Many essential oils are used for their antimicrobial properties. Some people use it in single treatment or to potentiate the antibiotic effect prescribed by their doctor. Problem, recent work has shown that the association of some of them with antibiotics does not mix well.
Cinnamon essential oil and Pseudomonas aeruginosa : a dangerous association …
A study published in the journal Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy was interested in a resistant bacteria that concerns the World Health Organization: pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This bacteria with Gram negative is considered problematic today because it adapts and resists many environments, which allows it to proliferate in very varied, even hostile places. It frequently colonizes sinks of sinks, pipes or swimming pools. This bacteria is responsible for infections associated with care (nosocomial) and chronic pulmonary infections in people with cystic fibrosis (which can reduce their life expectancy).
Researchers have highlighted a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments generally prescribed to destroy the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa When they are associated with cinnamon essential oil. Alexandre Tetard, microbiologist, and his team, found that Cinnamaldehyde, the majority compound of cinnamon essential oil, activates a bacteria defense mechanism, which makes it possible to evacuate certain toxic compounds, including antibiotics. This capacity makes Pseudomonas aeruginosa Resistance to almost all antibiotic treatments used to destroy it. Concretely, the bacteria detects cinnamon extract thanks to specific sensors and triggers the production of one or more efflux pumps capable of rejecting toxic compounds in essential oil in the external environment, but also in certain antibiotics, if used at the same time.
Know the bad associations to better treat yourself
This bacteria defense mechanism Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not only activated by cinnamon essential oil. Other studies have shown that it could also be induced by Citral, an active ingredient contained in lemongrass essential oil. A discovery that suggests that certain essential oils could be a source of resistance to antibiotics.
In an article published on the site The ConversationCatherine Llanes, professor of microbiology, indicates that research carried out with chemists, has also shown that certain natural compounds like Citral form irreversible links with antibiotics, with the major effect their total inactivation.
These works are not intended to recommend essential oils for therapeutic use but to inform the nursing staff and patients about unhappy associations who could slow down or prevent their healing. “” “Even if their effectiveness is 100 to 1,000 times less than that of antibiotics, they have, unlike the latter, the advantage of not selecting resistant mutants”Concludes Catherine Llanes.
Before each use of essential oil, ask a healthcare professional for advice. Unless medical advice, essential oils should not be used in pregnant or breastfeeding women, the child before 7 years old, epileptic people or have a history of convulsive disorders, people allergic to essential oils and asthmatic people. If you take drug treatment, ask for your doctor’s advice.