and resemble, things that, actually aren t really food. I ll give you an example. The first blog, or the first article, I ever wrote on nutrition and I posted on my website was title Real Food versus Fake Food. In this article, I went through and started talking about how in a strawberry milkshake from a fast food restaurant, there are zero strawberries. They actually can make volatile compounds that smell like strawberries, that taste like strawberries but they re not strawberries. They re toxic to the body. Same thing happens with essential oils. You want to stay completely away from synthetic grade essential oils, which surprisingly is actually the majority. I would say 70% of essential oils today. We have what are called Food Grade Essential Oils, there s also a lot of these out there. These are actually approved by the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, to be used and consumed internally. Peppermint oil for instance, is in peppermint patties. If you ve ever had a York Peppermint Patty, it has peppermint oil in it. The issue is though is it s been processed to the point to where there are no therapeutic benefits, but it is safe for ingestion according to the FDA. Then we have what we call therapeutic or medicinal grade essential oil. Now, I want to be clear this is a self-established claim or certification used to describe specific standards held in practices of farming and processing by the company itself. Now, in any company that is selling a product, of course, they re going to come along 11

12 with this and say theirs is therapeutic grade or higher in products, but again, you just really have to take the company s word for it. We do this with supplements every single day. We take company s words for it like Centrum Multi Garden of Life, New Chapter, MegaFood, or Gaia Herbs, or whatever the now brand food is. We have to take their word for it and believe that they re using what they say. A lot of times you can come to recognize ingredients and you can look at their practices. I know myself, I use essential oils on a daily basis and I spend a lot of time researching, talking to companies, and I ve found what I believe to be, there are a couple companies I trust much, much, more than other companies. Let me say this, in farming practices, this is really important when it comes to essential oils. I was recently reading a study on blueberries and I was looking at ORAC scores. I m writing an article on the antioxidant scores of different foods. It was interesting to find in one study I found, that the ORAC score of blueberries was ranked as having a score of around 5,000, and then another study said it had 15,000. They were different blueberries. The wild blueberries scored 15,000, the conventional blueberries for one cup scored around 5,000. As I started to read more, I found out that if you harvest blueberries two weeks early, it actually cuts the antioxidants in half. Even though they may ripen by themselves, if you take something early, you can greatly reduce the overall nutritional value of that product. That s why when we re consuming, I m talking about foods here and oils both. But when we re getting food shipped over from China and shipped in from Mexico, here, if you re in the United States or if you re in Europe, shipped over China and Mexico, similar places, you re going to find that the nutritional value is much, much lower. And that s why, it s even been proven, consuming a more seasonal diet and a local diet is better for your health because you re getting, in a lot of cases, double to triple the vitamins, the minerals, and the antioxidant based compounds in doing that. Again, when I picked an essential oil company, for myself, to personally work with, I really looked at the companies that had the correct farming practices and also farming from, what would be considered, indigenous regions where the plants would naturally grow on their own. 12

13 For instance, lavender being grown in France, we know that s where it naturally grows in the wild, would be a great place to harvest lavender oil or frankincense from Oman in the Middle East or lemons or bergamot from Sicily or Italy, are some of the best sources. Let s jump in here. I m going to talk about the medicinal benefits and go over the studies for individual Essential Oils. Now, lavender oil is one of the most popular, and one of the most widely used essential oils today. It can be used, you can diffuse it in a room or apply it topically to calm anxiety and to improve sleep. It s been shown to be effective at treating insomnia. You can apply it topically to heal irritated skin, lips, burns, cuts, eczema, and psoriasis. You can use it to reduce symptoms of depression and it s also been show to improve blood sugar and diabetes symptoms. Here are some studies going over there. Researchers from China recently discovered that lavender essential oil helps your body produce three antioxidants including glutathione, catalase, SOD, which is superoxide dismutase within 22 hours of using lavender essential oil. So we know it s antioxidant benefits and detox benefits are great and highly valuable. And this is a study out of China. There was another 1 day study in Tunisia and they found using lavender oil was effective at lowering blood sugar and improving antioxidant depletion in liver and kidneys, which is associated with diabetes. Again, this 15-day study showed dramatic changes and improvements in blood glucose levels and improving A1C levels in diabetes. So a diabetic may, actually in many of the studies they ve taken it internally, either that or you can diffuse it around the home, apply it topically. When you apply it topically, typically it s 1 to 3 drops to the hand. It s rubbed on the neck area or the bottoms of the feet, it s one of the most effective ways to use it. The International Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Practice found that taking 80mg capsules, internally, of lavender oil reduced symptom of anxiety, insomnia, and depression. Additionally, no side effects were found during the study. Another study, published in 13

14 the journal of Phytomedicine, found inhaling lavender oil for 60 minutes a day greatly reduced the symptoms of Dementia and Alzheimer disease. These are groundbreaking studies, we re seeing here, on the benefits of essential oil. We are seeing hundreds and hundreds of new studies coming out each year on the medicinal benefits and the safety of using essential oil in replacement of conventional medications. Also, the Swiss Journal of Molecules found using lavender oil lowered blood pressure and greatly reduced the risk of stroke. So we see, in these studies, that essential oils are being used topically, they re being used internally, they re being used also by diffusing them in the air. These are many of the common medical studies we ll see today. These are great. I know that lavender oil is something that I ve used with patients for a long period of time as well. Here s a great picture. This is a child, I had a parent share this with me, and her child has severe dermatitis on his face and really struggled with eczema. After one week of using lavender oil on his face, you can see a great improvement there, by using lavender oil. Especially for eczema, psoriasis, rashes, dermatitis, burns, lavender oil is even more effective than aloe vera at healing and treating burns. Very, very effective natural remedy there. The next essential oil, and maybe one of the most researched essential oils, is peppermint oil. There are over 1200 medical studies that have been published on peppermint oil. It s been shown in many of the studies you can take one drop internally to treat conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. It can be diffused to improve focus and energy. It can be diffused to improve breathing and sinus issues. You can actually also make a homemade vapor rub by mixing eucalyptus oil and peppermint oil. It s been shown to improve sinusitis and sinus infections. It s also been shown to be an effective treatment at reducing headaches. In fact mixing peppermint oil with lavender oil, about 3 to 4 drops each, and then you can use a carrier oil like coconut oil, rubbing that on the neck and on the forehead, so the upper neck and 14

15 the forehead. I ve had many patients, over the years, come up to me and say that is the most effective natural headache relief they ve ever had in their life within about 30 minutes of using peppermint oil. Some great peppermint oil studies, several studies have shown that enteric-coated peppermint capsules can help treat IBS symptoms such as pain, bloating, gas, and diarrhea. I want to say this as well as with internal use, I saw a friend of mine actually, recently wrote a blog post questioning essential oils being used internally. Again, I m not here promoting them being used internally, in fact, I m saying 5% of the time they should be used internally and majority of the time should be used topically or through inhalation. But again, if you re a third party looking at the studies, you re going to see that there are a lot of studies proving the efficacy of essential oils for that reason. I want to just mention this, do not believe anything you read on the internet both good and bad. If somebody is telling you to drink a bottle of peppermint oil, don t do it. That s not safe, but if somebody is saying Oh, hey. You only need a doctor to prescribe it. You should never use it. Again, that s not proven. Let s look at what the medical studies are proving and showing right now. Here s what they re showing. One study examined 57 people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome who received either enteric-coated peppermint capsules or a placebo, twice daily for four weeks. Of the people who took peppermint oil, 75% had a significant reduction in IBS symptoms. Another study, completely different study, comparing enteric-coated peppermint oil capsules to placebo in children with IBS, found that after 2 weeks, 75% of those treated had a reduction in symptoms. Finally, a more recent study conducted in Taiwan, found that patients who took peppermint oil formulation, which was a blend, 3 to 4 times daily, for one month, had less abdominal distension, better stool frequency, and less flatulence than those who took the placebo. 15

16 In nearly 80% of the patients who took peppermint oil had an alleviation of their abdominal pain and cramping. These are just some of the common studies were finding in the medical journals throughout the world on the medicinal uses of peppermint oil. More studies on peppermint oil uses. One 2006 study in the United Kingdom, measured the effect of peppermint oil aroma, it being diffused for an hour, on cognitive performance. The study published, this study was published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, again, showed the aroma of peppermint led to the improved memory and alertness. On a personal note, here, I actually have a diffuser that sits at my desk and I diffuse, usually in the afternoon, especially if I didn t get much sleep the night before, I just get a little bit tired. I actually diffuse a blend of peppermint oil and cedar-wood oil. So, I put about 5 drops of peppermint oil. I know cedar-wood is, actually, the most referenced oil by Solomon throughout the Bible in terms of wisdom and peppermint oil combined. Both of those oils have been shown to improve mental alertness, awareness, they ve actually been shown to improve energy and focus. Another study, out of Cincinnati, Ohio, exposed a group of students to peppermint oil. So there was a professor who diffused essential oil during his classes, during a test, and those who smelled the peppermint oil showed an improved accuracy of 28%, compared to students who he did not do that with. So we know for learning and for children especially, doing things like cedar-wood oil, I ll talk about vetiver oil later, as well as peppermint oil, improves focus and cognitive function. Then a study published in a German medical journal found that using peppermint oil topically on the forehead, significantly reduced headaches and was equal to that of taking 500mg of acetaminophen in overall headache reduction. Again, this is where peppermint oil has been show, topically, to reduce overall headaches. As you can see here, there are many, many medical studies on these essential oils and peppermint oil, one of the best there, as well in treating headaches, in treating irritable bowel syndrome, and in treating ADHD or other neurological issues. One of the other most commonly recommended essential oils, today, is oregano oil. Oregano oil, or also known as Oil of Oregano, gets it benefits from its powerful 16

17 antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-fungal, and even anti-parasitic, and antiviral properties. Oregano oil should be diluted. It is a very, very strong oil and really should only be used in the form of medicine and not on a, I would say, not on a daily basis. It s been proven to be used effectively in the treatment of athlete s foot and toenail fungus. In fact, my mother, this was years ago, probably 9 years ago, now, after going through chemo-therapy, 20 years ago, she developed a toenail fungus on her big toe. She had tried many things, nothing seemed to remedy it and she started doing a combination of oil of oregano with tea-tree oil and after two months it completely cleared up the toenail fungus. If you have clients coming, or patients coming in, and they struggle with toenail fungus, oregano oil is the most therapeutic thing you can do. Then mixing oregano oil, tea-tree oil, and coconut oil, altogether, so again, if you re putting on the skin, oregano oil needs to be diluted, but mixing all of those together is effective treatment for athlete s foot as well. It s also been used to quickly eliminate urinary tract infections, candida, and yeast. It s an effective replacement to many prescription antibiotic medications. In fact in practice, this is when I had a patient come down with a severe bacterial infection, I would actually have had them go on a diet of no sugar, basically doing bone broth, vegetables along with oregano oil for about a seven day regimen in helping reduce bacterial infection. Also, it can be used to reduce ringworm. There are over 800 medical studies proving the benefits of oregano oil. A few studies here, quoting oil of oregano. One, here, is in the Journal of Medicinal Food, and they published a study that evaluated the antibacterial activity of oregano against five different types of bad bacteria. And after evaluating antibacterial characteristics of oil of oregano, they found it to be effective against five different harmful species. It s highest activity was against e.coli, which suggests that oil of oregano should be routinely used to promote gastrointestinal health when somebody comes down with food poisoning. So if somebody s has food poisoning and using a natural treatment rather than taking prescription antibiotics, oil of oregano could be used instead. 17

18 Another study, out of the European Review for Medical Pharmacology Sciences was shown to protect against methotrexate toxicity in rats. In carvacrol, which is the main medicinal compound found in oil of oregano, was shown to improve side effects of these dangerous drugs. In fact methotrexate is one of, if the not the most dangerous medication given on the planet. It s commonly used to treat migraine headaches, as well as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. It s well known for its dangerous side effects. In this study, it was observed that carvacrol found in oregano oil decreased proinflammatory response and actually reduced the overall side effects associated with taking methotrexate. Part of the reason is that oregano is so high in antioxidants that it helped protect the body against that severe oxidative damage. Again, oregano oil is most commonly used if somebody is struggling with severe infection, any type of a fungal especially, oregano oil overall is the most effective against fungal infections. Another essential oil and, actually, probably my favorite essential oil, that I use most commonly for myself, personally, and recommending to patients, is frankincense oil, because it contains a compound called boswellia. In fact, when you look at a lot of anti-inflammatory supplements today, you ll find that they actually use boswellia extract in there which is, again, the main compound from frankincense oil. Boswellia, found in frankincense, is one of the most powerful, natural anti-inflammatories on the planet. The amazing thing about frankincense is not only is it effective, it s very gentle on the body. Frankincense is found most commonly today in the areas of the Middle East. It s actually made by the bleeding of trees, in a way. Basically, you re taking the gum from a tree, the resin from a tree and that s where you re getting frankincense. So, frankincense is a powerful anti-inflammatory. It s been shown to reduce scarring and sun spots on the skin. I know even for my wife, and myself, we use a home skincare line, an organic line, but we add drops of 18

19 frankincense oil. About 2 to 3 drops any time we re using our moisturizer on our face or skin, we add it on there because it actually helps reducing sun spots, scarring, reduces skin cancer risk. It s a great natural treatment for skin cancer. Also, it s been medically proven to destroy cancer cells. The reason why frankincense is so effective specifically against brain tumors, is chemotherapy today, the most common form of cancer treatment, cannot past through the blood-brain barrier, where frankincense oil can. It passes through the blood brain barrier reducing brain inflammation and it will also actually target cancer cells and it actually does this through a process call apoptosis. That means that the frankincense will seek out cancer cells and cause what s called cellprogrammed death or apoptosis, where the cancer cells then dies off and is destroyed. It actually supports healthy cells and then destroys cancer cells. You can see there s actually a way, an intelligence here, to these oils. Not as we think, but really as a plant, as we re harnessing plant-based intelligence. It s also used for natural immune support, today. In fact, if you don t want to get sick, want to keep yourself from getting sick, you re sending your child to daycare or something like that, actually just rubbing essential oils of frankincense on your chest and neck when you re exposed to that airborne virus, the airborne compounds of boswellia and the other compounds in frankincense will eliminate and destroy the virus. I have parents often ask me, they ll ask Hey, what can we do instead of getting immunizations? I ll tell them they can actually rub frankincense oil on their children and that supports immunity, supports reducing inflammation, and supports neural and brain development, and again, is one of the best oils, in general oils used for children through adults. Also again, as I mentioned, neurological support. Let s talk about some of the medicinal benefits of frankincense oil. New research, recently came out of the UK, linking AKBA, which is the form of frankincense they were using as a potential treatment for brain, breast, colon, pancreatic, prostate, and stomach cancers. Research trials are filling medical journals like the Journal of Carcinogenesis and PLOS One, about frankincense, which the form of frankincense their using is boswellia serrata, in its cancer fighting prowess. 19

20 Back in 2011, the journal Cancer published the results of a 44 person clinical trial of evaluating how brain swelling was affected by frankincense. Astoundingly, 60% of the patients displayed a 75% reduction or greater, in cerebral swelling after being treated with 4200mg of frankincense a day. That s really powerful, think about that. Seventy-five percent or more overall reduction in cerebral, or brain inflammation. Frankincense oil, looking at these numbers, it is one of the most powerful essential oils, if not the most powerful oil and probably the most underutilized form of plant based medicine in the world, today, or at least in the US today. These results are so significant that scientists are urging the medical community to consider prescribing this essential oil instead of steroids for cancer patients and that are used for radiation treatments. Here s another great study on frankincense and its immune supporting properties. In a study published by Phytotherapy Research, mice took between 1 and 10 milligrams of boswellia serrata orally and it was discovered that multiple levels of their immune system were stimulated and supported. One thing it did is it delayed hypersensitivity reaction, so whether that is gluten intolerance or any type of food intolerance or an autoimmune reaction, any issue like that or just general hypersensitivity reactions. Basically, it delayed it 24 hours and it was less severe. Again, it improved hypersensitivity reactions. It also improved or reduced, overall IGG reactions in your body, or improved IGM reactions. So IGG is food intolerance. It improved the process of cytokines in the body, like interferon, and interleukin 4 and tumor necrosis factor. This is also why cytokines are very important in killing off, especially in tumor necrosis factor, in killing cancer cells. Also, t-cells, CD4, and CD8, which we know are generally low in aged-patients or anybody with a compromised immune system. In laymen s terms, here s what we re saying, frankincense can boost the immune system and two fundamental ways this is accomplished is by improving lymphocyte activity. So, white blood cell response, as well as reducing inflammation which is a primary risk factor in most chronic diseases today. This may also explain why frankincense has been 20

21 found in individual case studies to be an effective treatment in treating autoimmune conditions like bronchial asthma, Crohn s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcer of colitis, even Alzheimer, and dementia. Again, frankincense oil, we ve seen to be very, very effective in all of those ways. Let me tell you, when I ve worked with patients, the way I have them use frankincense oil is I have them diffuse it, often times. The most common way I do it is I have them put a couple drops on their thumb and then rub it on the roof of their mouth. Here s the reason I do this, is that your sinus cavity is connected to your mouth at the roof of your mouth, so rubbing frankincense on the roof of your mouth can help you bring it into your sinuses which is a great way to help at reducing neural or brain inflammation. Also, I ll say, frankincense oil has been used to support, what we would consider, spiritual awareness for thousands of years. In fact, it s still used in the Eastern Orthodox Church today. Actually, during certain ceremonies in the Catholic Church, it s actually used as incense during that time. The reason why, not just Judaism or Christianity, but as well as other world religions, is they ve used this during mediation and prayer time. They would diffuse frankincense. The reason why it s so effective I m sure, is because it reduces brain inflammation which leads to clear thinking. Also improving memory and retrieving memories. Because of that, I actually have a lot of yoga studios, actually, who will diffuse this during their classes. I know that when I m doing prayer time in the morning or reading my Bible, I actually will diffuse frankincense oil. Again, it also has many benefits there. One last unique story, that I have with frankincense oil, is I was teaching a seminar, about two months ago, and I had a woman come up to me afterwards and she said Hey, I just want to let you know, I can attest to what you re saying with frankincense oil. My husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given three months to live. This was six years ago. She said We stumbled upon some of the research on frankincense oil and started using it and it s been 6 years and he s still alive and he s cancer free and doing amazing. 21

22 So she said We know that this is effective and frankincense works in cancer treatment. Which is amazing that of all the things out there today, it s probably the most effective thing. Also, for skin cancer treatment, mixing raspberry seed oil with frankincense oil, may also prove effective. Citrus essential oil, like lemon, grapefruit, wild orange oil, have been proven in studies to improve mood, reduce anxiety, and support lymphatic drainage. They re also a great natural alternative for cleaning your home. My wife and I actually use a blend of lemon oil with melaleuca, also known as tea-tree oil. We use that blend in our home. We put it in a glass spray bottle and it s what we spray down our stainless-steel appliances with, counters with, shower curtains. This, is what we use for cleaning throughout our home, is actually citrus essential oil. There is an amazing study, this is incredible how fast essential oils are growing in popularity. It s because of all of the medical research, but essential oils are used in nearly 100 hospitals today. So, 100 hospitals, around the country, are now using essential oils. A study conducted at Vanderbilt University found that essential oils reduced anxiety and stress related to illness in nurses. In addition, they believe that during this study, they also used this study because they believed it purified the air, it destroyed odors and mold in the air, it increased atmospheric oxygen. The oils were naturally antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antiviral. It increases ozone and negative ions in the area which inhibits bacterial growth. In addition to supporting mood and reducing anxiety, this is the reason they actually diffused the oil. Here s what they did in the study. It was determined that five areas of the emergency department would be equipped with a cold air essential oil diffuser using one 15ml bottle of essential oil per week. The results show that before the inhalation of aromatherapy into the department, 41% of the staff members experiences work-related stress and anxiety often, whereas only 3% experienced work-related stress very often after the essential oils had been introduced into the environment. We re talking about a 38% decrease in stress, anxiety, and fear when being used in the hospital in this study performed at Vanderbilt Medical School and Vanderbilt Hospital. 22

23 So, we know that citrus oils have been proven to support mood, reduce anxiety, and being used for those general manners. Vanderbilt is ranked the number seven medical school in the entire country. Vanderbilt is one of the top universities and, again, just hospitals in the country. So, again, this study, coming out of a prestigious medical school, like Vanderbilt, has very promising effects and I m very hopeful that they ll start using these in more than the 100 hospitals already used around the world today. I want to talk about other benefits of certain specific essential oils. One of those oils, most commonly used, is tea-tree oil. It s often referred to as melaleuca. In medical studies it was proven to be effective against the bacteria Staph Aureus, which is the main bacteria that causes acne. I ve had many patients, and even family members, who struggled with chronic acne, do a mixture of tea-tree oil, and mixing it with raw hone. You can mix tea-tree oil and raw honey together, rub it on the face, leave it on two minutes and wash it off, but very, very effective natural treatment for acne and other types of skin issues as well, including burns, cuts, scrapes, and infections. If you ever get an infection in an area on the skin, tea-tree oil is the most effective. Another unique thing about tea-tree oil, where oil of oregano, cinnamon oil, and clove oil should never be used topically without a carrier oil, tea-tree oil is the most powerful antibacterial oil that is yet gentle on the skin and can be put directly on the skin. Again, very unique there with tea-tree oil. Often times as well, it s diffused to help kill off mold issues as well. Eucalyptus oil is actually one of the oils that s sourced out of Australia today, as well as tea-tree oil actually, both of those. It s used to treat respiratory infections and sinus infections. You can make a homemade respiratory cream using coconut oil, eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, rub it on the chest. It s a great thing if a child is struggling with asthma or any sort of bronchitis or pneumonia, any sort of respiratory condition. It s also effective in the treatment of sinuses and opening up the sinus airways. That most commonly, again, is used both topically on the chest with a carrier oil or just diffused in the air. Tea-tree oil and eucalyptus oil are very rarely, if ever, used internally and not usually recommended. 23