Many of you would confuse therapeutic grade essential oils with the aromatherapy oils or organic oils, but you won’t do it anymore once you are aware of the facts. The term “Therapeutic Grade” is not used for any oil unless it qualifies the standards set up by this grade. Even the oils using the prefix like pure, organic, or original may lack in qualities to meet the standards set by this grade. Distinguishing between the standard essential oil and therapeutic grade essential oil is quite difficult but it is very important as more than 90% of the over the counter oils won’t fit into the standards needed to be called as therapeutic grade oil.
While you will learn all about these exotic oils with experience, here are few things that will give you quick insight into these extraordinary type of oils.
What is the difference between essential oils and therapeutic grade essential oils?
All therapeutic oils are essential oils, but all essential oils are not therapeutic grade essential oils. The volatile liquids obtained from different parts of plant like roots, seeds, flowers, leaves, stems, branches, and fruits are known as essential oils. These liquids have all the goodness of plants obtained after distilling one or more of the above plant parts. There are many factors that together help in confirming whether these essential oils can be classified as therapeutic grade essential oils.
The title Therapeutic Grade is added only after knowing the source and efficacy of the oil. Both environmental and physical factors responsible for the growth of the source plant are studied to know whether the oil would fall into therapeutic category or not!
The environmental factors usually that present during the growth of the plant are vitally important. These are altitude, location where plant is grown, fertilizer whether organic or chemical used for growth, altitude, climate, and other such factors responsible for growth of the plant.
Physical factors on other hand are taken into account that are present at the time of extracting the oil until it reaches out to the user. These factors are harvesting method, oil extraction or distillation process involved, the way it is bottled, and how it is further transported. Temperature and other conditions involved in manufacturing and transportation of these oils would also affect the quality of essential oils.
So, the essential oils would be termed as therapeutic grade essential oils when all of the above factors are studied along with the outcome. There is no quality compromise allowed as efficacy of oil plays a vital role in therapeutic grade essential oils.
How to select the best quality Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil?
The label on the oil would tell much about the quality, however there are many other things that need to be noted in order to ascertain the authenticity of the oil. Sometimes the oil extracted from the plant after following the most advanced process would also bring in compromised results if the plant is grown in completely different topology or climate. Distinct environmental factors would change the plant chemistry significantly and that would result into compromised quality of essential oil. Plants grown in their natural habitat would be richer compared to the plants grown in the artificially created habitat.
While selecting the oil, you can seek for following clarifications:
- How is the plant grown? Is the plant grown and distilled under proper supervision?
- Has the finished product undergone enough quality check or chemical tests before reaching out to end customer?
- How much time is elapsed between harvesting and processing the plant? Is the distillation plant near to the harvesting site? If more time elapses between harvesting and distillation then the plant may lose its potency.
- The temperature and pressure used for the distillation also affects the quality of oil. Low temperature and low pressure distillation retains the quality of essential oil.
- What standards does the essential oil meet with? Look out for reliable names like FragranceX.com and similar that would offer only standard quality products at discounted rates.
All of these questions would help you find only the right quality essential oil.
Some of the qualities of therapeutic grade essential oil are given below:
- Natural fragrance free of any chemical interference.
- Grown by using organic method on chemical free soil.
- Harvested under controlled conditions.
- 100% pure.
When you ascertain the quality of therapeutic grade essential oil, you can also expect results. Some of these oils are recommended by the therapists to ensure wellness of body and soul. They can be applied externally or can be taken even internally if suggested by the therapists. Oils extracted from edible plant sources can be taken internally as well.
Some of the health benefits you can expect from these oils are:
- Boosting immunity.
- Come over any negative memories of past.
- Healthy skin and hair.
- Fight the signs of ageing.
- Removing stress.
- Detoxification of body and mind.
Therapeutic oil offers multiple health benefits and you can enjoy all of them with expert guidance. Make sure that you get only the trusted quality therapeutic oil to gain the maximum benefit out of each application.
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Wow this is really interesting! Where can I find the standards for therapeutic grade oils and who sets them? It there a seal of approval or something on the bottle so we know it’s really been certified therapeutic grade and they’re not just saying that to sell more?
Thanks!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
In the US there are not a lot of regulations as there are in some European countries, but a couple of things to look for is that the oils are AFNOR and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standardized as well as certified organic. Some do say therapeutic grade, but then you can’t always be sure that is true because there are not very specific guidelines on that label either. Another suggestions is do your research check the company out and find out how they are processed and what there policies are. Contact the company if your unsure. It like foods or anything else we buy these days you need to be educated and know what we are consuming. I hope this helps.
Hi Marla,
With the explosion in the use of essential oils, it is very important for us to clearly understand the difference between essential oils and therapeutic grade essential oils so we will benefit from the key clarifications defined in this valuable blog post. Suffice it to say, the key characteristics you outlined make a convenient checklist to keep on hand when shopping for therapeutic grade essential oils. Clearly, there are many low quality oils out there. Thank you for sharing this post with us at the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I’m pinning and sharing.
HI Deborah,
As consumer we must be aware of what we are purchasing and essential oils are certainly something that can be a helpful tool to live a healthy lifestyle – so making sure we can pure and natural instead to toxic additives is very important. Thanks for sharing my article and commenting.