Essential Oil VOCs: Should I be concerned?
You might have heard someone claim that essential oils are VOCs and that is why they would NEVER use them. They are a danger, the air was tested after diffusing essential oils and there were-gasp-chemicals left over. You might have panicked reading this, thought that maybe you should ditch the essential oils and just live life fragrance free altogether. Before you decide to toss all your oils though, consider some things and make an informed decision on if you want to use essential oils. At the very least, know the facts before you throw the towel in on something. Not every natural minded mama blogger backs up their claims or digs further than a single article when tossing information out there.
So what are VOCs? Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs for short, are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. While this sounds scary, the word chemical is in fact one used to instill fear in something quite often, this term simply means that essential oils evaporate really easily. It means that they do not mix well with water, and that they are easily degraded by outside forces such as air or sunlight. If you have ever wondered why diffusing essential oils works so well, or why a bottle of your favorite oil smelled/looked different after it had been open for a long time, it is because essential oils are classified as volatile. I know that the world volatile makes it sound like these little bottles are walking bombs just waiting to release poison into our air but that isn’t the case. Volatile is simply describing essential oils as easily evaporated.
Okay, so VOC isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to essential oils. But what about the chemicals found in the air after diffusing? This is because (like everything) essential oils are made up of chemicals. We call these the constituents of the essential oil and each oil has a normal range for what constituents they contain. These are naturally occurring constituents that naturally make up what is the essential oil. Each oil contains several (if not hundreds) of these constituents, resulting in the particular essential oil. While some constituents might be dangerous in large doses, there just simply isn’t enough of them in essentials oils to cause a concern. Each of the essential oils on the market have been tested thoroughly and studied for years. Take Frankincense for example, it contains Toluene which in large concentrations is toxic. It is actually used a paint thinner in large concentrations, or synthetically derived to emulated the natural chemical. Again, as bad as this sounds, the concentration found in Frankincense (less than 1%) is not harmful. A lot of time the dose is what makes the poison, even in the natural setting.
Essential oils thus far, are not known to be toxic to breath in when used accordingly. There are no studies currently indicating that they are toxic or unsafe when used appropriately. Again the dose makes the poison. If you diffuse all day long and never give your body a break you are more likely to have a reaction or negative experience. If you are putting massive amounts of essential oil in the diffuser you are more likely to experience adverse effects. 3-5 drops of an essential oil per 100ml is a fine amount to diffuse. Diffusing for 30 minutes or less, maybe even just 15 minutes with children or elderly around. Read more about diffusing in my Diffusing Guide.
Fine, essential oils are thought to be safe but why did I see an article saying that because they are VOCs therefore they are unsafe? Like this article, talking about how essential oils are not essential, for example. I have several issues with the article in question, they look at the chemicals listed but they do not mention 1.) how much essential oil was diffused 2.) what VOC means in the context 3.) how long they were diffused for 4.) and the concentration of these chemicals in which one would be concerned. They also mentioned a coconut essential oil and that doesn’t exist so I’m concerned that they didn’t even take the time to get pure essential oils, let alone real ones. Coconut “essential oil” is most definitely a fragrance oil NOT and essential oil. You actually might find a lot of scents on the market sold as “essential oils” when they really aren’t. Like vanilla, it comes as an oleoresin (A naturally occurring mixture of essential oils and a resin, extracted from various plants such as pines and balsam fir.) yes but not a true essential oil. So if something is marketed as a pure essential oil but it isn’t possible to get that particular scent or plant as a pure essential oil that’s a red flag.
Here is another article (while entirely an opinion) I also take some concerns with because it doesn’t really explain the why behind a lot of what is said. The author also fails to fully understand what essential oils and aromatherapy really are. She takes the fact that science can’t definitively say why a plant produces essential oils to mean they are poison. She makes a good argument that the essential oil industry is a waste of plant matter, I actually agree with this and work on sustainability in the essential oil world. Many companies are so unsustainable, while many others work on preserving rare plant life or even working to bring back rarer plants. She goes on to state that essential oils can kill you gut flora (there is no proof to this) and that essential oils are comparable to second hand smoke (again no proof to this). There simply aren’t the studies to support this, however there are studies that show essential oils can be beneficial to those with asthma or congestion/breathing issues due to congestion.
We could honestly sit her all day going back and forth on if they are bad or not. the facts are, studies do not show essential oils to be harmful when used appropriately. Key word, appropriately. I know this is news to a lot of people who only have large essential oil companies as their form of education but if we look beyond the major companies that have monopolized (and destroyed) the essential oil industry we can see large benefits to aromatherapy as a whole. Since the dawn of time pretty smells have been working in favor in the human body, and aromatherapy as a science is backed with the studies to show that it can be incredibly beneficial.
So does this mean aromatherapy is for everyone? No. I don’t think that everyone needs it, should use it and I definitely don’t think that if you aren’t comfortable using essential oils you should just accept what people are saying (good or bad) and use them anyway. If you prefer to go sans essential oil great! If you love oils and were concerned about them being VOCs then this post is helpful to you. Essential oils being VOCs does not make them bad. The word volatile has many different meanings. With essential oils it really is just indicating that they evaporate quickly or can be damaged easily by air/sunlight. But they aren’t volatile in the sense they will explode or are releasing loads of harmful chemicals into the air. Each oil has been studied fairly thoroughly at this point, I recommend picking up the book Essential Oil Safety by Tisserand and Young if you are interested in seeing the research and break down on essential oils. There are a lot of studies in the world on essential oils and their use.
Some oils might need to be used with more care, some are actually really toxic (and not on the market) and some have some hefty guidelines with them. My recommendation is to simply follow the guidelines and use them appropriately, you are less likely to encounter a negative reaction or adverse effects. You are more likely to benefit from them, and just know that leading aromatherapists and chemists spend their lives researching these little plant molecules to ensure that we have the best information about them. They are not necessarily something to fear and they can be incredibly beneficial.
Check out what health line has to say about studies with aromatherapy for asthma here. While the research is there, it is also important to note that new research is being looked at daily and the research that is there is continually being improved upon. They look at the constituents in essential oils and determine their properties and what they could potentially do for certain symptoms. They also run animal or invitro studies, which while promising, are not a perfect answer to how these will work in humans. It’s important to always take the research as it is and recognize there is always room for improvement. But what we do have does show great promise.
Thank you so much for reading, your support means a lot. If you have any questions feel free to email me at holisticary@gmail.com or call/text me at 641-631-6355This blog post was meant to educate and entertain, it is entirely my opinion and not meant to treat or diagnose anyone or to be taken as absolute unwavering fact. Please seek proper medical care and advice. Some links might contain affiliate links, this is at no cost to you and helps the blog.