How to make more melanin? Spend time in the sunshine smelling spring flowers.

GRAS - Edible use essential oils, FDA list; Essential Oil Book Club post.

Is Tea Tree essential oil safe for internal use? Not officially, but I use it as a mouth rinse or toothpaste addition regularly.

There was a question, elsewhere, about doTerra brand Tea Tree Oil and why the label used to have internal use guidance and now it doesn't. Did something change? Is it edible/safe for internal use or not?

>> and I am copying my answer here as it has helpful links.

»Probably nothing changed about the oil itself.

I have been digging into FDA guidelines today and the list of essential oils considered GRAS is lengthy, but I did notice that it doesn't include Tea Tree Oil. I personally use it regularly as a mouth rinse or during oil pulling, so I am absorbing some, but I don't swallow it - and that is with the NOW brand for many years now. I have some doTerra Tea Tree oil now too.

In other words, in my personal and professional opinion (Registered Dietitian) it should be safe but the FDA does have hefty fines for non-compliance with their rules. I don't know if Tea Tree Oil is approved for a 'drug' use.

»This link has the FDA GRAS list for essential oils and solvent free oleoresins and it includes a lot of plants/oils (accessdata.fda.gov)

»I also found this awesome reference article, Clinical Aromatherapy, while looking stuff up about oils. (Farrar and Farrar, 2020)

It has lots of details on specific oils for healthcare and Table 1, on historical references to the therapeutic use of essential oils is quite interesting. The oldest archeological finding with essential oil residue - 30,000 years old in Iraq.

Research papers that are review oriented can be like a little encyclopedia crammed into 12,000 words or less (minus the Tables). This paper is written from or for nurses and has a Table with how a variety of nurses have used essential oils in a patient care setting. Diffused for reducing anxiety and helping with stress coping was a common theme and in combination with massage or talk therapy was also mentioned. (Farrar and Farrar, 2020)

Other references regarding product labels for essential oils:

• Essential Oil Label Guidelines, avery.com - * a label making company, I am unaffiliated. It is a helpful article. https://www.avery.com/blog/essential-oil-label-guidelines/

• also helpful: Bottle Labels for Essential Oils, Don't Forget about FDA Regulations. https://www.artworkflowhq.com/resources/bottle-labels-for-essential-oils-don’t-forget-about-fda-regulations

• and: Essential Oil Labels, https://www.yourboxsolution.com/blog/essential-oil-labels/

• and from FDA: Fragrances/Cosmetics https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredients/fragrances-cosmetics

• and FDA: Aromatherapy https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/aromatherapy

  

  yourboxsolution.com/blog/essential-oil-labels/

How to make more melanin? Spend time in the sunshine smelling spring flowers.

Spring trivia - the aromatic beta-ionone in the fragrance of violets, lilac and other spring flowers, signals to our melanin producing to make more melanin - which would make us appear more tan and be better protected from sunnier spring days after a darker winter.

The floral essential oil Osmanthus contains trans-β-Ionone as its primary fragrant molecule. (Paparella, et al., 2021 & the doTerra product page) Beta-ionone is in the carotenoid family with vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. *I was just checking Osmanthus because doTerra has a Buy one get one sale on Osmanthus - buy that and get Magnolia in a 10 ml roller bottle. Last day.

Beta-ionone is quite interesting for people who like physiology or phytonutrients. There is speculation that beta-ionone can be made endogenously from beta-carotene. It can play many beneficial roles in disease prevention, (Aloum, et al., 2020), not just help us tan better in springtime.

~~

This is part of my old podcast series (full transcript & references in Google Docs) - it is a long country ride:

It turns out that the scent of violets is also a big topic, so buckle up for safety, we are going for a ride in the country to smell the violets.

The aromatic chemical involved in the scent of violets is β-ionone. It is chemically similar to terpenes but is found with carotenoids - the vitamin A group. Beta-ionone is used in the synthesis of vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin K, (8) and in perfumes. (9) Greater concentrations of the chemical smell like cedar wood and more dilute amounts have the floral scent characteristic of violets. (10) It is so potent of a fragrance that only a very dilute amount is typically present in a flower or fruits like blackberries, peaches, and apricots. (8)

     Genetically some people do not detect the floral scent at all however and instead may describe the odor as pungent, (11), possibly more like the strong aroma of cedar wood. The scent of violets - forgiveness possibly, and it turns out, another reminder that while people have many similarities, we also have many differences. That bouquet of violets or violet scented perfume might not smell as good to the person you are giving it to as it does to you, if they don’t have the genes to sense the violet fragrance and you do. It may smell more like cedar wood to them, which is fragrant, but very strong. (11)

     Getting angry over our differences separates us from the benefits of teamwork with a more diverse group who could bring a wider range of ideas and skills and genetic abilities to the team.

Whether the beta-ionone smells more like violet or more like cedar wood to you, either way, it may be helping prevent breast cancer (12) or other inflammatory conditions. (13) The chemical can be made within our bodies from other carotenoids and lycopene is a carotenoid, so tomatoes - historically known as a symbol of love (14) and which are a good source of lycopene - might also be a potential source of beta-ionone, in addition to the blackberries, peaches and apricots, or the edible violets served in a salad or on a dessert. (15) Carrots are also a good source, being a good source of carotenoids, beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A.

“Lycopene is converted into beta-carotene by the action of lycopene beta-cyclase (b-Lcy), an enzyme introducing beta-ionone rings at both ends of the molecule (Cunningham et al., 1994; Hugueney et al., 1995).” (Rosati 2000) (16)

Odd trivia - we have the odor receptor for beta-ionone in the retina of our eyes and it stimulates growth of the retinal pigment epithelial cells. (17) Why would we have an odor receptor outside of our nose? It is a chemical receptor, for a chemical that happens to be fragrant. We have a variety of receptors throughout our body for taste, odor, light. It’s helping inform about the environment probably within that cellular small zone. (25) 

     Lycopene is a normal part of the retinal pigment epithelial cells (18), and it has been found to help prevent against a form of retinal deterioration that is common during aging. So it is beneficial for the retinal membrane and growth of the cells. Lycopene levels were also found to be lower on average in the blood of patients with diabetic retinopathy, another disease of the retina that can cause blindness, compared to people without the eye condition. (19). 

     Beta-ionone is more likely to be found with beta-carotene, the main carotenoid commonly found in carrots, and which is also found in the inner germ of a corn kernel along with β-cryptoxanthin, and zeaxanthin (20) which also have been found beneficial for protecting vision. They are other carotenoids. It is a group of antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and increase beneficial immune function of the body and antioxidant production within ourselves. We can make our own antioxidants. We would have to eat like 300 oranges a day to get the vitamin C equivalent antioxidant power of what our normal metabolic production is capable of, when we are healthy and nourished.

     Lutein is a carotenoid that has been found to increase the anti-inflammatory Nrf2 pathway within retinal pigment epithelial cells. (26) The Nrf2 pathway also can stimulate or overstimulate cell proliferation, cell growth, and can be beneficial to health, or occasionally a problem in some types of tumor cells. (27)

More odd trivia - the beta ionone odor receptors are also in our skin, in the melanocytes which make the pigment of skin color and the darker tones from a sun-tan. More needs to be learned about the function of the beta-ionone odor receptors within the light sensitive skin cells. (21) There seems to be a role for them in stimulating melanin production, the dark pigment of skin color,  and also nerve growth and it may be protective against the overgrowth of skin cancer cells. So use of beta-ionone  in medications against skin cancer, or as a preventative in suntan lotions may be a future role for the fragrant chemical. (22) 

     Whether violet is the scent of forgiveness is still unknown however we have learned that either violet or cedarwood may be the scent of your next bottle of tanning lotion, due to the tan promoting and skin cancer preventing potential of beta-ionone. Whether it would smell like violet or cedar wood would depend on your genetics.

     Forgiveness is also anti-inflammatory so it may be true that forgiveness is for ourselves. Now we also know not to get in an argument over whether the scent of something is a delicate floral violet or a pungent woody cedar aroma - it may be both, depending on the genetics of the people who are smelling the fragrance of beta-ionone. 

     Love the skin you’re in, and treat it and your nose with a bottle of lotion or soap made with a beta-ionone source such as the essential oil of violet, rose, or carrot - or boronia oil, (23), an essential oil recommended on an essential oil website, which I am not affiliated with, to be helpful for the broken hearted, and to help calm and clear the mind of obsessive thoughts (24) - so maybe violet is the scent of forgiveness - letting go of something.

Osmanthus flowers, Photo by Cloris Ying on Unsplash

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

Reference List

(Aloum, et al., 2020) Aloum L, Alefishat E, Adem A, Petroianu G. Ionone Is More than a Violet's Fragrance: A Review. Molecules. 2020 Dec 10;25(24):5822. doi: 10.3390/molecules25245822. PMID: 33321809; PMCID: PMC7764282.

(Farrar and Farrar, 2020) Farrar AJ, Farrar FC. Clinical Aromatherapy. Nurs Clin North Am. 2020 Dec;55(4):489-504. doi: 10.1016/j.cnur.2020.06.015. Epub 2020 Sep 28. PMID: 33131627; PMCID: PMC7520654. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7520654/

(Paparella, et al., 2021) Paparella A, Shaltiel-Harpaza L, Ibdah M. β-Ionone: Its Occurrence and Biological Function and Metabolic Engineering. Plants (Basel). 2021 Apr 12;10(4):754. doi: 10.3390/plants10040754. PMID: 33921545; PMCID: PMC8069406. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8069406/