For adult humans, 15-60 ml castor oil orally is used as a treatment for constipation. Castor oil has lot of therapeutic benefits, obviously, with the right dose.

Dr.Varun, yeah I read that but I read papers (Animal studies) that mentioned cytotoxicity and neurotoxicity of Castor oil, what is your take on these studies?

Hope you have heard the lines from Paracelsus "What is there that is not poison? All things are poison, and nothing is without poison."

The toxicity mentioned in animal studies will be at certain doses, and not at all doses. Moreover, some toxicities are also species related, which could express in one species but not in other. These are general things, as I am responding without seeing papers which you are refereing to.

Please see that although castor oil has therapeutic effect as the mentioned dosage of 15-60 ml in humans, but it could also show adverse effects if given in higher doses.

The seeds from Ricinus communis contain ricin, a higly toxic lecitin component.*)

Heating during the oil extraction process denatures and deactivates the lectin. Castor oil in doses of about 15 ml is used as a drastic purgative. The pharmacodynamic effect is due to the ricinoleic acid liberated by lipases in the dudodenum. Ricinolic acid has multiple effects on the intestinal mucosa. It can increase mucosal permeability and cause cytotoxicity associated with the relaese of eiocosanoids, platelet activating factor etc. Ricinolic acid disrupts the normal intestinal motiity and the combination of tese effects exert a powerful laxative action. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has categorized castor oil as "generally recognized as safe and effective" (GRASE).

*)Ricin has been involved in a number of incidents. In 1978, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was assassinated by Bulgarian secret police who surreptitiously shot him on a London street with a modified umbrella using compressed gas to fire a tiny pellet contaminated with ricin into his leg. He died in a hospital a few days later.

Dear

60 ml is more than safe in single dose, be careful the concentration and type of seeds is important

Regards

Hi Mostafa,

Castor Beans contain ricin, which is one of the deadliest organic compounds known.

Article Ricin Toxicity: Clinical and Molecular Aspects

However Castor Oil does not contain ricin.

https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB11113

re: toxicity of castor oil;

" Toxicity studies with castor oil were performed by incorporating the material at concentrations as high as 10% in diets given to F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice of both sexes for 13 weeks. Genetic toxicity studies also were performed and were negative for mutation induction in Salmonella typhimurium, for induction of sister chromatid exchanges or chromosomal aberrations in Chinese hamster ovary cells, and for induction of micronuclei in the peripheral blood erythrocytes of mice evaluated at the end of the 13-week studies.

Exposure to castor oil at dietary concentrations as high as 10% in 13-week studies did not affect survival or body weight gains of rats or mice (10 per sex and dose). There were no biologically significant effects noted in hematologic analyses in rats.

Mild increases in total bile acids and in serum alkaline phosphatase were noted at various times during the studies in rats receiving the higher dietary concentrations of castor oil. Liver weights were increased in male rats receiving the 10% dietary concentration and in male and female mice receiving diets containing 5% or 10% castor oil. However, there were no histopathologic lesions associated with these liver changes, nor were there any compound-related morphologic changes in any organ in rats or mice.

No significant changes were noted in a screening for male reproductive endpoints, including sperm count and motility, and no changes were observed in the length of estrous cycles of rats or mice given diets containing castor oil.

Thus, no significant adverse effects of castor oil administration were noted in these studies."

https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/st_rpts/tox012.pdf?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=prod&utm_campaign=ntpgolinks&utm_term=tox012