A little knowledge...

Proving the old adage that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" is a supposedly scientific study of the efficacy of aromatherapy carried out by Ohio State University.

Researchers taped cotton balls of lemon essential oil or lavender essential oil underneath human guinea pig's noses! and were surprised that this had no effect on their immune systems. It's almost as ludicrous as wearing an aspirin around your neck to combat headaches, but even so, it's been reported with a straight face as "proving" that aromatherapy doesn't work.

It's obvious from the design of the experiment that the researchers involved didn't bother to find out how aromatherapy works. Instead, they leapt to the conclusion (as many lay people do at first) that the term aromatherapy means that smelling something pretty makes you well.

In fact, as you'll know if you're a regular reader, it is the complex mixture of volatile components which carry scent along with them - not the scent itself - that is therapeutic. These elements are absorbed into the body mostly through the skin (or in the case of certain symptoms they may indeed be breathed in, but significantly these weren't tested for).

It's almost as if the people who set the study up were deliberately trying to find a way to bring aromatherapy into disrepute. They didn't test for effectiveness in emotional, mood and respiratory complaints, where their methodology might have had some chance of working, but for a boost to the immune system, which requires absorption.

Hmm. Big Pharma anybody?