the aromaconnection blog

Notes and News

• The online Perfumer&Flavorist features a visit to Shady Lane Farms, a mint farm in Indiana, complete with a photo album that includes harvesting and distillation.
• HerbalGram #79 (August-October 2008) features Valerian as its Herbal Profile. It also includes a short article on the NPA Natural Seal program, a Research Review on the efficacy of South African Geranium (Pelargoinium sidoides) in the treatment of acute bronchitis, and a feature article on the African fixed oil Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) that may have some value for personal care products.
• According to Natural Products Insider, an Oregano Manufacturer has paid $2.5 million to settle an FTC case for claims that its oregano oil and capsules could kill germs.  Airborne settled a similar case that it did not have adequate evidence to support its advertising claims.
• Botany Photo of the Day featured Sitka Valerian on August 8, with links to pollinator information.
• 1000fragrances blogs about the invention of "a device for obtaining perfume from living plants"--160 years ago.

Notes and News

• Organic Monitor reports that there is an increase in the acreage of organic citrus groves in Florida. They focus on juice, but this should lead to better availability of organic citrus oils. 
• The C.A.M. Report has resurrected the Lavender/Tea Tree Gynecomastia issue again, by reposting an old post from 2007 without updating it to include information about challenges to the original research. 
• In the same post the C.A.M. report mentioned (without citation) a report that in 2005 essential oils were linked to 7,282 reports to poison control centers. UPDATE: JR forwarded the citation in a comment. He reported on this in the C.A.M. Report here. The article cited was here. The original source (PDF) of the data was the 2005 report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
• A new blog on food and local agriculture has been added to our Agriculture Horticulture link roll: La Vida Locavore.  Worth checking out if you like food.

Aromatherapy Thymes Notable Launch

MrMagazine.com, a website/blog for the magazine industry, has declared Aromatherapy Thymes magazine as one of the "30 Most Notable Launches of 2007."

There are many health and medicine magazines jockeying for a position on today’s newsstands, but few give readers the type of information that Aroma Therapy provides which is why it has made it on the list of top launches for 2007.

Mr. Magazine has interviewed Patricia Carol Brooks, the Editorial Director, about the process of creating the magazine. She found her two biggest challenges to be "maintaining the integrity of the essential oil trade through informative articles and staying in contact with essential oil distillers in the U.S and abroad and coordinating the distribution channels for our market." By 2011 she expects the magazine to be "recognized worldwide as a reliable reference for aromatherapy and a publication that brought the distilling, trade, sell and distribution of essential oils to forefront."

There were a total of 715 new magazines launched in 2007, so this actually a fairly significant honor.

The blog link for the interviews is here. (The link above is to their web page, which is slightly abridged.)

Notes and News

• P&F has gleaned statistics from Datamonitor on the growth of  the Fair Trade market, stating that "ethical consumerism will increasingly come to the fore as people shop for products they feel akin to politically, ethically and aesthetically."  Aromatic extracts such as essential oils, CO2's and absolutes are not even on the radar screen with the  regulators such as Transfair  and flo-cert.  My report on Cote d'Ivoire cacao production revealed that determining abuses will not be an easy job. The P&F article predicts a 15.7% growth through 2012 for the countries covered, concluding that "transparency and trust will become increasingly important currency in the emerging  'green'  marketplace." 
• Insect repellent products made with  Nepeta cataria should carry a warning to caution people not to use when hiking in areas where Cougars, Lynx, Bobcats or other large cats are present.  All cats (even those big guys) are attracted to catnip, and forest rangers have begun using it to attract Cougars for tagging and research.  All cats will have a physiological reaction to the chemical compound nepetalactone in catnip which has been found to induce a psychosexual response in both male and female cats. One might say that catnip has an aphrodisiac effect, however some cats can be very possessive of their catnip, and some cats have been aggressive after use.  We highly recommend that product manufacturers alert their customers of this potential danger. 
• As reported by Jennifer Minigh, PhD, in ABC's (American Botanical Society) Herbclip, a recent double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial published in BJOG (British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2008) shows that saffron Crocus sativus L. looks promising for treating PMS (premenstrual syndrome).   Using the dried stigma encapsulated, saffron was effective in treating mild to moderate depression via serotonergic mechanisms.  This is likely the first study of saffron's effects on PMS, with 50 women participating ages 24-50 and comparisons to other studies are therefore probably not possible. 
• An upcoming Sandalwood Conference to be held in Kununurra, WA  promises to  "Revolutionize the Global Indian Sandalwood Supply."  Rob blogged about this briefly when news of the crop development and establishment of a production plant in Kununurra came out in December.  This news is creating new excitement, as expressed by Georges Ferrando, from Albert Vieille, who says with a processing plant due to be built in Kununurra next year, the region will become a world leader within five years.  "India is number one in supplying sandalwood oil, but I think very, very quickly, Kununurra will become the supplier number one in the world".  The growers are expecting the first harvest in 2014.  The conference will  present comparisons of plantation-grown Santalum album to that grown in the wild, an overview of the international fragrance market, the uses of naturals in fragrance, setting standards for a reliable supply, as well as cover issues of indigenous participation and environmental responsibilities.  In addition to featured presentations, there will be round table discussions and plantation tours.

Botany Photo of the Day: Laurus nobilis

Laurus nobilis is the featured species at Botany Photo of the Day with information provided by Connor Fitzpatrick from the Global Facilitation Unit for underutilized species.   They are doing a series on underutilized plants.  Another species featured in this series is Sea buckthorn berry.

Ultrasound Assisted Essential Oil Extraction

 Sample Preparation (an Online magazine) has reviewed a paper that has been accepted for publication in the journal Talanta entitled "Ultrasound-assisted dynamic extraction of valuable compounds from aromatic plants and flowers as compared with steam distillation and superheated liquid extraction." The system was used to extract essential oils from dried leaves of laurel, rosemary, thyme, oregano and tuberose, as well as tuberose flowers (it didn't work well for the tuberose). When compared to the SD and SWE extractions with MSGC, there were higher amounts of more volatile EO components, which the researchers say will be closer to the natural smell of the plants.

The team recommend UAE for the extraction of aroma compounds from natural products, due to its speed, low energy and equipment costs, and relatively high yields.

No information was presented in the review about how UAE extracted oils might work in aromatherapy, and they didn't compare them to CO2 extractions, but it sounds like they might be comparable to CO2 because there is no heat applied.

Technorati Tags: aromatherapy,essential oils,ultrasound,ultrasound assisted extraction,Talanta 2008

New pepper species found

Indian scientists report  the discovery of a new subspecies of pepper that has an essential oil yield from the fruit of up to 4 times the usual yield of cultivated peppers. With development it could lead to greater production and availability of oil. Not too many details in this article from the Financial Express, but it was found in the wild in the Agasthyamala belt of the Western Ghats in Kerala State.

Probably not much effect on the aromatherapy community right now, but it may bring out a new chemotype of pepper oil.

The pepper species was found by scientists from the Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute in Kerala, which is dedicated to the preservation of the biodiversity in Kerala state. The institute has active research ongoing in Phytochemistry and Ethnomedicine.

NEJM Gynecomastia Article now available for free

Just a note that the original article (February 2007) in the New England Journal of Medicine on Prepubertal Gynecomastia Linked to Lavender and Tea Tree Oils is now available here for free online. Apparently NEJM locks things up for about a year before publishing them at no charge. I imagine we will see another spate of media interest.

 

Technorati Tags: Lavender and Tea Tree Oils

Aromatic Beer on the way?

Beer and Ale brewers may be turning to herbs and aromatic plants to flavor beer in the face of increasing prices and possible scarcity of hops, the traditional beer ingredient since the 12th Century, according to an article in Guest On Tap, an online beer aficionados magazine published on the US West Coast.

With the increase in cost and scarcity of hops, brewers may turn to “gruit” beers. Before a German nun, Hildegard von Bingen, first promoted the use of hops in beer in the 12th century, brewers used gruit, blends of herbs and spices, to flavor their beers.
  Roots Organic Brewing Co. makes a gruit kolsch as its summer seasonal, flavored with mugwort, sweet gale, grains of paradise, chamomile and lavender. Roots Heather Ale uses the flowers of the heather plant to give that beer its dryness.
  Colorado’s New Belgium uses wormwood (the active ingredient in absinthe) to bitter its Springboard Ale, which also incorporates goji berries, schisandra and some Mount Hood hops for flavor.
  So enjoy those imperial IPAs as if they were your last, and look forward to some interesting beer flavors in the new year.

RIFM Opens its Fragrance/flavor database to nonmembers

According to an article in Beauty Packaging Magazine - Formerly Cosmetic Packaging & Design RIFM (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials) will open its Database of Fragrance and Flavor Materials to non-members directly engaged in the fragrance or flavor industry to allow them easy access to data to facilitate REACH registration. The database contains extensive information on more than 5000 fragrance and flavor materials,with over 53,000 references to more than 111,000 studies.

This may help the smaller fragrance manufacturers to comply with REACH, but since a subscription will still be necessary, it's not clear whether it will be cost effective for very small companies, and won't provide access to member company or RIFM sponsored full study reports.

REACH is a new European Community regulation on chemicals and their safe use (stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances) which entered into force on June 1, 2007.