| Pharmacists, along with other health care professionals, are being encouraged
to evaluate complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) from a more
scientific point of view and recommend to patients only those therapies
that are accompanied by some evidence to support their use. Unfortunately,
acquiring reliable evidence on CAM is not easy, so this book is a welcome
addition to the rather sparse scientific literature on aromatherapy.
It brings together the evidence available and explains it well, discussing
safety and efficacy issues that affect the use of essential oils and
explains why external application may not produce similar effects to
internal administration. Various other misconceptions are also addressed
in this book, such as the idea that the essential oil distilled from
a herb is equally as safe as a herb in the form of tea.
The book is composed of eight general chapters and around 80 monographs
which provide detailed information on important oils, including the popular
basil, cassia, geranium, frankincense, lavender, tea tree, orange, rosemary
and peppermint, as well as the lesser known elecampane, kanuka and manuka.
These monographs cover adulteration, toxicity, irritancy and sensitisation,
use in food and perfume, and general bioactivity.
There are specific sections dealing with use in pregnancy and lactation
and in young children. These are important given that women are most
likely to use essential oils for themselves and their families and are
also likely to purchase them from a pharmacy.
The chapters cover topics such as the “science of smell and psychological
effect”, the “bioactivity of essential oils” and “legislation:
past, present and future” — all are generally interesting,
useful and well-referenced. There is often a further discussion of the
use of the medicinal plant from which the oil is obtained, which potentially
gives the book a wider appeal.
Although the information given in this book is relevant to anyone interested
in either aromatherapy or essential oils, it could be most useful for
pharmacists. Patients often use CAM without consulting their doctor,
so pharmacists may be in a particularly advantageous position to intervene
or give advice. They frequently sell essential oils, often have access
to medicines’ records and usually have a good relationship with
the patient.
There is no question that essential oils have pharmacological activity,
but many of the studies demonstrating this have been done on isolated
tissue or after oral ingestion. Their effect after aromatherapy massage
will largely depend on penetration through the skin. These are pharmaceutical
issues of course, so pharmacists are ideally placed not only to understand
them, but also to explain them to patients.
Maria Lis-Balchin has published widely in the area of essential oil pharmacology
and in this book she has produced an authoritative and invaluable reference
source.
Elizabeth Williamson
Elizabeth Williamson is director of pharmacy practice at the University
of Reading
School of Pharmacy
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal