While essential oils have been found to have several health and wellness benefits, there is still the big question of how safe they are to ingest. We don’t recommend that you ingest essential oils; however, if you do choose to do so, it is important that you do all your research before doing so.
The Power of Essential Oils
Essential oils are extremely powerful and just one drop of lemon oil, for example, is equivalent to several lemon peels. Diluting the essential oil in water also does nothing to weaken its strength and won’t really dilute the oil because oil and water do not mix. Therefore, you are essentially ingesting more essential oil than you originally thought and doing so can prove to be toxic.
A Common Essential Oil Misconception
In an interview, Robert Tisserand said that one of the most common misconceptions when it comes to essential oils is its GRAS status. GRAS stands for ‘generally recognized as safe’ by the FDA and EPA.
However, this actually only applies to the use of essential oils in food flavorings and does not apply to the use of essential oils in medicines and other forms. Having GRAS status does not mean that the oils are safe to ingest.
Detrimental Effect of Ingesting Essential Oils
One of the most common adverse reactions one can experience after ingesting essential oils is stomach irritation. Again, it is never a good idea to mix essential oils with water because they will not mix. It will also make it much more difficult for your body to evenly disperse the oils and assimilate them.
Therefore, those drops of oil you ingested that were not absorbed are then floating around your stomach and effectively irritating your mucous membranes.
Using Essential Oils Safely
Robert Tisserand also stated that he never said you shouldn’t ingest essential oils at all. He is simply saying that if you choose to do so, you need to do your research beforehand. You need to know the reason for ingesting it, how long you will be doing it, and you need to know the proper dosage on top of other factors such as which essential oils are safe for ingestion.
You also shouldn’t take therapeutic doses of essential oils like ten to twenty drops a day because it is not good, and it is not a good idea. However, smaller amounts are better for your health and won’t cause your body to become as habituated to their effects.
Meta: Essential oils have many positive health benefits, but there are also misconceptions and misinformation floating around concerning whether or not the oils can be ingested.
