Essential oils are often frowned upon by many who believe the ancient practice is not empirically validated in its effectiveness. However, most of this is due to a lack of knowledge and experience on the subject. Essential oils have not only been successfully used for centuries, for numerous purposes, but are also currently being studied for modern-day medicine.
A recent study presented in Edinburgh at the Society for General Microbiologys spring meeting was performed to test essential oils as a replacement for antibiotics. This study went beyond that to evaluate whether the essential oils could treat some of the antibiotic resistant superbugs that have hospitals and physicians across the world worrying.
The results of the study indicated that not only could some essential oils be used to replace antibiotic use, as an inexpensive and efficient substitution, but that essential oils even worked against these warped virus strains we refer to as superbugs.
Two Greek professionals, Dr. Effimia Eriotuo and Professor Yiannis Samaras, who performed the research, evaluated 8 types of essential oils derived from plants. Thyme essential oil was proven the most effective and was able to destroy all bacteria it was exposed to within an hour.
A combination of Thyme and Cinnamon made a powerful combination against several Staphylococcus strains. The researchers concluded that the effectiveness of essential oils made them a potential candidate for replacing antibiotics and for preventing the development of more antibiotic-resistant germs.