The Blog
Last blog published in October 2017.
For more recent articles, visit The Tisserand Institute.
Can essential oils increase absorption of cancer treatment drugs?
Hello! Thanking you in advance for your time...I have a question regarding something that I read about peppermint and eucalyptus oils increasing the skins absorption of 5-fluorouracil, an anti-cancer drug. The study cited was Abdullah et al 1996, Williams & Barry,...
Rosemary boosts brain power!
In 1652, English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote, about rosemary: "Helps a weak memory and quickens the senses. The chymical [essential] oil drawn from the leaves and flowers, is a sovereign help…touch the temples and nostrils with two or three drops." Scientists at...
Essential oils as medicines
The following text is the editorial comment in Medicinal & Aromatic Plants, Vol. 1 issue 1 2012. I have reproduced it in full as it expresses my own sentiments more eloquently and economically than I could do myself. The editor is Paul Schnitzler, who works at the...
Heavy metal lips
I just discovered a facebook page called "There's lead in your lipstick". Maybe I should start one called "There's even more lead in your drinking water". Heavy metal poisoning should not be taken lightly, it's a serious issue, but the lead in lipstick fiasco no...
Animal testing – is it relevant?
A frequent criticism of aromatherapy is that there are few clinical trials demonstrating efficacy over placebo. Medical interests in both Australia and the UK have recently lobbied to withdraw government funding from university departments teaching any kind of...
A week in Beijing
On the morning of Tuesday November 15th 2011 I drove to LAX (two hours of heavy traffic) and boarded an Air China flight direct to Beijing. I was the only non-Asian in my business class cabin. The food was excellent! After dinner and then two movies I remember...
Can cedarwood oil oxygenate the brain?
Doing some research on Cedarwood EO for an event I am doing. I do understand that it is very high in Sesquiterpenes (95% to 98%), but some sites are claiming that Cedarwood can oxygenate the brain and that it can repair DNA damage! I don't know how much of those...
Geranium oil linked to performance-enhancing drug
An alleged ingredient of geranium oil is now one of the latest performance-enhancing supplements, and has already been linked to two fatalities. In the 1940s, Eli Lilly developed and patented a nasal decongestant known as Forthane. The active ingredient was...
Essential oils and chemical ecology: interview with Kelly Ablard
I met Kelly when I gave a talk in April 2011 in Sidney BC, for the British Columbia Association of Practicing Aromatherapists . Kelly is on the BCAPA Board and is working on her PhD dissertation in Chemical Ecology at Simon Fraser University. She recently returned...