| Aromatherapy |
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Aromatherapy is a form of Alternative Medicine that uses volatile liquid plant materials, known as Essential Oils (EOs), and other scented compounds from plants for the purpose of affecting a person's mood or health. Aromatherapy is a generic term that refers to any of the various traditions that make use of essential oils sometimes in combination with other alternative medical practices and spiritual beliefs. It has a particularly Western currency and persuasion. Medical treatment involving aromatic scents may exist outside of the West, but may or may not be included in the term 'aromatherapy'. HISTORY Aromatherapy has roots in antiquity with the use of aromatic oils. However, as currently defined, aromatherapy involves the use of distilled plant volatiles, a twentieth century innovation. The word, aromatherapy, was first used in the 1920s by French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé, who devoted his life to researching the healing properties of essential oils after a lucky accident in his perfume laboratory. In the accident, he set his arm on fire and thrust it into the nearest cold liquid, which happened to be a vat of lavender oil. Immediately he noticed surprising pain relief, and instead of requiring the extended healing process he had experienced during recovery from previous burns--which caused redness, heat, inflammation, blisters, and scarring--this burn healed remarkably quickly, with minimal discomfort and no scarring. MAIN BRANCHES The main branches of aromatherapy include: aerial diffusion for environmental fragrancing or aerial disinfection, direct inhalation for respiratory disinfection, decongestion, expectoration, topical applications for general massage, baths, compresses, therapeutic skin care, oral, rectal, vaginal interfaces for infection, congestion, parasites, perfumery for body fragrancing, annointments. MATERIALS Some of the materials employed include:
THEORY In the English-speaking world, practitioners tend to emphasize the use of oils in massage. In the UK, America, and Australia, aromatherapy tends to be regarded as a complementary modality at best and a pseudoscientific fraud at worst.. On the continent, especially in France, where it originated, aromatherapy is incorporated into mainstream medicine. There, the use of the anti-septic, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties of oils in the control of infections is emphasized over the more "touchy feely" approaches familiar to English speakers. In France some essential oils are regulated as Prescription Drug s, and thus administered by a Physician . French doctors use a technique called the aromatogram to guide their decision on which essential oil to use. First the doctor cultures a sample of infected tissue or secretion from the patient. Next the growing culture is divided among petri dishes supplied with agar. Each petri dish is inoculated with a different essential oil to determine which have the most activity against the target strain of microorganism. The antiseptic activity manifests as a pattern of inhibited growth.http://www.florihana.com/en/aromatogram.htm The Aromatogramhttp://www.pranarom.co.uk/en/essential_oil/aromatogramme Aromatogram In many countries essential oils are included in the national Pharmacopeia , but up to the present moment aromatherapy as science has never been recognized as a valid branch of medicine in the United States, Russia, Germany, or Japan. Essential oils, phytoncides and other natural VOCs work in different ways. At the scent level they activate the limbic system and emotional centers of the brain. When applied to the skin (commonly in form of "massage oils" i.e. 1-10% solutions of EO in carrier oil) they activate thermal receptors, and kill microbes and fungi. Internal application of essential oil preparations (mainly in pharmacological drugs; generally not recommended for home use apart from dilution - 1-5% in fats or mineral oils, or hydrosoles) may stimulate the immune system. CHOICE AND PURCHASE Oils with standarized content of components (marked FCC, for Food Chemical Codex) have to contain a specified amount of certain aroma chemicals that normally occur in the oil. But there is no law that the chemicals cannot be added in synthetic form in order to meet the criteria established by the FCC for that oil. For instance, lemongrass essential oil has to contain 75% aldehyde to meet the FCC profile for that oil, but that aldehyde can come from a chemical refinery instead of from lemongrass. To say that FCC oils are "food grade" then makes them seem natural when in fact they are not necessarily so. Undiluted essential oils suitable for aromatherapy are termed ''therapeutic grade,'' but in countries where the industry is not regulated, therapeutic grade is based on industry consensus and is not a regulatory category. Some aromatherapists take advantage of this situation to make misleading claims about the origin and even content of the oils they use. Likewise, claims that an oil's purity is vetted by mass spectrometer or gas chromatography have limited value, since all such testing can do is show that various chemicals occur in the oil. Many of the chemicals that occur naturally in essential oils are manufactured by the perfume industry and adulterate essential oils because they are cheaper. There is no way to distinguish between these synthetic additives and the naturally occurring chemicals. The best instrument for determining whether an essential oil is adulterated is an educated nose. Many people can distinguish between natural and synthetic scents, but it takes experience. PRICE Oils vary in price based on the amount of the harvest, the country of origin, the type of extraction used (steam distillation, CO2 extract, Enfleurage ), and how desirable the oil is. Indian Sandalwood ('' Santalum Album '') is considered more desirable than Australian Sandalwood ('' Santalum Spicatum ''), based upon the aroma, and is twice as costly, mainly because the species that yields Indian Sandalwood essential oils is endangered. Organic and wild harvested essential oils also tend to be more expensive. POPULAR USES
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