Did you know that you shouldn’t ingest essential oils unless advised by a practitioner who has been specifically trained to prescribe essential oils this way?
Stacey, Aromatherapist Extraordinaire and creator of the most beautiful essential oil scented soy candles and pulse points (available in our online soon), passed on this valuable piece of information when she came to visit last week. Since then she’s kindly written a short article on the subject.
The Dangers Of Ingesting Essential Oils
Essential oils are very highly concentrated. Just a tiny amount of an essential oil typically has the quality of many cups of herbal tea from the same plant. For example, just a drop of peppermint oil is equal to roughly 26 cups of peppermint herbal tea. You’d probably never ingest that much tea, right? That’s a clue that it’s important to think carefully before consuming that equivalent amount of essential oil.
Even with my diploma training as an aromatherapist and holistic therapist I am not able to dispense essential oils for oral use. Internal use of essential oils is such a specialised area and generally you need to be at a medical doctorate level of training to be qualified to do so.
The International Federation of Aromatherapists Australia Code of Ethics states that “No aromatherapist shall use essential oils for internal ingestion or internal application nor shall any aromatherapist advocate or promote such use of essential oils unless the practising aromatherapist has medical, naturopathic, herbalist or similar qualifications and holds an insurance policy which specifically covers the internal application of essential oils.”
There are companies that are endorsing taking essential oils internally. But, please be aware, that many of their sales people are not trained to give this advice and this is quite dangerous.
Taking essential oils orally engages many areas of risk with the potential of serious consequences if the wrong advice and dosage is given. Stacey
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