Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Open Access

The Need for Further Research on Essential Oils: Advance Aromatherapy

George Segal^{* *}Correspondence: George Segal, Department of Medicine, University of Laval, Quebec City, Canada, Email:

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Description

Essential oils are liquid extracts of several plants that could provide health benefits. The valuable chemicals from these plants may be extracted using manufacturing procedures. Essential oils frequently smell considerably stronger and have more potent active components than the plants from which they are derived. This has to do with how much plant material is necessary to produce essential oil. Manufacturers obtain the essential oils in a variety of methods, including:

• By passing water or hot steam through the plants, this method separates the vital components from the plant matter.

• Plant material is mechanically squeezed or pressed to extract juices or oils that are vital to the process. An easy illustration of this would be inhaling the fragrant perfume of freshly squeezed lemon after zesting a lemon peel.

Some producers may add the active ingredients to carrier oil after separating them from the plant material in order to produce more product with the same amount of essential oil. These goods would now be blended essential oils rather than pure essential oils. Essential oils are frequently used by practitioners of natural medicine, such aromatherapists. Diffusing these essential oils into the air is a component of aromatherapy.

Aromatherapists believe that inhaling essential oils may enable them to penetrate the circulation and lungs, where some of the components may be beneficial to the body. In addition to inhalation, applying essential oils to carrier oil and rubbing them into the skin may also help the body absorb the active ingredients. A healthcare practitioner should always be consulted before using essential oils straight to the skin without first diluting them. Additionally ingestion of essential oils is risky of essential oils. Essential oils can irritate the body's delicate cells in addition to being highly concentrated. Rarely, some individuals could swallow oral capsules that contain essential oils. However, this should only be done with a healthcare provider's supervision.

Despite extensive and ongoing research on EOs, aromatherapy has not yet been effectively used to the treatment of pain or in clinical settings. The goal of research has been to identify the mechanisms behind the analgesic effect of EOs, frequently concentrating on the single components usually found in different plant oils e.g., linalool, limonene, pinene, eugenol, and cinnamal. Examples of EOs with anxiolytic and depressive characteristics include linalool, limonene, and pinene. Several organic plant compounds, in particular, have been mentioned as potential candidates for analgesic effect in neuropathic pain. However, the phytocomplex, which is made up of a variety of plant components and is necessary to exert the so-called entourage effect, is what gives EOs their biggest impact. A clear mix of EO elements is required, but further study is required to identify the precise active component for each EO. The volatile components in the citrus species' essential oils range from 85 to 99 percent terpenoids, with the non-volatile components containing coumarins like phototoxic bergapten.

Conclusion

Since there aren't many, small, or methodologically adequate clinical trials including aromatherapy, it's not always able to make strong results, particularly in dementia. The design, reporting, and consistency of outcome assessment have been recognized as the weakest areas and need to be addressed in the future, as was recently shown in a Cochrane systematic review by Ball et al. Therefore, despite mounting preclinical and clinical evidence for EOs and nutraceuticals, which have been researched in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, a strong case for their therapeutic usage, particularly in the treatment of chronic pain, has not yet been made.