Essential oil therapy according to traditional Chinese medical concepts

Self medication with essential oils has become a popular phenomenon triggering considerable debate as to its merits. As the large number of components of essential oils can simultaneously interact with multiple physiological target systems, conventional pharmacological experimentation is difficult. Nonetheless valuable properties of essential oils have been established experimentally or empirically. Examples include Lavandula angustifolia (anti-inflammatory), Helichrysum italicum (anti-haematoma), Pinus sylvestris (adrenal cortex stimulant), Vitex agnus castus (oestrogen progesterone equilibrant) and Tanacetum annuum (anti-histamine).

Employing domestically available essential oils could help developing nations to substitute them for expensive imported drugs. Hence, novel approaches to determine physiological activity of essential oils will be presented. Combining Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) viewpoints with those of biology emphasizes hitherto under represented characteristics of essential oils.

• (1)

  Variability: essential oils are lipophilic, low molecular products of the secondary metabolism. As such their compositions continuously vary among populations and with the plant’s responses to environment and competing organisms. Instead of attempting standardization, models are suggested to utilize this dynamic phenomenon.

• (2)

  Sensory perception: humans construct their reality based on the information perceived through the senses. Co-evolution between plants and mammals gives specific qualities to the interaction of plant essential oils with mammalian chemical senses. Models are sought to exploit these often highly beneficial processes.

• (3)

  TCM contends that essential oils resonate with yuan qi (source qi): suggestions are presented to utilize this concept, which finds a counterpart in recent research demonstrating that terpenoids interact with transcription and post translational modification, as well as enzyme regulation.