WHAT IS AROMATHERAPY ?

Aromatherapy refers to the therapeutic use of essential oils. French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé, considered by many as one of the founders of modern aromatherapy, first employed this term in the early twentieth century. Since then, essential oils have been studied extensively. Most researches have focused on the antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-septic properties of their components. Essential oils are increasingly used in hospitals in Europe (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France), to reduce the side effects of allopathic treatments and improve patients’ wellbeing. Despite a growing interest from medical professionals, the effectiveness of most essential oil treatments recognized in aromatherapy has yet to be assessed by the means of clinical trials.

In France, the production, sales, and therapeutic use of essential oils is only superficially regulated. The National Agency for Drug Safety (the Government agency in charge of regulating market release of drugs) issued recommendations on minimal quality criteria for the therapeutic use of an essential oil, and established two lists of medicinal plants admitted in the French Pharmacopoeia. List A contains medicinal plants whose traditional use is recognized, and which do not present known risks, while List B contains plants for which potential risks are esteemed superior to potential benefits. Fifteen essential oils are on sale exclusively in pharmacy because of their neurotoxic, irritant, phototoxic or carcinogenic properties.

There is currently no curriculum to become a State-certified aromatherapist, but a number of University Aromatherapy Degrees are available for health professionals. Many private schools offer aromatherapy trainings also opened to non-medical staff, with duration varying from a couple hours to several years.

WHAT IS AN ESSENTIAL OIL ?

Many plants produce fragrant chemicals via specialized cells to defend themselves against predators, as well as to communicate with their own species, and other species nearby. These so-called "aromatic" molecules can be concentrated by steam distillation or by expression of the plant organs (roots, flowers, bark, etc.). The term “essential oil” designates the product of this concentration process. Although essential oils do not contain lipids, most are lighter than water like oil, hence their name.

Essential oils can be composed for a very large portion of a single aromatic molecule, but most contain tens to thousands of these. Over 10,000 aromatic molecules have been identified to date. The individual properties of each aromatic molecule, the interactions between them and their relative proportion determine the therapeutic properties of an essential oil.

MAIN ACTIVE COMPONENTS OF ESSENTIAL OIL

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Terpenes (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, etc.): anti-infectious, stimulant, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic

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Phenols: antispasmodic, analgesic, tonic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-allergenic

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Ketones: calming, anti-parasitic, antifungal, and antiviral...