Essential Oil Quality Part 2

#1 The sourcing standard: soil, botany, organic certification, climate, harvest,  distillation practices, and handling procedures.

Botany precision is extremely important because in some cases even different chemotypes within a

species of plants can yield dramatically different clinical results.  Chemotypes are like sub-species where a particular constituent or group of constituents dominates.  Even when 2 oils are called the same name, the chemistry of an oil can be different because of inaccurate botanical precision.  You need a company who understands and respects these critical factors.

Climate can change dramatically from place to place and season to season, yielding remarkably different oils from the exact same species and chemotype.  The same is true of soil.  A bergamot orange tree grown in Italian soil will yield a different oil -- even from start from the exact same tree -- than one grown in West Africa under similar climate conditions but different soil.  

Organic certification is a popular but surprisingly complicated standard that many people like to use to simplify their purchases.  It is not as simple as it seems.  Over the last decade organic certification has become a platform for a lot of unnecessary greed and corruption.  We can all see when we shop that there is sometimes spoiled or damaged "organic" fruit being sold for twice the price of higher quality, ripe and nutritious fruit.

There are many sources from around the world where organic certification is used merely as a way to fleece the buyer.  In many cases the certification is unreliable.  Even the most precise chemical analysis cannot identify the slightest difference between organic and non-organic.  Many crops, especially wildcrafted ones, cannot post organic certification.

This area is extremely important to have skilled chemists and buyers who understand where organic certification is vital and where it is merely a way to make everyone pay more.  A reliable company will have purchasing staff that understands these challenges and works diligently to understand the market and not gouge the consumer with unnecessary costs due to corrupt certification and pricing practices.

The precision required for growing, harvesting, handling and distilling the crops.  Dr Penoel has personally visited farms and distillers all over the world, because it has been extremely important to his medical practice to know the care that farmers and distillers take to create a clinical quality oil.  For many years he felt he could only trust small boutique farmers and distillers that he personally knew in Southern France.  They exacted a high price from him for the highest quality oils, but he has said again and again, "I would rather have a single drop of high quality oil than a whole drum of junk product."   The industry has become so large now that we must purchase oils from larger farms all over the planet, and we must be able to certify that they practice the same farming, harvesting, and distilling procedures as those small farmers Dr Penoel came to know personally in the early days of the industry.  Once again, buyers must be trained and know what they are looking for.

#2 The Chemistry Standard -- (GCMS) Gas Chromatogrph/ Mass Spectrometer

One universal standard that suppliers and retailers agree to use is a chemical analysis of oils using the mass spectrometer and the gas chromatograph (GCMS).  Every batch of oil comes with data from these two analyses.  But every batch isn't always analyzed.  Because these tests are often done by independent labs, they are expensive, and suppliers and wholesale brokers may chose not to pay for a new test with each batch of oils.  A well-established essential oils company will commission an independent lab to conduct these analyses with each batch to establish a consistent level of quality.

There are ways to verify a quality oil from these 2 tests, but they are not foolproof.  There are many ways to adulterate an expensive oil with cheaper oils or oils that have not been extracted properly, and still pass this test.  So we need other checks on quality.

In addition to GCMS testing, there are tests that identify other impurities in an essential oil, ensuring, that there are no heavy metals, no pesticide residues, no foreign substances that don't belong in the oil.

It goes without saying that a reliable company supplying essential oils for clinical use will not only have these tests done independently on each batch of oils, but they may also do these tests themselves, just to make sure that all tests (1) the supplier (2) the independent lab and (3) the company match with each other.

Also, a company providing a true clinical grade essential oil, will match the highest standards set by clinical studies and research institutions around the world.  They would not set this standard themselves (in-house), and would have access to these higher standards.

#3 Full Disclosure Standard 

Health care professionals need to be able to rely on a consistent high quality of essential oils for their clinical use.  The essential oils industry has been troubled by loose quality standards as essential oils are being picked up to sell by so many companies today. 

Companies have been known to claim internal certification of purity, yet deliver adulterated oils.  A company focused on quality will create reliable systems of full disclosure where professionals who can read the GCMS charts can recognize the key constituents on each batch of essential oils and certify their purity to their patients.  

Not only will the company disclose the GCMS charts and purity certification for each batch of oils, they will also identify the region of the world, the oil came from and any sensitive growing or distilling practices that produce the oil.  This can be important because, just as professional wine testers can identify better years in the wines they sample, so professionals in the essential oil industry all recognize the essential oils are natural plant

substances.  Climate, harvesting, and distilling conditions can change from year to year, and a high quality oil from a supplier one year may not be as high the next.  Buyers in a company with expert quality control will be trained and skilled at identifying the very best oils from around the world in every season.  They will reject a batch of oil, if it doesn't pass all their quality standard testing.  Rejected batches are simply sold to another company without these quality standards, through a broker.  

#4 The Government test: Is the oil Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for ingestion?

Because the flavoring industry has certain standards for a "food grade" essential oil, the government has established what it calls GRAS list for oils that are Generally Recognized as Safe.  This is not a clinical standard.  These oils are used for all kinds of foods and beverages where there is no call for a therapeutic or clinical use to help with any ailment.  The government just wants them to be safe for toothpaste, mouthwash, peppermint candy, Coca Cola and alcoholic beverages.  They can be adulterated.  They don't even have to be natural. 

This GRAS standard prevents us from recommending for ingestion those oils that would be harmful if ingested.  For example: Birch and Camphor are NOT on the GRAS list.  WE recommend them for topical application and diffusion only.  Not all essential oils are safe for ingestion.

#5 Organoleptic and Physical Tests

The standards of visual, texture, smell and taste 

An experienced analysis will include evaluation by each of these senses:  the distinctive color of the oil, how it feels, it's thickness, it's smell, and even its taste.  These evaluations require long experience with adulterated and low quality oils, but they are one of the most vital tests for quality assurance.  A company must use someone qualified to recognize authentic oils by each of their senses.  This is called organoleptic evaluation.

The standard of density 

The specific chemical weight or density of an oil can be measured to spot adulteration.  There is also a test for authenticity that measures the time it takes for an oil to pass through a specific calibrated channel.  This will help indicate the quality of oil as well.

The standard of refraction

When light passes through a liquid at a specific temperature, the angle of refraction of the light can be measured to give a consistent figure for each individual oil.  This is another useful measurement that can help identify adulterated oils.

The standard of optic rotation

A beam of polarized light is used to identify oils that could be adulterated with synthetic substances.  An authentic oil will cause the light to rotate in a specific direction, the synthetic version of the same or similar chemical will not.  The rotating angle of polarized light will show a specific movement to the right or the left.  If the light rotates to the left it is called levogyre.  If it rotates to the right it is called dextrogyre.  The more active this rotation, the more pharmacologically active the oil will be. 

The standard of solubility in 70% alcohol

We can also calculate the amount of 70% alcohol it will take to create a solution.  This measurement is specific for each essential oil.  The test is performed at 20 degrees

centigrade.  Many of these measurements and standards are not expensive to do, but they are too often neglected by companies that do not adequately test their oils.

#6 The Research- Quality Standard

The most well respected scientific and medical journals also recognize that studies must be done using the most scientifically pure, high quality, standardized, natural products.  This is critical to their unbiased scientific reputation and repeatable results.  They maintain a carefully guarded list of suppliers of products that can be used in their research.  These suppliers use chemists, botanists, and biologists who collectively vet (evaluate and approve) the oils using the most advanced technologies in their respective industries ensuring their overall repuroducible quality.  When research is done on products not on this exclusive list of scientifically vetted quality oils, the findings are usually not published in journals that are considered unbiased and clinically sound.

That is one of the major reasons why research is done on products form some essential oil marketing companies are rarely found in the most respected journals.

A clinical-grade oil will conform to this high quality standard, a standard the scientific community trusts for consistent quality they can recommend to health care professionals and serve  as a basis for medical advancements.

#7 The Human cell test 

How does an essential oil interact with actual human cells?  Health care professionals have used various inexpensive ways of testing the quality of the oils they purchase.  Many practitioners use muscle testing.  They claim that the muscle cells of the body respond with greater strength to  higher quality oils.  They will hold a bottle of oil in one hand, raise the other hand and have someone push down on it.  If the natural orce is weaker for one oil than another these professionals claim that the oil is less therapeutic or fit for therapeutic use.  While this test is widely sued, it can be subjective and influenced by individual bias, therefore, not accurate.

 There is a unique test developed by Dr Joshua Plant for identifying a grade of essential oils that will more effectively penetrate the human cell.  He uses a unique, patented process developed while he was studying at Harvard Medical School to test the cell activity and permeability of an essential oil, thereby giving the essential oil powerful clinical benefit that functions at the cellular level.  Not all essential oils are cell active or permeable.  Dr Penoel says too many essential oils on the market today, are "Dead oils".  Dr Plant developed a mechanism to track the molecular movement of the specific constituents

in a complex essential oil.  The patented labeling system allows Dr Plant in combination with the most advanced fluorescent confocal microscopy technologies the ability to track in real time the molecular movement of oils interacting with living cells  This process has been applied to epithelial cells, fibroblast cells, cancer cells, kidney cells and dozens of other types of living human cells.  Ultimately, this process allows one to qualify essential oils for their efficacy of working at the origin of all human health, namely the human cells. 

NOTE: These are actual batch codes of a variety of essential oils.  Go to http://www.ameo.com/ameo-difference and type in any of these batch codes, and you'll see the live video of the cell active, cell permeability of that particular oil on live human cells.

 Science and Professional  Expertise

This is a team of research scientists, chemists, and medical and health care professionals who are skilled in many disciplines.  They will work synergistically with the company to verify and constantly seek to improve the clinical quality of the products.  They will offer their collective expertise to bring forwardd the latest research and clinical practices available throughout the world.  They will apply their expertise gathered through decades of clinical practice oil to eliminate any possibility of adulterated oils.  This professional expertise is called in the industry a "nose" or someone who has developed a professional aptitude in identifying any degree of adulteration.  They will also suggest the introduction of new products, new blends, training procedures and tools for use with essential oils.

The Delivery Standard

As a final step after passing all other tests, a company must bottle the oils in a lab that meets every

standard for clinical-grade products and ship them to your door in a way that preserves every constituent you are counting on.  You will want to know that the company can pass the highest standards for processing and shipping medical-quality products.  There may be companion products like lotions, capsules, and other related products thay are offering, so you will want to receive clear certification for the highest quality and manufacturing standards for all the products they carry.  For a company to meet the highest expectations of the most discerning consumers and health care professionals, they cannot compromise quality.  They must control for each elements as temperature, humidity and air quality.  Similarly, they must develop a lean manufacturing system where the oils are assembled in a rapid, reproducible and error-free way ensuring that no adulteration's or degradation's are introduced during the manufacturing process.

With this information, consider the intent of your purchase in essential oils.  Consider the fact that what you apply topically to your skin, gets into your blood stream.  What you inhale gets to your brain, and obviously what you ingest also is of consideration for a truly pure, clinical-grade essential oil.  When you're making laundry soap and cleaners, personal care products, or cooking, using the essential oils in a health related purpose, don't you want the very best you can get, recognized by researchers world wide, by world renown authorities, and by more testing than most oils are put through.  Don't you want an oil that you know to be of a true clinical-grade? 

http://ClinicalGradeEssentialOils.myameo.com