In a lot of studies, they consider essential oil as non-toxic, whereas it contains a significant amount of ketones and those are toxic!
for example, in absinthe we find thujone. And this plant is toxic.
Are we allowed to say that essential oils are natural and non-toxic than synthetic products?
Thujone was reported some toxicities, but every ketone compounds are not toxic.
Perillaketone contained in Perilla frutescens is toxic in some animals like cow and horse, and make them have pulmonary edema when they eat the herb. On the other hands, some of monkeys, apes and human being ordinary eat the herb containing perillaketone, in Korea and China those were often eaten.
Mint containing other ketone "menthone" has been used for flavouring and herbal medicines over the world, and you may chew gum containing it.
Every compounds are toxic and sometimes become medicine or food, i.e. toxicity or medicinal effects are up to the amount of those ketones who the one dosed.
Essential oils are actually natural, if those were not added some synthesised compounds though. And stated above, everything can be toxic and sometimes medicinally active. Thus, natural sourced ones are always not "safe" and "non-toxic." Because, there would be allergen (allergen is a toxin for allergic patients) and natural toxins like tetrodotoxin, and Botulinum toxin. And all the essential oils must not be "non-toxic."
Hi@Alexander Sinko
I agree with the answer added by Dr. Kakuyou Ogawa, that there is a toxicity dose for every compound. Hence, LD50 assays are recommended to evaluate the toxicity of test compounds.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Phytochemistry
- Extracts