Essential Oils: The Good, The Bad, and The…Pyramid Schemes?

For thousands of years, essential oils have been used for therapeutic purposes. They were used as a form of medicine in Ancient Egypt, and the oils are referenced hundreds of times in the bible. Essential oils continue to be tremendously popular, with the current market value of the industry being worth billions of dollars. But before we understand why people love these essential oils, we should briefly go over what exactly they are. Essential oils are plant extracts. To make the oils, various parts of a plant can be used, including the flowers, bark, leaves, or fruit. These parts of the plant can be steamed or pressed to capture the necessary compounds for the fragrance, and one bottle of an essential oil can require several pounds of a plant to produce enough extract. 

There are dozens of essential oils, but four oils tend to be the most popular: lavender, tea tree, peppermint, and lemon oil. People find lavender oil to be calming; it is often used to relieve stress and anxiety, as well as promote good sleep. Tea tree oil, which was first used by Australia's aboriginal people for wound healing, is often used to treat acne, athlete’s foot, and insect bites. Peppermint oil is recommended for people experiencing irritable bowel syndrome and tension headaches. Lastly, the scent of lemon oil can improve people’s mood and can be used in homemade cleaning products. 

Notwithstanding these benefits, some users of essential oils might experience allergic reactions, like itchy rashes or hives, after interacting with certain oils. Those who are more likely to experience these adverse reactions include people who have atopic dermatitis or a history of negative reactions to topical products. Any essential oil can potentially cause an adverse reaction; however, some are more common than others to trigger this response. These essential oils include oregano oil, cinnamon bark oil, jasmine oil, lemongrass oil, ylang-ylang oil, chamomile oil, and bergamot oil. To avoid a negative reaction, medical professionals recommend diluting the essential oil in a carrier oil, like coconut or argan, before applying it directly to the skin. 

Most of the essential oils sold in the United States are sold by Young Living and DoTerra. But both of these companies, and their founders, have very troubling histories. I first learned about these companies while watching an episode of the show [Un]Well titled “Essential Oils,” which evaluates the essential oil industry as a whole (I highly recommend this episode of the docuseries since it is very informative and well-produced). The man who founded Young Living, Gary Young, claimed that he healed from crippling paralysis by using essential oils. However, there are no medical records of his accident. In 1983, a federal agent investigated Young’s services at the health center he created called Golden Six Health Club. This investigation led to Young being arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Young pleaded guilty, served a year of probation, then started a cancer clinic in Mexico, where he treated people with a chemical compound called laetrile. This practice was illegal in the U.S. since laetrile is known to produce cyanide, a poison, in the body and can lead to serious injury or death. Young later started a clinic in California, where he claimed to be a physician. Once again, this led to him being arrested, with his charges including selling unapproved medical devices, manufacturing drugs without a license, and advertising drugs to cure cancer. 

In 1993, Young founded Young Living essential oils. The business model for this new company was multi-level marketing (also known as a “legal” pyramid scheme). This model is statistically riskier for employees than gambling. According to a study published by the FTC, 99.6% of multi-level marketing recruits lose money. But Young Living continues to use this business model. The company has also had their distributors claim that their products cure certain health issues, including viral infections, cancer, hypertension, and dementia. Since there is no scientific proof that their oils can cure these medical conditions, Young Living got into legal trouble and received a warning from the FDA. But despite Young Living's terrible history, many distributors refuse to leave the company because of their severe indoctrination. Members find a community working with Young Living, and many connect with the products to a degree that makes them unable to acknowledge the wrongs of the company. Because of the blind commitment of their current advocates, many past distributors for Young Living consider the company to be more of a cult than a business. 

In 2008, DoTerra was founded in part by former Young Living executives. According to their website, DoTerra’s company mission was to “share the highest quality essential oils with the world.” The founders say that they are committed to providing users with pure, high-grade essential oils, and that this commitment led them to create the CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade. But this “therapeutic grade” is merely a marketing term. DoTerra says that they want to partner with major hospitals and scientists to allow for “compelling authentication” of their products. This need for third-party sources to promote their products is likely due to their founders’ lack of medical credibility. DoTerra sought to mimic Young Living’s multi-level marketing business model, knowing how profitable it is. This involves selling products through independent consultants, as well as charging high prices, with a small bottle of lavender oil selling for over $20. For compassion, lavender oil from other companies, like Plant Therapy, can sell for less than $10. 

In 2013, Young Living and DoTerra began filing multiple lawsuits against each other. Young Living claimed that DoTerra stole their trade secrets and carried out false advertising regarding the pureness of their oils, while DoTerra claimed that Young Living conducted a fraudulent lab test of DoTerra products. In 2018, DoTerra won their lawsuit, and Young Living was forced to pay $1.8 million for DoTerra’s attorney fees. But this was by no means the only controversy that DoTerra was involved in. In fact, a letter sent to DoTerra by the FDA in 2014 scolded the company for allowing their distributors to publish false claims saying that their essential oils are a viable treatment for Alzheimer’s, ADHD, and cancer. Federal agents even appeared at DoTerra’s headquarters in Utah to examine company files. After this incident, DoTerra developed a compliance team to moderate social media posts by their distributors, as well as hosted weekly conference calls with distributors to inform them of appropriate language to use in their advertising. But even though DoTerra created these systems of education for their distributors, there are no company requirements that they review the material. 

Over 63% of DoTerra advocates do not make money selling products. Only 16% of entry-level advocates make any money, and they only earn an average of $376 per year. This average also doesn’t take into account those distributors who lost money or broke-even. The next level of distributors, builders, make up 23% of all U.S. advocates, and the next highest level, leaders, make up 1% of all advocates. Leaders are in the most profitable level of the business, with advocates of this rank making the most money of all the distributors. DoTerra states that advocates in this level must devote significant part- or full-time investment, with very few advocates ever reaching this rank. Additionally, if you are a distributor for DoTerra, you are required to spend at least $100 per month on DoTerra products to qualify for sales commissions. This means that just to be an active advocate for the company, you must spend $100 per month, more than what most distributors earn per year. So, in reality, most DoTerra advocates are not really salespeople. Instead, they are just customers, as is the case for most multi-level marketing companies. 

Despite what Young Living and DoTerra might argue, essential oils’ effectiveness on humans is inconclusive. Human clinical trials have been conducted to test essential oils' impact on conditions such as anxiety, depression, nausea, insomnia, low appetite, and dry mouth. Some studies show that there is a strong benefit to using essential oils, while others do not indicate any improvement in symptoms. Even though these results are mixed, essential oils can still potentially have a positive impact on your health and overall well-being if they are used in a safe manner. However, using essential oils safely is not as easy as you may think. Because they are not regulated, bottles of essential oils can include ingredients not indicated on the label. Therefore, medical professionals strongly urge consumers not to ingest essential oils. Additionally, Johns Hopkins advises against using diffusers since the essential oil vapor can affect household members differently. For example, peppermint is a common essential oil used for headaches, but the scent can also increase the risk of seizures for children less than 30 months old. To prevent this issue from occurring, try to use inhalers, body oil, and aromatherapy accessories to meet your essential oil needs.