Forest Scents

It is now very common to hear people say about G6PD deficiency, such as  “My child has G6PD deficiency… what foods to avoid?” Yes, G6PD deficiency is prevalence in worldwide, affecting 10% of the world population with approximately 400 million people. In Malaysia, around 1 in 10 children are G6PD deficiency. What is G6PD deficiency? 6-phosphate dehydrogenase  (G6PD) deficiency is a common genetic enzyme deficiency.  This enzyme deficiency will increase the vulnerability of red blood cells to oxidative stress . If the G6PD deficiency person is infected or expoused to oxidative stimuli drugs or chemical agents,  the red blood cells will damaged in large scale and it will lead to acute haemolysis.  Excessive bilirubin produced during acute haemolysis will cause liver overloaded and resulted in jaundice. G6PD deficiency has another name called  favism , I believe the name is derived from fava beans where acute heomolysis can be triggered by consumpti...

Are all essential oils completely safe to use? Same for herbs, are all herbs completely safe? In order to be able to understand whether they are safe or not, first of all, you need to understand the concept of toxicity. What is Toxicity? According to Merriam-Webster, toxicity refers to the quality, state or relative degree of being poisonous material which can cause harm or death on you, or any other animal or plant (living organism) . The damage may occur in many forms and various levels. Some toxic cause immediate death and some toxic are chronic where you might only realized it after few months or years. It is Natural, so it must be Safe? A lot of people think that essential oil is natural, so it must be safe. Aconite is a natural plant and it is one of the herbs use in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but it is extremely poisonous plant. There are few fatal cases of aconite poisoning reported by drinking the homemade medicated liquor containing aconite...

When we are making our decision to purchase essential oils (EO) , we often afraid that we might buy the synthetic or adulteration essential oils.  There are many essential oil's suppliers advertise “ the best ”, “ the pure ” or “ natural ”, but actually there are not. To reduce the cost, some of the suppliers will mixed with the considerable volumes of various diluents. The worst, you might even get the synthetic EO, but you didn’t aware of it.  But how to choose genuine and authentic EO? Most of the aromatherapy practitioners will tell you to use your own organoleptic “odour” assessment when choosing a good quality of EO. You need to train your senses… When you are familiarizes with it, you will be automatically known how to choose the genuine and authentic quality of EO. But most of the consumer is not being train in this area.  Therefore, he or she might have a big chances buying synthetic or adulteration EO. Therefore, I prepared some general guides as fo...

 “ Essential oil ” derived from the word “ quintessence ”. Based on Aristotelian idea, matter is composed of four elements: fire, air, earth, water; the fifth element, or quintessence , is the soul and spirit of the aromatic plants. Some even said it is the life force of the plants. Of course, nowadays, we know that, essential oils are the aromatic essences extracted (distillation, cold pressing…) from roots, flowers, fruits, herbs or trees. It is the plant’s second metabolism developed over the centuries for survival, defense against microbial pathogens, adapting to the ever-changing environment and used for attracting pollinating insect. This is why essential oils have therapeutic properties such antiseptic, anti-virus, anti-fungal, immune stimulating which is beneficial to our mankind. Essential oils are highly concentration, volatile and fat-soluble. It differs from fixed oils which contain glycerides or fatty acids which will not leave a permanent stain on fil...

From the words itself, aroma therapy seems to be a bit misleading, you might have a perception that it is all about scents or smells, but I can promise you it is more than smells!   “ Aromatherapy ” is a words coined by a French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé in 1930s where he treated his badly burned hand with lavender essential oil during an laboratory explosion. The healing effect is amazing and with very little scarring.  Although the words coined only during 1930s, but when we study the history of aromatherapy, the use of aromatic plants is very much older. I couldn’t find any books clearly defined what aromatherapy is, and I also have difficulty in finding the reason behind Gattefossé use this word. His book Gattefossé's aromatherapy: the first book on aromatherapy , did not give me any direct answer on my questions. But I found that his study is mostly related to the odour and properties of essential oils and perfume.  Balchin also pointed ou...