About Essential Oils

1. About Essential Oils

2. What are Essential Oils? Essential oils are concentrated essences of plants extracted through distillation or pressing. They are used widely for their flavor, fragrance and even therapeutic effects. Given their wide range of applications and the increasing trend to favor “natural” products, there is great demand for essential oils in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and drinks industries. Examples of essential oils include: Cinnamon bark oil, bitter almond oil, bergamot oil, peppermint oil, cumin fruit oil, lemongrass oil, etc.

3. Adulteration of Essential Oils Essential oils are expensive to produce, and with their increasing popularity many companies choose to use the more readily available synthetic versions often denoted as fragrance oil. The synthetic versions do not have exactly the same components as the naturally sourced oils. In the production of the natural essential oils, there are other compounds in low concentrations that are also extracted. For example, when synthesizing cinnemaldehyde, the other compounds found in the natural cinnamon oil are not created. Biobasedcontent testing (Carbon-14 analysis) determines whether the essential oil is natural or synthetic.

4. Natural vs Synthetic Essential Oils Bitter almond oil vs Synthetic Benzaldehyde Bitter almond oil is used widely as a flavoring agent. In addition to almond kernels, bitter almond oil can also be extracted from fruits like peaches and apricots. Due to the limited supply and higher cost of the natural form, the synthetic compound is often used in food and drink products. Cinnamon oil vs Synthetic Cinnamaldehyde Cinnamon oil is used in the food industry as flavoring and fragrance, as a fungicide and for its health benefits. Cinnamon oil can refer to two types – the stronger and more expensive to produce cinnamon bark oil and the cheaper cinnamon leaf oil and cassia oil. Given the high production price, it is cinnamon bark oil that runs the higher risk of being adulterated with a cheaper alternative.

5. There are several test methods that quality control and quality assurance departments use to detect adulteration. However, only carbon-14 analysis can identify if there are petrochemical-derived synthetic adulterants in a product claiming to be 100% natural.

6. Beta Analytic Garlic Oil Case Study

7. One of the methods of adulteration of natural products (of plant or animal origin) is using the often cheaper petrochemical-derived synthetic version.  This may be identical in chemical composition to the natural source but adulteration can be detected using carbon-14 analysis. • A weakly radioactive carbon isotope, carbon-14 decays over time according to the law of radioactive decay. As part of the carbon cycle, all living things have a known level of carbon-14, whereas petrochemical-derived compounds have been out of the carbon cycle for a sufficiently long time that they do not contain any carbon-14.  About Carbon-14 Analysis

8. Thus, by measuring the carbon-14 content of a product, its petrochemical-derived sources can be distinguished from plant or animal sources. Carbon-14 testing, however, cannot distinguish between different natural sources, for example between plant and animal-sourced material. About Carbon-14 Analysis

9. The testing methods available today offer a great arsenal for those in the natural product industry to ensure the authenticity of their materials. This is of course not a fail-safe guarantee. By employing several testing methods that detect different issues, quality control is enhanced. For details, please read Beta Analytic's article: Verifying Natural Products: Is Carbon-14 Analysis Necessary? www.betalabservices.com Conclusion

10. Information compiled by ISO 17025-accredited natural products testing lab Beta Analytic. For more information, please visit https://www.betalabservices.com.