The scents which permeate our health spas from aromatic essential oils may provide more benefits than just a sense of rest and well-being.
For according to a new study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the essential oils which form the basis of aromatherapy for stress relief are also reported to have a beneficial effect on heart rate and blood pressure following short-term exposure – and may therefore reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, on the downside, those beneficial effects were reversed when exposure to essential oils lasted more than an hour.
The study was performed in men and women working in various spa centers in the city of Taipei in Taiwan, where the traditions of ancient Chinese civilizations are maintained in religious ceremonies and healing therapies.
Aromatherapy, as practiced today, is still presented as natural healing with essential oils extracted by infusion from aromatic plants.
One hundred young, healthy non-smoking spa workers taking part in the study visited the study center on three occasions (about once a week), when each volunteer was exposed to vapors of essential oils released from an ultrasonic ionizer for two hours.
During this time and on each visit three repeated measurements – resting heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) – were taken from each spa worker in the study room, a small space measuring 4 meters in height by 3.5 meters in length and 3.2 meters in width. Before each participant entered the study room, 100 percent pure bergamot essential oil was vaporised for 1 hour.
Essential oils are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) composed of hundreds of aromatic chemicals, and VOC levels in the room were also measured throughout the study period.
Results showed (after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, day of the week, and visit order) that the room’s VOC level was significantly associated with reduced blood pressure and heart rate for between 15 and 60 minutes after the start of exposure.
These associations were statistically significant. For example, after 45 minutes exposure 15-minute SBP had reduced by a mean of 2.10 mmHg and heart rate by 2.21 beats per minute.
However, after exposure for more than 1 hour – from 75 to 120 minutes after the start of exposure – VOC levels became associated with an increased 15-minute mean blood pressure and heart rate.
After 120 minutes, for example, mean SBP had risen from baseline by 2.19 mmHg, and heart rate by 1.70 beats per minutes.
Thus, say the authors, “prolonged exposure for longer than 1 hour to essential oils may be harmful to cardiovascular health in young, healthy subjects”.
As background to the study the authors note that aromatherapy has long been used for stress relief and associated with some healing properties.
Even exposure to the essential oil vapors from fragrant candles has been found to reduce test-taking anxiety among nursing school students in the USA.
However, said investigator Dr. Kai-Jen Chuang from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, it is still unknown if exposure to essential oil increases the risk of cardiovascular events through a partial effect on blood pressure and heart rate.
“Our results suggest that exposure to essential oil for 1 hour would be effective in reducing heart rate and blood pressure,” said Dr. Chuang. “However, the most interesting finding of our study is that exposure to essential oil for over an hour was associated with elevated blood pressure and heart rate.”
Dr. Chuang explained that, although the effect of essential oils on stress reduction has been well documented, epidemiological studies have reported an association between VOCs and cardiopulmonary effects – asthma among hairdressers, for example.
Studies by Chuang’s own group in Taiwan have already shown that exposure to VOCs for over an hour in hair salons can lead to increased serum levels of C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) and 8-OhdG (a marker of oxidative stress).
Overexposure to essential oils, he suggested, may in such ways be harmful to cardiovascular health in young, healthy subjects.
He also noted the opinion of the American Heart Association on air pollution in the development of cardiovascular disease.
This acknowledges the direct effects of air pollution on the lung and cardiovascular system through neural and central mechanisms to cause a systemic inflammatory response.
“These potential biological processes may also be applied to the adverse effects of VOC exposure on cardiovascular health, although at this time there is no proof available for this hypothesis,” said Dr. Chuang.
A false advertising lawsuit filed in Santa Cruz County by the district attorneys of several California counties against the maker of a diet product was settled last week when the defendants agreed to the terms of a judgment against both companies.
The district attorneys of Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Solano sued Sensa Products LLC, a Delaware company and its parent company, Intelligent Beauty, Inc., a Delaware Corp., according to Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch.
“District attorneys and law enforcement agencies will continue to work together regionally to protect consumers from products that are sold with false and misleading claims,” she said.
The so-called Sensa “sprinkle diet” is sold nationwide and became the subject of a Statewide Nutritional Supplement Task Force investigation after claiming the efficacy of the product had been clinically proven in the largest clinical study ever conducted.
Sensa claims consumers will lose weight by sprinkling their flavored “tastants” on their food.
As part of the final judgment the defendants agreed to pay civil penalties and costs in the amount of $800,000 to be used for the enforcement of consumer protection laws and restitution to California customers of $105,000.
Sensa Products LLC and Intelligent Beauty Inc. are permanently enjoined from making any claims regarding the efficacy or effects of any of their products without possessing competent and reliable scientific evidence that substantiates the claims.
They also are prohibited from continuing to charge customers for shipments sent after a customer has asked to stop shipments, from enrolling a customer in an automatic shipment program without a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the customer’s obligations and before obtaining the customer’s affirmative consent, and from advertising a refund policy unless they clearly, conspicuously and in close proximity disclose any exclusions to the policy.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Cheever handled the case for Sonoma County.
Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a virus commonly found in dogs may serve as the foundation for the next great breakthrough in human vaccine development.
Although harmless in humans, parainfluenza virus 5, or PIV5, is thought to contribute to upper respiratory infections in dogs, and it is a common target for canine vaccines designed to prevent kennel cough. In a paper published recently in PLOS ONE, researchers describe how this virus could be used in humans to protect against diseases that have eluded vaccine efforts for decades.
“We can use this virus as a vector for all kinds of pathogens that are difficult to vaccinate against,” said Biao He, the study’s principal investigator and professor of infectious diseases in UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “We have developed a very strong H5N1 flu vaccine with this technique, but we are also working on vaccines for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.”
PIV5 does not cause disease in humans, as our immune system is able to recognize and destroy it. By placing antigens from other viruses or parasites inside PIV5, it effectively becomes a delivery vehicle that exposes the human immune system to important pathogens and allows it to create the antibodies that will protect against future infection.
This approach not only ensures full exposure to the vaccine but also is much safer because it does not require the use of attenuated, or weakened, pathogens. For example, an HIV vaccine delivered by PIV5 would contain only those parts of the HIV virus necessary to create immunity, making it impossible to contract the disease from the vaccine.
“Safety is always our number one concern,” said He, who is also a Georgia Research Alliance distinguished investigator and member of the Faculty of Infectious Diseases. “PIV5 makes it much easier to vaccinate without having to use live pathogens.”
Using viruses as a delivery mechanism for vaccines is not a new technique, but previous efforts have been fraught with difficulty. If humans or animals already possess a strong immunity to the virus used for delivery, the vaccine is unlikely to work, as it will be destroyed by the immune system too quickly.
“Pre-existing immunity to viruses is the main reason most of these vaccines fail,” He said.
But in this latest study, He and his colleagues demonstrate that immunity to PIV5 does not limit its effectiveness as a vaccine delivery mechanism, even though many animals–including humans– already carry antibodies against it.
In their experiments, the researchers found that a single dose inoculation using PIV5 protected mice from the influenza strain that causes seasonal flu. Another single dose experimental vaccine also protected mice from the highly pathogenic and deadly H5N1 virus commonly known as bird flu.
This recent work is a culmination of more than fifteen years of research and experimentation with the PIV5 virus, and He has confidence that it will serve as an excellent foundation for vaccines to treat diseases in both animals and humans.
“I believe we have the best H5N1 vaccine candidate in existence,” He said. “But we have also opened up a big field for a host of new vaccines.”
An active lifestyle helps preserve gray matter in the brains of older adults and could reduce the burden of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Dementia exacts a staggering toll on society. More than 35 million people worldwide are living with the disease, according to the World Health Organization, and the prevalence is expected to double by 2030. AD is the most common cause of dementia and currently has no cure.
Cyrus Raji, M.D., Ph.D., radiology resident at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues recently examined how an active lifestyle can influence brain structure in 876 adults, average age 78 years, drawn from the multisite Cardiovascular Health Study. The patients’ condition ranged from normal cognition to Alzheimer’s dementia.
“We had 20 years of clinical data on this group, including body mass index and lifestyle habits,” Dr. Raji said. “We drew our patients from four sites across the country, and we were able to assess energy output in the form of kilocalories per week.”
The lifestyle factors examined included recreational sports, gardening and yard work, bicycling, dancing and riding an exercise cycle.
The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a technique called voxel-based morphometry to model the relationships between energy output and gray matter volume.
“Voxel-based morphometry is an advanced method that allows a computer to analyze an MR image and build a mathematical model that helps us to understand the relationship between active lifestyle and gray matter volume,” Dr. Raji said. “Gray matter volume is a key marker of brain health. Larger gray matter volume means a healthier brain. Shrinking volume is seen in Alzheimer’s disease.”
After controlling for age, head size, cognitive impairment, gender, body mass index, education, study site location and white matter disease, the researchers found a strong association between energy output and gray matter volumes in areas of the brain crucial for cognitive function.
Greater caloric expenditure was related to larger gray matter volumes in the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, including the hippocampus, posterior cingulate and basal ganglia.
There was a strong association between high energy output and greater gray matter volume in patients with mild cognitive impairment and AD.
“Gray matter includes neurons that function in cognition and higher order cognitive processes,” Dr. Raji said. “The areas of the brain that benefited from an active lifestyle are the ones that consume the most energy and are very sensitive to damage.”
A key aspect of the study was its focus on having variety in lifestyle choices, Dr. Raji noted.
“What struck me most about the study results is that it is not one but a combination of lifestyle choices and activities that benefit the brain,” he said.
Dr. Raji said the positive influence of an active lifestyle on the brain was likely due to improved vascular health.
“Virtually all of the physical activities examined in this study are some variation of aerobic physical activity, which we know from other work can improve cerebral blood flow and strengthen neuronal connections,” he said.
“Additional work needs to be done,” Dr. Raji added. “However, our initial results show that brain aging can be alleviated through an active lifestyle.”