4 Striking Health Benefits of Essential Oils

People have been using essential oils for nearly 6,000 years, with the primary objective of improving a person’s mood with the help of its tranquilizing essence, flavor, or scent. They were also used to improve a person’s health in the earlier days, owing to the presence of various antiviral properties in these oils.

Food industries face an adverse problem concerning the contamination of food products due to the presence of various microbes like fungi, parasites, bacteria, viruses, and others. These microbes subsequently deteriorate the food products by producing perilous toxins such as mycotoxins, which is considered to be one of the most puissant toxic food contaminants of fungal origin, posing as an immense threat to the health of an individual. Thus, due to the antimicrobial properties of essential oils, they are abundantly used in the food and beverage industry.

In addition, due to the presence of insecticidal and nematocidal properties, the essential oils are also extensively utilized to demonstrate repellant activities, making it ideal for application in bug control.

According to the report published by Research Dive, the global essential oils market is expected to generate a revenue of $20,497.61 million by 2028, expeditiously growing at a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period 2021-2028.

What are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are compounds that are extracted from different parts of the plant like seeds, petals, flowers, stem, bark, peel, etc. by performing a series of processes such as distillation with water or steam, cold pressing, mechanical processes, and dry distillation. Every essential oil has its own distinctive, unique essence or aroma like peppermint, clove, blueberry, and many more. Some of the prominent essential oils are tea tree oil, lavender oil, clove oil, rosemary oil, sandalwood oil, jasmine oil, bergamot oil, and others. Till date, about 3,000 essential oils have been identified, from which only 300 types of essential oils are being used in perfumery due to their strong, tranquilizing, and rejuvenating aromas. Some of the fragrant plants include lemon balm, thyme, sweet basil, worm wood, sweet flag, camphorwood, tansy, and many more.

The Health Benefits of Essential Oils

Apart from their extensive applications in numerous industries, essential oils provide a bunch of health benefits to individuals, treating some of the most conventional health problems faced by people concerning regular consumption or aromatherapy, which is generally used through usual inhalation or as a tropical application in massage oil, soaps, or beaty products. Some of the health benefits of essential oils are given below.

1. Helps in Relieving Stress and Anxiety

Inhalation of the aroma of sweet orange and lavender oils through aromatherapy are significantly observed to help in relieving stress and anxiety. In addition, a great deal of comfort and relief is experienced by an individual, when efficacious essential oils are used as massage oils on the body of a person.

2. Aids in Providing a Good Night’s Sleep and Treats Insomnia

Smelling certain essential oils have shown to effectively improve the quality of sleep, particularly among heart patients, and in women after child birth. Hence, smelling a variety of oils like lavender oil, chamomile oil, peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, Ylang Ylang oil, and many more impressively aid in improving sleeping habits.

3. Helps in Subsiding Inflammation

Essential oils may remarkably help in treating inflammatory conditions like colitis with the help of ingestion of a combination of thyme and oregano essential oils. Studies from the National Centre of Biotechnology Information have also shown similar remission of colitis with the application of caraway and rosemary oils.

4. Helps in Relieving Headaches and Migraines

A study conducted by the National Centre of Biotechnology Information have found that dabbing a blend of peppermint oil and ethanol mixture on forehead would substantially relieve headache pain. In addition, application of lavender and peppermint oil on the skin is also observed to subside headaches. Furthermore, the traditional Persian remedy made by mixing chamomile and sesame oil can also be applied to the temples in order to medicate migraines and headaches.

The Way Ahead for Essential Oils

Essential oils are receiving an immense demand from the food and beverage industry as these oils are used not only in alcoholic drinks but also flavored drinks. They are also used to enhance the flavor of the food. The outbreak of COVID-19 has also had a positive impact on the growth of the global essential oils market, owing to the its anti-infective, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties which consequently helped in dealing with stress conditions, immunity disorders among people during the pandemic. In addition, the growing prevalence of aromatherapy and stress-relieving therapies in essential oils across the globe will create immense opportunities for the growth of the essential oils market in the near future.

About the Author(s)

Princy A. J

Princy holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. University at Chennai, India. After a successful academic record, she pursued her passion for writing. A thorough professional and enthusiastic writer, she enjoys writing on various categories and advancements in the global industries. She plays an instrumental role in writing about current updates, news, blogs, and trends.