Essential Oils & Fertility

I am going to be doing a live today with Dr. Anne Huntington. I'm really looking forward to this. You know I'm all about incorporating Integrative Medicine into my practice, anything that can help optimize the plan of care.

Dr. Sueldo: -Hi, Dr. Huntington, how are you?

Dr. Huntington: -Hey there, good. How are you doing?

Dr. S: -Good, good. I'm so grateful to have you here today. I was just mentioning before you hopped on that I am just such a fan of adding integrative medicine to my practice and anything that can help optimize my patient's treatment journey. Especially in fertility, I feel like we're just, you know, starting to dip our toe into some of these integrative practices. Thank you so much for being here today. If you could please just go ahead and introduce yourself. I know your background, you're actually board certified internal med, right? So talk to me a little bit about your training, where you practice, all that good stuff.

Dr. H: -That's correct. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thanks for having me on. Hello everyone. So yes, internal medicine trained I trained at some large academic centers in the Midwest and then came back home to where I grew up to a kind of large community health system, not for profit. And I did outpatient internal medicine and inpatient internal medicine for seven years. And then I left my outpatient practice and (only) do internal medicine hospitalist for the last four years. And I've been involved in a lot of different things in the health system, a lot of clinical quality work and patient safety and peer review, and then a lot of leadership as well. Through the pandemic, I led a really large group of hospital medicine docs. It was crazy.

Dr. S: -The pandemic affected all of us in healthcare. It was really life-changing. So I guess talk to me a little bit about your journey into essential oils and where that shows up sort of in your doctor life and what the progression was for that.

Dr. H: -Yeah, so as I was an outpatient doc, I saw many ways in which I could benefit my patients with things that I wasn't trained in, right? So I felt like I needed additional tools. I spent a lot of time counseling them in healthy lifestyle ways and some non-pharmacologic ways to get healthier. And the system really didn't support what I was trying to do. It was really tough in a conventional practice. But I learned a lot about lifestyle medicine, as many of our listeners know, whole food plant-based diet, exercise, stress reduction, adequate sleep, all of those things. But I was always interested in all the supplements that my patients were showing up to clinic with, right? Sometimes they would show up with 15 supplements and I felt at a loss. I didn't know oftentimes what they were for, what the evidence was, what the safety was. And as a doc, I was concerned about drug interactions and all of those things. So I tried to learn as much as I could and I tried to really share the evidence behind it and I was being super conservative, you know, just being cautious. I even had a patient who told me in clinic that she used essential oils. And I remember looking at her in the exam room and just thinking, wow, I don't know anything about this. And I, you know, I really said, I don't know anything about this. I know they maybe can cause some skin irritation, but I don't know the research. I don't know how safe they are. And I really couldn't help her at that time.

And then a few years ago, I had another experience where, it's kind of simple, but my kids were just, they were sick one day, right? They had a cough. They had some congestion. I knew all of the over-the-counter stuff, and I knew it was self-limited. I knew it wasn't a big deal, but I knew it could be a rough few days. And so I decided to reach out to someone. For whatever reason, the light bulb went on. The idea came into my mind to reach out to this person and say, hey, is there something from an essential oil standpoint that could help? So she sent me home with a diffuser, which is kind of a little water reservoir that can help these vaporize into the air and some little samples of essential oils. And I took them home. She taught me how to use them, put them in my kid's bedroom when they were going to sleep, kind of tried it out on myself first to kind of diffuse this. And they were kind of congested and coughing. And I knew it was potentially going to be a rough night. And they just kind of started, you know, started diffusing. And within a few minutes, I kind of hung outside, you know, in the hallway to see if anything, I didn't think anything was going to happen. I was really doubtful at that point. But, you know, their congestion subsided some and they stopped coughing and they did not wake up a bunch of times in the night and they felt much better subjectively the next morning.

And I knew that was my own anecdote. That was my n of 1. And as a clinician-scientist, as we all are, I was cautious about, you know, kind of making any significant conclusions. But I saw in that moment the significant improvement that wouldn't have happened otherwise. I realized they were biologically active. So I started taking a deep dive into the research, into the safety, especially as a doc worried about safety and trying them out more at home. You know, some I also experimented and then, you know, I had patients certainly that would come to me and they were asking questions. They were already using them oftentimes. And so we would talk about their experiences. It kind of just evolved organically where I was just like, wow, this is something new that I never had before. It worked. How do I get it to work more? And what does the research show? And how safe are they? So that was kind of that journey a few years ago that I started taking.

Dr. S: -And I also view it like one more tool in the toolkit, right? Absolutely. And along with supplements and along with lifestyle, a lot of this stuff is sort of low cost, low hopefully low side effect profile. And so it's kind of a why not, you know, when you have that safety behind it. So for those like myself who really have no previous exposure to essential oils, I guess I'm going to start with something really basic, which is just what is an essential oil and how is it used?

The only thing that comes to mind for me is a recent Netflix documentary, I don't know if you saw it, where they talk about the overuse and the abuse of essential oils with patients really, or I should say people really not knowing how to take it. And so just kind of doing all different things with it.

So number one, what is it? And number two, in what ways is it consumed?

Dr. H: -Yeah, exactly. And I did watch that documentary a couple of years ago. It was really interesting. So I agree that they can be used, overused, and that can be a concern. So essential oils are basically plant compounds that come from the leaves, flowers, bark, resin, roots, etcetera, of different aromatic plants.

They're found in little oil sacks in the plants, like in peppermint. It's in little oil sacks in the peppermint leaf at a microscopic level. And these are, they have different chemical constituents. So for the docs who are listening and people in the healthcare field, we're taking back to organic chemistry, right? They have chemistry that exert different beneficial effects for the plant, whether it be to protect from pests or from disease or to attract pollinators or for the general health of the plant. That's what these are there for. And they exert aromas and they have potential therapeutic benefits. So that's kind of what they are. They're also volatile, meaning they evaporate from liquid to gas at room temperature, unlike olive oil or some of the vegetable oils we may cook with or use for other things.

So that's what they are and where they come from. They're produced in various different methods, sometimes even from the rind. I guess I should say citrus oils are produced from the rind of lemons and orange and all of that. We're kind of familiar with that when we zest something, for example. So they have different chemistry that can exert therapeutic benefits. Lavender, for example, has a lot of calming benefits. Linalool is one of the main chemical constituents. And really the therapeutic benefits depend on the concentration. So that comes down to quality. We can talk about how to find good quality to exert their calming benefits.

Essential oils are used in various ways. They are diffused or used aromatically, either inhaling an open bottle or through a diffuser. Or sometimes when people have a little congestion, they'll do a bowl of hot water and do a steam bath. You got to be careful not to burn your drops in the shower to get that aroma. So there's different ways aromatically. Anesthesiologists, if there's any listening, they're often more familiar with this because of the mechanism where it goes through the olfactory system and affects the limbic system of the brain with memory and emotions and all of that. Also, sometimes aroma massage that many massage therapists will use. And then topically is another way that essential oils are used on the skin. That's a way where we can get skin absorption. And so for many of us in healthcare, we're familiar with certain topical preparations for different skin conditions or for other different joint conditions or for other things. And these penetrate into the skin. They're lipophilic.

And there's different ways to use them. Some oils are very hot and they can cause a lot of skin irritation. So some of them we really don't use on the skin very often. Some are much more tame and you can use them on the skin much more readily. So... That's another fun way to get oils on people to get the therapeutic benefits because you get some absorption into the bloodstream and can get really quick absorption and quick benefits.

Then another way that these are used is internally or orally. And this is where, you know, as docs, we often have the most caution, but these are actually often in our food supply already, as many flavorings, you'll have different essential oils and different flavorings of food. And sometimes people cook with them, although they can be very potent, and so that's another way. And there's, as I've combed through the research, a lot of the clinical trials are actually used internally with either the essential oil as a whole or with different chemical constituents and evaluating that. So that's another way to get really good benefits. But I'm super cautious in how I use that publicly, especially in your field, you know, especially in pregnancy and in kids and in people with different health conditions. So that's why I'm teaching the docs and not sharing publicly a lot about that. But that's another way that people use it.

Dr. S: -So aromatic or inhaled, topical and then in some specific scenarios, possibly internally or orally. So I guess my next question and and this is partly related to safety, is one of the things I found is people just, and same thing with supplements, is people just kind of buy and use without really talking to someone, without really understanding much or, you know, the brand, and this again I feel like essential oils and supplements kind of fall into a similar bucket in that way. So what general considerations could you tell patients or people who are maybe interested in exploring essential oils for their health in general?

Dr. H: -Yeah, great question. So let's talk about quality because you're right. They're all over the place because they're unregulated and there's a lot of profit. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. A lot of people are trying to make money off of these. And many of them are actually formulated in the lab and many of them are very diluted. So there's various ways that people can try to make a profit off of, quote unquote, using essential oils. And you really don't get the quality you think you're getting. So one thing to keep in mind as we talk about quality is that fragrance is not the same as an essential oil. So if you're looking at a personal care product and you're looking at the ingredients and it says fragrance that may not have essential oils, probably doesn't have essential oils in it. But it may have some of the chemistry in it that's formulated in the lab. That's one thing to keep in mind.

When you're actually buying an essential oil, there's a few things you should look at on the bottle. First of all, you should make sure that it is like an amber colored glass bottle because it can oxidize the oils. So an amber colored glass bottle, make sure that it tells you the part of the plant that is used. So in cinnamon, for example, sometimes, people will say it's cinnamon, but it's cinnamon leaf instead of cinnamon bark. And those have different chemistry. And cinnamon bark is more expensive, whereas cinnamon leaf is less expensive. So look at the part of the plant that's used. That should be noted. And then they should have the Latin name of what they're using because that's another way they can kind of trip you up.

Another way is if you look on the website of the company, they should be doing what's called GCMS testing: Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry testing. So one of the types of testing to make sure that those chemical constituents are actually in the product. There is a whole lot more testing, and I can share how to find some of that, but there's a whole lot more testing that needs to be done to make sure that these are what they say they are. But that's a good start. Sometimes there will be a lot number on the bottle, and you can match that on the website of the company as well to see exactly what it is.

When these companies say organic or pure or natural or therapeutic, that may not totally be true. You could have an essential oil that's more expensive diluted with a lesser expensive oil, and it could still be natural or it could still be organic. Or you could have it diluted like if they're putting almond oil diluting the essential oil and they don't tell you that's organic. That's going to affect the therapeutic value, but it still could be organic or natural. So there's ways that they're kind of getting around the marketing. And so you have to be careful about that and really kind of research the companies that are doing a lot of education, that have a lot of science, that have physicians and scientists that are backing them up. That's another way to kind of look at that.

Dr. S: -In relation to that, if someone, you know, for example, for what I do, there are certain diseases where specific supplements are recommended. And I love that you mentioned cinnamon because it is one we talk about a lot that I treat PCOS. But one question I had, so for, for me, you know, when patients come to me and I make these recommendations, I'm “managing the supplement”, even though I'm not prescribing it, I'm telling them where to buy it, how to take it, um, how long they need to take it, etcetera. Could they, you know, if it's not their doctor, because let's be honest, not many doctors have experience or knowledge with essential oils, how can they find someone legit?

Dr. H: -Yeah, that's such a great question. It's so hard because, you know, it really is unregulated. There are a lot of people that are selling these from different companies and varying degrees of experience and varying degrees of knowledge. There are more and more doctors that are using these. And so more people are learning and some other people in the medical field. So it's kind of tricky. I'm hesitant to make any like blanket statement. But for people that are interested, I am through my email list and through blog and through other ways, I'm educating everybody, not just physicians. And so people can sign up for my email list and I'm educating what I can in context of just what I can share with the public. So that's probably one of the best ways for me to kind of just help people.

Dr. S: -So I want to shift gears a little bit and chat more specifically or tailoring this conversation now to women's health. And I'll start and I'll preface by saying women's health is a broad spectrum. General health is reproductive health, but you have all different stages and all different types of things that we're talking about. Can you give us a little bit of info just in general about women's health?

Dr. H: -Absolutely. This is such a fun topic, too, because You're right. It is super broad. When I typically talk about women's health to the public, it's going to be different than when I talk to doctors in a medical course. But we talk about mental health, first of all. Mental health affects so much of what we do. And when you talk about what you do specifically and then so many aspects, I think mental health is huge. And this is an area where essential oils shine. Really, there's a ton of research on lavender for mental health. There's a ton of research on other things. And so that's really one of the best ways to help improve mental health. And again, we're not giving medical advice or we're not saying that these can treat anything. I still have people go with their doctors and talk about this. But that's one way where this can have huge potential.

And then I certainly add all of my women's health recommendations in the context of lifestyle and in the context of healthy nutrition. And sometimes people need extra nutritional supplements to bolster what they're getting through food because our food is so depleted often of nutrients. And then, you know, there's certain ones for different menstrual cramps. There's certain ones that we use and there's some that we don't use in pregnancy. So like clary sage, for example, you know, can increase contractions. We don't use that in pregnancy, but you could use in the labor. So there's certain situations where, you know, in the labor and delivery departments, people are using certain essential oils to make that experience better.

And then in the postmenopausal realm, there's also ways that we can use these to help women get through that a little more comfortably. So there's kind of a whole host of ways, even in the metabolic realm, as you were talking about cinnamon, there's ways that we can help people, you know, improve their metabolism. I guess I should add even for sexual benefits and this is going to, you know, there's some ways that we can have a lot of interest.

Dr. S: -Exactly. But one key thing that you said is that, or one key thing that I'm taking away from what you're saying is that there's not one like magic thing for fertility or one magic thing for women's health. And in fact, there is actually things that shouldn't be taken during certain stages of a woman's life. So I think that's really important as a takeaway. I remember talking to someone who was a meditation expert and they were saying that there's actually certain meditation with breath work that are not recommended for patients trying to get pregnant or pregnant. So something as benign or as, you know, harmless as meditation still has its own indications.

So I think that's a really important takeaway. Just because it's over the counter or just because it's not prescribed, doesn't mean that it doesn't have its specific indications.

Dr. H: -Absolutely. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Our bodies are so amazing. So many different, you know, pathways, so many different processes and and different things can affect in different ways. So yeah, it does take a lot of education. That's why I've done such a deep dive and it's taken me so long and I kind of just wanted to share now what I wish I would have known a few years ago because there's, yeah, there's so much nuance to what we do in medicine and in integrative medicine to help people get really great results.

Dr. S: -Absolutely. So are you, in terms of what you offer, are you coaching lay people or are your courses mainly for physicians and if so then people are being educated in the email? Can you tell me a little bit more about what it is that you do?

Dr. H: -That's a great question. And this has evolved in the past, and this is going to continue to evolve because I have had so many people want me to help them, you know, from all different professions. So I have experience, you know, coaching lay people as well. I've done that in the past. I know how to do that. Right now, I'm focusing on a course for physicians that is virtual, that's CME. It offers CME. And it really helps my colleagues learn the science, learn the research, learn the safety, learn the therapeutic benefits, learn what their patients are already using these for. So they kind of know. And then, yeah, through email, through blogs and I don't know if I should hold myself to this, but probably start a YouTube channel. To kind of help educate and get the word out there.

But then I am after this specific first part of my career course, I'm offering kind of a consulting panel because there's so many docs that actually want to get these into their practices and help educate on a much bigger scale, so I can kind of fine-tune it to their specific practice. And then there's other ways that we can educate the lay public, you know, patients on a broader scale as well that I'll kind of share in the future.

So for now people should join my email list and that's kind of the best way to keep in touch. And then on my Website there will be a blog as well to kind of keep learning.

Dr. S: -I do have one more question. I know you cannot recommend or endorse a specific brand, but are there known brands that are more serious or not? And I know this comes back to the safety a little bit, but if someone's interested in exploring this further without giving a specific endorsement, are there a couple of companies that are standouts from others? Or what is your take on that?

Dr. H: -Yeah, that's a great question. I've been asked that a lot. So you're right. I'm kind of staying unbranded publicly for now, because I want to really just educate people on what these are.

There are a few companies that are doing this quite well. And again, when people are searching out these different companies, there are some that are really educating a lot on the science, that are educating a lot on, there's huge education on what the essential oils are doing. They're also really focusing on how they're sourcing them. So looking for ones that are supporting some of these, you know, many often small family farms that are really growing them in the best places around the world where they can grow. Look for companies that potentially have a medical board of physicians that are helping, that are maybe citing research studies and that are really heavily invested in the research.

Dr. S: -So basically, the more transparency, the better, it sounds like.

Dr. H: -Yeah, I think so. And then one other telltale way, and this is on my website too, talks about the testing. Look for companies that talk about the testing beyond just GCMS, because there's so many tests that should be done to kind of rule out the contaminants and the adulterants and all of those things. So that's another way. And my website kind of shows some of those tests that should be done. So those are kind of ways for people to look.

Dr. S: -And this is just a personal curiosity question. Is there an average price point for an essential oil or does it vary by company or by brand? By like type of essential oil, what is that like?

Dr. H: -That's a great question. So it depends on how expensive it is to produce the essential oil, right? And it also depends on the quality. So you could find a five dollar lavender or five dollar something at the supermarket and you're probably not going to get a therapeutic brand. In general, the citrus oils are less expensive. They're easier to produce because they don't take as much of the of the plant. And so those might be in the $10 to $20 range, depending on the size of the bottle. And then maybe peppermint and lavender, for example, are maybe in the $20 to $30 range. Again, this is for a bigger bottle where they have like 200 drops and you can use them for like 90 days, depending on how, you know, the last four months potentially.

Frankincense is one of my favorite all-time go-to essential oils. It can be used in so many realms, but it's quite expensive. So maybe, you know, in the $70 range. It's amazing. So it's a resin. It's like a gum resin from these ancient trees in Africa and the Middle East. And yeah, it has really significant antioxidant properties, anti-inflammatory properties. So that's a big part of my course teaching on Frankincense. It's really fun. Really cool. And then even rose, for example, Melissa Rose, those have really great properties, but they take a lot of, you know, a lot of the flower to produce. And so I don't even have a bottle of straight rose because it's like over $200.

So they, you know, depending on, how expensive it is to produce, but that's kind of a general, a rough estimate.

Dr. S: -Got it. Got it. No, that's super helpful. So Dr. Huntington, I have learned a lot today. I will definitely be checking out your email list and your website. But if people want to go, can you just tell us exactly where to go?

Dr. H: -So my company is Give More Naturally. And as we said at the beginning, it's really an effort to give more tools, more help, and more hope.

Dr. S: -You heard it here. Dr. Huntington, thank you so much for your time today. This was awesome.

Dr. H: -Thank you so much. It was really fun. I appreciate it.

*This content is intended solely for educational purposes and is not to be construed as medical advice. For personalized recommendations concerning your specific healthcare needs, kindly consult with your healthcare provider.