TRUessence ESSENTIAL OILS & GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS

Helps With Gastrointestinal Problems
Essential oils not only relieve symptomatic digestive issues, but that they can disinfect the digestive system, relieve gas, relieve nausea, and relieve stomach cramps. Essential oils are also helpful when used for digestive auto-immune disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, supporting the body in repairing and balancing, without causing harm to the liver or other organs of the body.

If you doubt that millions of people suffer from digestive problems of one kind or another, the next time you’re in a drug store, take a look at the shelf space dedicated to OTC remedies for acid stomach and digestive upset.  It may surprise you.

For example, about 10% of the US population—over 30 million people—experiences heartburn at least once a week, and the numbers are rising.  It is estimated that as many as 1 in 3 adult Americans, mostly women, suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), and another 2 million Americans have Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory disease of the bowel.  Thousands more suffer from IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease).1

Essential oils have been frequently researched for their effects in the digestive system and have shown very positive results.  One of the characteristics that gives essential oils particularly unique properties in the digestive tract is their ability to be selective in cases that involve bacterial, fungal or parasitic infections: they can stop harmful microbes while leaving beneficial bacteria untouched.

Scientists at Southern Cross University in Australia studied eight different essential oils to determine if they were selective enough to kill intestinal pathogens (such as giardia or candida) without harming the 12 most common beneficial human intestinal bacteria.  Of the oils tested, “the most promising essential oils for the treatment of intestinal dysbiosis are caraway, lavender, ajwain (a parsley-like plant found in Asia), and orange.”  These oils “displayed the greatest degree of selectivity, inhibiting the growth of potential pathogens at concentrations that had no effect on the beneficial bacteria examined.”2

In another study conducted at the University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, another essential oil—basil—was tested against the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia.  The results showed “that with Giardia lamblia, the essential oil from Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) and its purified compounds, especially linalool, have a potent antimicrobial activity.”3

And finally, scientists at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne Switzerland studied the effects of essential oils on Helicobacter pylori.  The H. pylori bacteria was discovered in the early 1980’s by Dr. Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren of Perth, Australia.  They found that these bacteria bore into the mucus lining, causing a variety of digestive problems including gastritis, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and peptic ulcers.

The bacteria invade the protective inner lining of the stomach so they are protected from stomach acid and from the body’s immune system. The bacteria then kill the cells that they invade. This creates holes in the mucus lining of the stomach, causing the formation of ulcers. Additionally, substances released by the bacteria during the invasion compromise the stomach cells’ ability to absorb calories from food in the stomach.

Over a two-decade period, skeptics gradually became convinced and the scientific community came to acknowledge that H. pylori was, indeed, the cause of most diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract, including ulcers.  Drs. Marshall and Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.4

Once the cause of ulcers was determined to be bacterial rather than because of spicy foods or stress, doctors were able to treat many gastric problems with proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics.  Since essential oils also have antibiotic properties, it was logical to assume that they could be useful in controlling or preventing H. pylori infection.  And since more than half the world’s population is infected with H. pylori it would be a significant breakthrough to find a natural substance that could do this.

Nestle researchers analyzed 60 essential oils against H. pylori and identified 30 of them that inhibited the bacteria in vitro.  Subsequently, they further identified 15 essential oils that showed strong bactericidal activity against H. pylori.  These oils had high concentrations of carvacrol, eugenol, nerol and citral.5  The research team suggested that these essential oils could be an effective food supplement to help eradicate H. pylori infections.

Carvacrol-containing essential oils, such as thyme and oregano have also been investigated for their ability to reduce inflammation from colitis.  One survey substantiating this was done in 2008 at the Anadolu University in Turkey.6  Earlier experiments done in 2007 at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Slovakia found that a combination of thyme and oregano essential oils was effective in “reducing colitis-induced proinflammatory cytokines, thereby attenuating (reducing) lab-induced colitis in mice.”7

One of the most researched areas regarding essential oils is the potential for peppermint oil to alleviate Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  Peppermint, both as an herb and as an essential oil, has a long history of helping to relieve gastro-intestinal upsets.  In a randomized, double-blind crossover study published in 2005 in the journal Phytomedicine, researchers concluded that “taking into account the currently available drug treatments for IBS, Peppermint oil may be the drug of first choice in IBS patients with non-serious constipation or diarrhea to alleviate general symptoms and to improve quality of life.”8 Other studies done in Japan and in Iran concluded peppermint oil was “effective and safe as a therapeutic agent in patients with IBS suffering from abdominal pain or discomfort.”9, 10 In 2008, the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital published a review concluding that “peppermint oil is among the most promising alternative therapies” for chronic abdominal pain in children.11

1. http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/default.htm
2. Hawrelak, JA, Cattley T, Myers SP. “Essential oils in the treatement of intestinal dysbiosis:  A preliminary in vitro study,” Altern Med Rev, 2009 Dec;14(4):380-4.
3. De Almeida I, et al. “Antigiardial activity of Ocimum basilicum essential oil,” Parasitol Res, 2007 Jul;101(2):443-52. Epub 2007 Mar 7.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori
5. Bergonzelli, GE, et al. “Essential oils as componenets of a diet-based approach to management of Helicobacter infection.” Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 2003 Oct;47(10):3240-6.
6. Baser KH. “Biological and pharmacological activities of carvacrol and carvacrol-bearing essential oils,” Curr Pharm Des, 2008, 14(29):3106-19.
7. Bukovska Alexandra, et al. “Effects of a combination of thyme and oregano essential oils on TNBS-induced colitis in mice,” Mediators Inflamm, 2007;2007:23296
8. Grigoleit HG, Grigoleit P. “Peppermint oil in irritable bowel syndrome,” Phytomedicine, 2005 Aug;12(8):601-6
9. Inamori M, et al. “Early effects of peppermint oil on gastric emptying: a crossover study using a continuous real-time 13C brath test (BreathID system). J Gastroenterol. 2007 Jul;42(7):539-42. Epub 2007 Jul 25.
10. Merat S, et al. “The Effect of Enteric-Coated, Delayed-Release Peppermint Oil on Irritable Bowel Syndrome,” Dig Dis Sci. 2009 Jun 9 [Eput ahead of print].
11. Banez GA. “Chronic abdominal pain in children: what to do following the medical evaluation,” Curr Opin Pediatr. 2008 Oct;20(5):571-5.