ESSENTIAL OILS AND HYDROCARBONS
What are Therapeutic Grade Essentials Oils?
Essential oils are often termed as ‘nature’s own pharmacy’ and ‘the life force of plants’. These are nature’s inimitable formulas that can never be replicated by human hands. These can only be carefully reaped (steam distilled, generally) from the seeds, roots, bark, stems, leaves, fruit, flowers and/or branches, and then used for the good of all.
Essential oils contain compounds in precise ratios that are unique and signature non-replicable mixtures of several natural aromatic and medicinal compounds (terpenes, esters, oxides, alcohols, phenols, ketones, and aldehydes) specific to particular plant species. These compounds are the secret of a plant’s healing powers and form the foundation of the millennia old healthcare system known as Aromatherapy. Essential oils of different plants have different health properties and it takes a trained and experienced aroma therapist (like Rupal Tyagi) to formulate a blend that meets your needs with precision.
Therapeutic Benefits of Essential Oils
The feeding with aromatic herbs, spices and some dietary supplements can supply the body with essential oils. There are a lot of specific dietary sources of essential oils, such as example orange and citrus peel, caraway, dill; cherry, spearmint, caraway, spearmint, black pepper and lemongrass. Thus, human exposure to essential oils through the diet or environment is widespread. In most cases, essential oils can be absorbed from the food matrix or as pure products and cross the blood brain barrier easily. This later property is due to the lipophilic character of volatile compounds and their small size. The action of essential oils begins by entering the human body via three possible different ways including direct absorption through inhalation, ingestion or diffusion through the skin tissue.
Absorption Through the Skin
Essential oil compounds are fat soluble, and thus they have the ability to permeate the membranes of the skin before being captured by the microcirculation and drained into the systemic circulation, which reaches all targets organs (Adorjan & Buchbauer, 2010; Baser & Buchbauer, 2010).
The difference between essential oils and therapeutic grade essential oils is that therapeutic grade essential oils are those of the highest purity and thus most effective for high-quality use. We deal with only therapeutic grade essential oil blends.
How do Essential Oils Work?
Essential oils are made up of minute medicinal molecules thatare absorbedthrough inhalation. These molecules interact with the body’s internal organ systems and, depending on the specific essential oil,can stimulatethe immunesystem, aidcell growth, help eliminate toxins, kill bacteria and viruses, and so on. When inhaled through WFS dispersion, these molecules travel through the olfactory bulb route to positively and deeply affect the brain-aligned limbic system, a part of the nervous system often referred to as the emotional brain, to create desired responses like better moods, more concentration, and relaxation. As these natural molecules are inherently anti-bacterial, anti- viral and anti-fungal agents so they also create a cleaner and greener environment.
Inhalation
Another way by which essential oils enter the body is inhalation. Due to their volatility, they can be inhaled easily through the respiratory tract and lungs, which can distribute them into the bloodstream (Margaris et al., 1982; Moss et al, 2003). In general, the respiratory tract offers the most rapid way of entry followed by the dermal pathway.
7. Classes of essential oil compounds and their biological activities
7.1 Hydrocarbons
7. Classes of essential oil compounds and their biological activities
7.1 Hydrocarbons Classes of essential oil compounds and their biological activities
Hydrocarbons
The majority of essential oils fall into this category; these contain molecules of hydrogen and carbon only and are classified into terpenes (monoterpenes: C10, sesquiterpenes: C15, and diterpenes: C20). These hydrocarbons may be acyclic, alicyclic (monocyclic, bicyclic or tricyclic) or aromatic. Limonene, myrcene, p-menthane, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-sabinene, pcymene, myrcene, α–phellandrene, thujane, fenchane, farnesene, azulene, cadinene and sabinene are some examples of this family of products.