Essential Oils – Nature’s Most Powerful Anti-Oxidant! Part 1
By Wayne Gendel
Essential Oils have very powerful healing properties and incredible anti-oxidant potential. Anti-oxidant as defined by Natural Pharmacy Alternative Medicine (“Against oxidation”) is a natural bio-chemical substance that protects living cells against damage from harmful free radicals. Anti-oxidants work against the process of oxidation – the robbing of electrons. If unblocked or left uncontrolled, oxidation can lead to cellular degeneration, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses.
Anti-oxidants in the body react readily with oxygen breakdown products and free radicals and neutralize them before they can damage the body. Anti-oxidant nutrients include vitamins A, C and E, beta carotene, selenium, co-enzyme Q10, pycnogenol (grape seed extract), L-glutathione, superoxide dismutase and bioflavonoids. Plant anti-oxidants include Gingko Biloba and garlic. When anti-oxidants are taken in combination, the effect is stronger than when they are used individually, so all of us need to be consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to get enough anti-oxidants to keep healthy. With air, water, radiation pollution, poor quality weak genetically modified and non organic foods, we need quality products to keep our immune systems strong.
What you will see below is a chart showing why it is so necessary today to at least occasionally cleanse or take super concentrated foods such as fresh squeezed juices, spirulina, herbs and essential oils to keep healthy on this planet. Poor diet, emotional and psychological stress can reduce your body immune system’s ability to keep healthy. Not to mention the extra negative burden caused by EMFs emitted by computers and cell phones!
One thing the definition of anti-oxidants does not mention is that anti-oxidants are best if they are from nature and are not destroyed by poor processing methods. This is why it is necessary to purchase quality supplement products and foods.
The February/March 2001 issue of Natural Medicine Alert, published by the Young Life Research Clinic (YLRC) and Institute of Natural Medicine contained an article entitled: “Fruits and Premature Aging”. It was thoroughly documented with 80 cited references. It stated that most free radicals contain electrically unbalanced oxygen atoms. Free radical molecules frantically look for missing electron and can aggressively attack our tissues and cells causing unhealthy mutations and irreversible damage. In addition to suppressing our immune system it can also affect us by accelerated aging and a host of other maladies. It can even damage the DNA of our cells permanently if we continuosly receive vaccinations and long term or excess medications.
There are foods and substances rich in anti-oxidants that absorb free radicals, so the more you partake of these, the more youthful and disease-free you will remain.
Scientists at Tufts University have developed a scale for the U.S. Department of Agriculture called the ORAC (ORAC-Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) test. The higher the ORAC score, the more capable that particular food is of destroying free radicals, thus reducing the ageing process and preventing diseases. The top natural antioxidant foods, as determined by Tufts University so far, are as follows:
FOOD ORAC SCORES (based on a 3.5 oz (100 ml) sample)
| Carrots 210 | Oranges 750 |
| Beets 840 | Raspberries 1,220 |
| Strawberries 1,540 | Blueberries 2,400 |
Cherries, Cranberries, Apricots, Elderberries, Pomegranates and Huckleberries also score very high.
ESSENTIAL OILS have the highest ORAC scores. In fact essential oils have the highest ORAC scores of any known substance! According to the Essential Oils Desk Reference, 2nd ED., they are as follows:
ESSENTIAL OILS – BOTANICAL NAME ORAC SCORE
| Sandalwood (Santalum Album) 1,655 | Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) 2,446 |
| Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) 2,517 | Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) 3,309 |
| Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) 3,669 | Spearmint (Mentha spicata) 5,398 |
| Helichrysum (Helichrysum italicum) 17,420 | Lemongrass (Cymbopogen flexuosus) 17,765 |
| Orange (Citrus aurantium) 18,898 | Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) 24,157 |
| Rose of Sharon (Cistus ladanifer) 38,648 | Cinnamon Bark (Cinnamamum verum) 103,448 |
| Mountain Savory (Satureja montana) 113,071 | Oregano (Origanum compactum) 153,007 |
| Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) 159,590 | Clove (Syzigium aromaticum) 10,786,875 |
Compare these numbers with the berries and you can see how potent essential oils really are. Clove is the highest rated essential oil with an ORAC score over 10 million! To emphasize, a 15 ml bottle of Clove Oil has the anti-oxidant capacity of 150 lb of carrots, 40 quarts of blueberries or 16 gallons of beet juice.
TWO DROPS OF ESSENTIAL OIL OF CLOVE have the anti-oxidant power of 5 lb of carrots, 2.5 quarts of carrot juice, 10 oranges, 20 ounces or orange juice, 2.5 pounds of beets, 1 pint of beet juice, 4 cups of raspberries or 2.5 cups of blueberries. This means a drop of clove in your drinking water or a drop of any edible essential oil in anything you eat, is good for long healthy living, and you don’t have to eat a dozen oranges or drink a quart of beet juice every day to achieve it.
References:
Grade A Notes, published by Melodie & Brandon Kanter
The ORAC test developed by scientists at Tufts University for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.