If you’re an essential oils lover like me, I’m sure you’ve seen a graphic like this (above photo) before claiming that it takes exactly “22 seconds for the molecules to reach the brain, 2 minutes for them to be found in the bloodstream, and 20 minutes they will affect every cell in the body.”…or something like this.
It’s wildly popular, however, it’s factually inaccurate and NOT backed up by correct scientific studies. We share these meme’s or graphics so quickly and believe them so easily, but we often don’t think to fact check them first! They are doing more harm then good so let’s break it down and explain why!
Where Did This Originate?
From best I can gather, it seemed to come from doTERRA reps. I’ve heard from several now (including one who made her own graphic like this) that she heard this from another rep higher up or at a doTERRA convention.
Oh boy.
Whenever I hear “I heard it from convention” I just think of the kids game “telephone” where you repeat the same phrase down the line of people and by the end it ends up being a totally different phrase!
The difficult thing with this is there’s usually no resources to cite where that info is coming from to substantiate it, or someone’s just remembering it wrong or not fully understanding what they’re saying. (like in this case) More on this in a minute…
Why It’s Wrong:
First off, 22, 2, and 20? That’s way too exact and way too coordinated sounding! I was leery just reading that! lol
But seriously, what this graphic isn’t specifying is,
- How the essential oil is being absorbed…is it topically? By inhalation? By ingesting?
Each of these methods would produce different times. Where it was applied topically on the body would matter and change the time. An essential oil applied to the wrist is going to get into your bloodstream a lot faster then something applied to your thigh. Also, how it was inhaled and for how long would change the time. And so on and so forth…
- it doesn’t specify which essential oil. Without getting too technical, the chemical structure of each oil is different therefore each would absorb and reach the bloodstream etc at different rates.
One study said this about ingesting oils,
“The metabolic fate of essential oil components depends on their individual chemical structure, and hence generalization is not possible” (Kohlert)
I could only find two studies that even specified a specific time at all for the bioavailability of essential oils (how it interacts with and effects the human body) It was for how long it took an oil to reach the bloodstream topically and how long it took 1,8-cineol and α-pinene (specific individual chemical components of many essential oils) to be detected in the blood after oral application…
”Maximum plasma levels were reached within 10 minutes of application. It was shown that the extent of absorption depended on the size of treated skin area, skin properties, concentrations of the administered compounds and on time of exposure. However, the latter results were obtained in a study performed with only one subject and thus allow only limited conclusion.” (Kohlert, C. 2000)
“After oral application of 1,8-cineol
and α-pinene, these compounds were detectable after
10 to 30 minutes in plasma as well.20,21 This fast absorption of essential oil compounds might have been favored by the small size and the lipophilic characteristics of the molecules.
What We DO Know:
As you can see, there are a lot of variants here that determine bioavailability. It’s not as black and white as you would think! As one aromatherapist of nearly 30 years said to me the other day, “essential oils are living and they have a mind of their own!”
”Unfortunately, there exists only limited data on the bioavailability of essential oils, and most studies are based on animal models. All findings confirm that most essential oils are rapidly absorbed after dermal, oral, or pulmonary administration and cross the blood-brain barrier and interact with receptors in the central nervous system, and then affect relevant biological functions such as relaxation, sleep, digestion etc” (Djilani, A. and Dicko, A)
By the way, this is just extra, but the funny thing is doTERRA doesn’t even claim these stats in the graphic to be true! (it’s funny to me because it originated from doTERRA reps lol) doTERRA has one targeted blog post on the bioavailability of oils (that I could find) where they summerize this quote, “Thymol was absorbed quickly. Considerable plasma concentrations of thymol sulfate could already be detected after 20 minutes. This fast absorption indicates that thymol is mainly absorbedin the upper part of the gut.”
This comes from the same study that I cited above about other chemical constituents taking 10-30 minutes to be detected. This is why it’s so important to read the whole study, and not just cherry pick random lines!!!
Why This Matters:
Graphics like this continue to discredit us in the medical and scientific communities. When someone who has a better understanding/knowledge of these things then we do hears us making these claims that they know are impossible or inaccurate, they automatically write us off as a valid or trusted source. I even hear this from aromatherapists who already are familiar and trained with oils…this is one of the big reasons why they have issues with mlm oil brands by the way…the reps make SO MANY inaccurate or dangerous claims!
Or it makes people question if oils are really that beneficial or effective who then hear something totally different from a doctor or other trained professional etc. I hear this literally all the time from chemist friends, nurse friends etc, and let’s be real, those are the very people we need to be convincing of the validity of the holistic lifestyle!! If we want people to take essential oils seriously, we need to stop giving them a bad rep.
Did I miss anything? Comment below with any thoughts or questions.
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10985073/
https://accp1-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/doi/pdfdirect/10.1177/009127002401102678
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