The Whole Plant – Nature’s Perfect Recipe

It was a wet, cool January week with a brisk wind and thick fog blanketing the town, and some family members had the sniffles.  This called for a spicy soup, light but hearty, to warm up our engines and motivate our bodies to get going and be healthy.  I made Mexican vegetable soup, the star ingredient being cumin powder, the aroma of the spice permeated the house as it cooked, and at dinner, it was the key taste in the broth.  Other important ingredients were the onions sautéed with butter, thyme, crushed jalapenos, garlic, salt and pepper, and three types of peppers vibrantly colored and freshly diced.  My favorite jar of salsa went into the crockpot, some black beans, corn, vegetable stock, and diced tomatoes.  The soup garnishes gave the meal some substance; avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, and blue corn tortilla chips.  I decorated my soup with avocado and sour cream while my husband used cheese and chips.  And as every individual has differing preferences, my husband, friend and I loved the soup, but my seventeen year old son found it to have too many vegetables.  I offered to heat up a large chicken breast to add to his soup.

This recipe sets the stage to understanding that with herbs and essential oils, isolating the star constituent from the plant affects the synergistic beauty of all the components and how they form an amazing recipe together.  Cumin was the dominant flavor of the soup, but the onions, garlic, tomatoes, etc.. were also very significant components.  Cumin alone would be too strong and is thus used in very small amounts as a spice in recipes.  As an ingredient in Indian dishes, it would have a totally different flavor outcome.  In summary:

• One recipe ingredient can be the star of the dish, but it may still need the other ingredients to taste great.  Being yummy all by itself is not the case with cumin, but the fresh bell peppers could be eaten alone or with other ingredients. Further, a stand alone ingredient could be too strong and unsafe to eat in large amounts or by itself.
• A single ingredient can also be part of a totally different recipe that tastes its own unique way and has its own benefits as is the case with using cumin in curry versus cumin in Mexican soup.
• Individuals like differing flavors with unique responses to a  recipe and thus it is good to offer modifications to customize flavor preferences.

Let’s now look at an analogy that compares food recipes and their ingredients to essential oils and their constituents.  Lavender (Lavandula angustifolium or L. officinalis) is one of the top essential oils with scientific research to back up therapeutic actions.  When Mother Nature is in here kitchen, here are a few key ingredients she uses to make lavender oil:

Key Constituents:

• Linalyl acetate – about 40% – This is an ester also found in clary sage, petitgrain, and bergamot.
• Linalool – about 32% – This is an alcohol also found in bay, bergamot, coriander, ho, lavender, and rosewood.
• Beta-ocimene – about 7% – This is a monoterpene also found in basil.
• Other constituents in smaller amounts include beta-caryophyllene, lavendulyl acetate, terpinen-4-ol, 3-octanone, lavendulol, 1,8-cineole, and camphor.

Looking at the scientific research, active constituents in lavender that cause therapeutic actions are sometimes identified and other times the whole plant is discussed.  Further, lavender is sometimes mixed with other essential oils to create a therapeutic blend, similar to adding the avocado and sour cream to the soup.  Below are some examples of research categorized by therapeutic action showing a variety of “recipe” scenarios.

To reduce anxiety 

• Linalool is the major constituent involved in the anti-anxiety effect of lavender oil. (1) .
• Research has demonstrated that linalyl acetate works synergistically with linalool as an inhaled anti-anxiety treatment (2).
• There was a sedative effect in mice from lavender and linalool (3).
• Those patients who inhaled a blend of lavender, ylang ylang and bergamot had reduces psychological stress responses, serum cortisol levels, and blood pressure (4).
• Aromatherapy of lavender, peppermint, rosemary, and clary sage reduced stress in nursing students (5).
• Lavender and rosemary inhalation protects the body from oxidative stress by enhancing free radical scavenging activity and decrease the stress hormone, cortisol (6).

To improve attention 

• Lavender and eucalyptus increased reaction time and improved attention in humans (7).

Antimicrobial effects 

• Linalyl acetate and linalool of Salvia sclarea were antifungal in vitro against three soil-borne pathogens (8).
• Hospice patients with terminal cancer had improved oral health by reducing bacteria using a mixture including geranium, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint (9).
• L. angustifolia combined with Cinnamomum zeylanicum or Citrus sinensis was effective against C. albicans and S. aureus (10).

Pain reduction

• Acupressure using lavender, rosemary, and peppermint was more effective than just acupressure alone in relieving shoulder pain in stroke patients (11).
• Essential oil of L. angustifolia, as well as linalyl acetate and linalol had a local anaesthetic effect in rats (12).
• Essential oil of bergamot has anti-nociceptive and anti-allodynic effects that could be used to treat chronic pain.  Linalool and linalyl acetate are key constituents (13).
• Essential oil of L. angustifolia, linalyl acetate and linalol had a local anaesthetic effect in rats (14).
• Linalool and linalyl acetate were anti-inflammatory in rats (15).

Pest reducing activity

• The constituent lavandulol has also been found in the pheromones of mealybugs (Planococcus kraunhiae) and can aid in mating disruption (16).
• The knockdown time of nymphs in minutes by constituents was 117.2 (eucalyptol), 408.7 (linalool), 474.0 (menthone), and 484.2 (limonene). While the repellent effect was quite lesser than that of deet, eucalyptol was 3.5 times less toxic (17).
• Certain monoterpenoids from O. majorana essential oil, including linalool, terpinen-4-ol and α-terpineol may be effective in a treatment for head lice (18).

This is just a short glimpse of the research available on lavender and/or its constituents.  Note that some of the research discusses constituents that also happen to be found in lavender, but are isolated from a different plant and found to have a therapeutic action.  Can this research also be applied to lavender; in some cases it can but not always.

On a final note, just like you can eat too much food and feel sick after, or even worse, if you ate cumin by itself you might really get nauseous, essential oils are potent and there is a small therapeutic dose that is just right to be healthy; this is called the therapeutic margin.  Isolating the constituents can affect therapeutic action and also be too harsh.  Blending essential oils with a carrier oil can make for a gentle and effective mix.  And speaking of mixing things up, here’s the recipe for Mexican Vegetable Soup:

Mexican Vegetable Soup

• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
• 3 diced bell peppers
• 1 diced Anaheim pepper
• 2 tablespoons of ground cumin
• 1 jar of salsa
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• 8 cups of vegetable broth
• 8 ounces of corn
• 8 ounces of precooked black beans
• 3 zucchini cut in circle slices
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes:

• Avocado
• Sour cream
• Cilantro
• Cheese
• Tortilla chips
• Lime juice
• Chicken

Instructions:

• Sautee the onions, butter, garlic, jalapeno, and thyme
• Mix all ingredients together in a crockpot and cock on low for 8 hours
• Add garnishes as desired

References

1. Umezu, T., Nagano, K., Ito, H., Kosakai, K., Sakaniwa, M., & Morita, M. (2006). Anti-conflict effects of lavender oil and identification of its active constituents. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 85(4), 713-721.
2. Takahashi, M., Satou, T., Ohashi, M., Hayashi, S., Sadamoto, K., & Koike, K. (2011). Interspecies comparison of chemical composition and anxiolytic-like effects of lavender oils upon inhalation. Natural product communications, 6(11), 1769-1774.
3. Buchbauer, G., Jirovetz, L., & Jäger, W. (1991). Aromatherapy: evidence for sedative effects of the essential oil of lavender after inhalation. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C, 46(11-12), 1067-1072
4. Hwang, J. H. (2006). [The effects of the inhalation method using essential oils on blood pressure and stress responses of clients with essential hypertension]. Taehan Kanho Hakhoe Chi, 36(7), 1123-1134.
5. Park, M. K., & Lee, E. S. (2004). [The effect of aroma inhalation method on stress responses of nursing students]. Taehan Kanho Hakhoe Chi, 34(2), 344-351.
6. Atsumi, T., & Tonosaki, K. (2007). Smelling lavender and rosemary increases free radical scavenging activity and decreases cortisol level in saliva. Psychiatry Research, 150(1), 89-96.
7. Shimizu, K., Gyokusen, M., Kitamura, S., Kawabe, T., Kozaki, T., Ishibashi, K., … & Kondo, R. (2008). Essential oil of lavender inhibited the decreased attention during a long-term task in humans. Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 72(7), 1944-1947.
8. Pitarokili, D., Couladis, M., Petsikos-Panayotarou, N., & Tzakou, O. (2002). Composition and antifungal activity on soil-borne pathogens of the essential oil of Salvia sclarea from Greece. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 50(23), 6688-6691.
9. Kang, H. Y., Na, S. S., & Kim, Y. K. (2010). Effects of Oral Care with Essential Oil on Improvement in Oral Health Status of Hospice Patients. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 40(4)
10. de Rapper, S., Kamatou, G., Viljoen, A., & van Vuuren, S. (2013). The in vitro antimicrobial activity of Lavandula angustifolia essential oil in combination with other aroma-therapeutic oils. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013.
11. Shin, B. C., & Lee, M. S. (2007). Effects of aromatherapy acupressure on hemiplegic shoulder pain and motor power in stroke patients: a pilot study. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 13(2), 247-252.
12. Ghelardini, C., Galeotti, N., Salvatore, G., & Mazzanti, G. (1999). Local anaesthetic activity of the essential oil of Lavandula angustifolia. Planta medica, 65(08), 700-703.
13. Rombolà, L., Amantea, D., Russo, R., Adornetto, A., Berliocchi, L., Tridico, L., … & Morrone, L. A. (2016). Rational Basis for the Use of Bergamot Essential Oil in Complementary Medicine to Treat Chronic Pain. Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry, 16(9), 721-728.
14. Ghelardini, C., Galeotti, N., Salvatore, G., & Mazzanti, G. (1999). Local anaesthetic activity of the essential oil of Lavandula angustifolia. Planta medica, 65(08), 700-703.
15. Peana, A. T., D’Aquila, P. S., Panin, F., Serra, G., Pippia, P., & Moretti, M. D. L. (2002). Anti-inflammatory activity of linalool and linalyl acetate constituents of essential oils. Phytomedicine, 9(8), 721-726.
16. Tabata, J., Teshiba, M., Shimizu, N., & Sugie, H. (2015). Mealybug mating disruption by a sex pheromone derived from lavender essential oil. Journal of Essential Oil Research, 27(3), 232-237.
17. Sfara, V., Zerba, E. N., & Alzogaray, R. A. (2009). Fumigant insecticidal activity and repellent effect of five essential oils and seven monoterpenes on first-instar nymphs of Rhodnius prolixus. Journal of medical entomology, 46(3), 511-515.
18. Yang, Y. C., Lee, S. H., Clark, J. M., & Ahn, Y. J. (2009). Ovicidal and adulticidal activities of Origanum majorana essential oil constituents against insecticide-susceptible and pyrethroid/malathion-resistant Pediculus humanus capitis (Anoplura: Pediculidae). Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 57(6), 2282-2287.

By: Kathy Sadowski

1/3/18

The listings of research represent a compilation of scientific articles found on the species, with a very brief overview description of each article/study.  Research found is catalogued by therapeutic action.  This categorized compilation of research articles does not necessarily imply that there are adequate results to demonstrate safe and/or effective human use. These statements are not meant to diagnose, treat, or cure any diseases. The information at this page has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Consult a Doctor before using herbs and essential oils if you have medical conditions, are taking medications, or have questions.