Wintergreen Essential Oil Its Uses And What It Is

The essential oil is obtained via steam distillation from the macerated leaves of the plant. It is pale yellow or pink in colour and clear in nature, with a thin or watery viscosity. The aroma has a middle note which is strong, cooling and sweetly woody in character.

The primary constituent which yields the useful properties is methyl salicylate which comprises approximately 98% of the essential oil. Other notable constituents are a-pinene, delta-3-carene, delta-cadinene, limonene, 3,7-guaiadiene and myrcene.

This oil should never be taken internally. As an illustration on this, 30ml (about 1 fl oz) of Wintergreen essential oil is equivalent to 55.7g (or 171 American adult tablets) of aspirin, 1ml therefore is about the same as 6 American aspirin tablets. You should avoid the use of Wintergreen if you are taking Aspirin for anything. Internal use can cause ringing in the ears, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, stomach pain, and confusion.

If you have an allergic reaction to Aspirin or have nasal polyps, you should avoid Wintergreen oil too. Those with asthma should be cautious when using it, even though it can be beneficial.

The oil should also be avoided by children under 5 years of age, women who are pregnant due its emmenagogue action, and anyone who has epilepsy.

Wintergreen essential oil excels as with natural pain relief in terms of uses. This ability to relieve pain naturally comes from the presence of methyl salicylate, something which forms a very high percentage of the therapeutic content. Equally well the high presence of this naturally occurring compound means that Wintergreen oil should be used with caution and in low doses. As well as being an excellent natural pain reliever Wintergreen has various other benefits too, it acts as a stimulant in terms of healing bones, and is a diuretic which helps in detoxification.

The analgesic and anodyne effects are effectively the strongest properties here due to the high percentage of methyl salicylate which yields these effects. This naturally occurring compound also works as a counter irritant, and an anti-inflammatory. Whatever you are using Wintergreen oil for you will have an analgesic effect coming through.

Note that the high percentage of methyl salicylate within this essential oil means that you should avoid using it if you are taking Aspirin, or if you are allergic to Aspirin.

As you can see Wintergreen essential oil can be used to aid in the treatment of a very wide range of conditions. Many of them are due to the natural pain relief that this essential oil yields. Use with a carrier oil for massage will help to alleviate conditions such as Sciatica, Osteoporosis, Tendinitis and Rheumatism along with many other conditions, all known for having acute levels of pain.

For bone conditions be they bruised, broken or fractured, it can help to stimulate the healing required to get the bone matter in question to heal and become good again. This is something relatively unusual in an essential oil, that said the pain relieving aspect of this oil is also something rare in an essential oil too.

The primary usage is with pain relief, though it helps a wide range of conditions in this respect. It is good with healing bones and with detoxification too. In terms of all the Wintergreen essential oil uses you will get the best results from using a high quality source, the purity among other things really does make a good quality source worthwhile. Especially when getting good essential oils is easy.