Eating (or drinking) essential oils???
Ok, here goes. It is not safe to ingest essential oils of any grade, especially on a daily basis. I realize this goes against marketing messages from some big-name companies, but ingesting essential oils should only be done under the care of a clinical Aromatherapist for a very short period of time, for a specific reason. Any time you choose to ingest essential oils, there are side effects to consider. Essential oils can burn your esophagus and damage or put undue stress on your liver, kidneys, or other organs.
This can happen with just 1 drop, or maybe not until the 200th, but these are risks that you shouldn't take lightly. You are putting your health at risk, if you choose to ingest. This is a quote from Robert Tisserand, who is one of the most highly respected scientists in this field:
“I think that it gets confusing because people often refer to GRAS status, so they will say that this essential oil has GRAS status which means that it is generally recognized as safe by the EPA and the FDA. But actually what that applies to is the use of essential oils in food flavorings; specifically this only applies to food flavorings and not to other uses such as medicines. So GRAS status doesn’t mean this essential oil is safe to ingest, it means this essential oil is safe to use in food flavors, which yes does result in ingestion but the word ingestion is where the confusion happens because it is not a way of saying that this is OK to use as a medicine.”
Some choose to add eo's to their recipes when they’re cooking. If you do so, please be sure that the food has some fat content, so the oils will be adequately dispersed, and only use a mere drop or two. It is NEVER OKAY to add drops of oil to a liquid (e.g., water or wine) and drink it. Essential oils have NO nutritional value. Instead, consider adding fresh fruit or herbs.
Please advise any one you know who is doing this to please look at the many FB groups on essential oil safety as well as many blogs and websites that teach on the subject. Make sure the sources of information are not affiliates of any essential oil company, who directly benefit from telling people it is okay to use essential oils in a multitude of ways. Rather, look for information provided by people who are independently trained and certified in this field and are not biased by financial reward. Dig deep!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns on this or any other essential oil issues.
-Synde
(Note: I have used various sources for this blog.)