Are Essential Oils Safe to Ingest?

Essential OilsMany people are confused, or have heard different things, and are not sure whether or not essential oils are safe to ingest. It is good to be cautious about what we ingest and to research it. How many people are concerned with ingesting things like Tylenol or synthetic vitamins? Do they research it to make sure it’s safe to ingest?

Like with anything else, it is important to know that not all essential oils are the same. Most of the brands out there are known to be adulterated, meaning chemical solvents are used to quicken the production time or they are cut with alcohol, preservatives, or diluted so they can be sold at a lower price. Or synthetic materials are used to extract the oils which will alter their properties. All of these things affect the therapeutic value of essential oils.

Oil Purity

The purity of the oil is a factor in safety. If you swallowed a drop of a lower quality oil, it could burn, be painful, and cause nasty reactions, because you are ingesting fillers and other undisclosed chemicals into your body. That’s why the labels tell you not to ingest them, because they aren’t truly pure.

It is important to look for pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils that are concentrated naturally through steam distillation—these are the oils that are safe to ingest. It helps to know that the company carefully monitors every step of the production of the oils from beginning to end, ensuring the purity of each essential oil in every bottle.

Education is very important and oil safety is a real concern, but knowing where the oils come from and the distillation process is just as important. Just like knowing where our everyday food comes from; if you are unsure of the source, and how it was prepared (especially in the case of processed foods), you can’t be truly sure how ok it is to ingest.

Do you use essential oils?

About the Writer

This article was written by Erin Budd, (BSc, MBA), a health-conscious mom to two adorable boys aged 19 months and four years, and wife to a wonderful husband (who would like you to know that since they got married, he feels healthier than before, and has lost weight and maintained it, due to the lifestyle changes that Erin brought in).

Always prepared, Erin does not leave home without her essential oils in her first aid kit, ready to apply to a skinned knee or a bumped head. She is committed to helping others learn about their many uses and to stop using toxic chemicals (especially on kids!), and is always happy to talk about them and teach people how to use them.

Often, she can be found creating in the kitchen and feeding her family nutrient dense, real food. Since she became a new mother, she’s been engrossed in how she can help her family be as healthy as possible. Something is going right because they almost never get sick.

She also owns and operates Energy Xpressions Inc., a company that sells yoga and fitness clothing. Follow her on Twitter @energyxpression. She can be reached at erin@energyxpressions.com. You can also check out her blog here.