Dr. Oz Strikes Again

I guess we should be grateful to Dr. Oz for bringing essential oils to his audience. But the level of misinformation he gives out is appalling.

Three oils are featured in the above clip.

Manuka  (leptospermon scoparium)... he demonstrates its NEAT use...slathered all over a woman's calf, to treat cuts, bruises, irritated skin.  Well...I hope I've written enough about the dangers of using undiluted essential oils on broken skin that you all know better than that.  He also stated that Manuka is related to Tea Tree, and that Captain Cook brought Manuka back to Europe after his voyages.  Well, Tea tree is a melaleuca, not a leptospermon, and while Captain Cook may have brought the leaves back, he certainly did not learn about the essential oil from the New Zealand natives.

Lavender, for stress relief. We'll let that pass, although he did comment that it helped the libido.  Have never heard of lavender as an aphrodisiac, but we won't quibble.

Peppermint, for indigestion, and for IBS.  For indigestion, yes.  For IBS?  Sorry, but the research done on peppermint oil for irritable bowel system stresses the use of enteric coated capsules so that the peppermint oil will not affect the stomach but will pass directly through to the bowel before the capsule is dissolved. Hard to see how Peppermint oil in water could reach the bowel prior to the stomach acting on it.

I guess one out of three isn't bad.   Dr. Oz has such a huge audience who take his every word for gospel truth.  We appreciate his enthusiasm, but would really appreciate a bit of accuracy.