Lavender and Tea Tree Oils Linked to Breast Growth in Boys
Thursday February 1, 2007
A surprising study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that commonly used aromatherapy essential oils have been linked to enlarged breasts in boys (known medically as prepubertal gynecomastia).
A pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Colorado at Denver diagnosed three boys, aged four, seven, and ten years, with prepubertal gynecomastia. All had regularly used either soap, skin lotions, shampoos or styling products containing tea tree oil and lavender oil as ingredients. Breast size returned to normal after these products were discontinued.
After researchers at the National Institutes of Health learned about these cases, they conducted experiments using human cells to see if these essential oils could influence hormones. The tests showed that both oils may boost estrogen, the female hormone that stimulates breast growth, and inihibit androgens, the hormones that inhibits breast tissue growth. Read the full story, Lavender and Tea Tree Oils Linked to Breast Enlargement in Boys
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A pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Colorado at Denver diagnosed three boys, aged four, seven, and ten years, with prepubertal gynecomastia. All had regularly used either soap, skin lotions, shampoos or styling products containing tea tree oil and lavender oil as ingredients. Breast size returned to normal after these products were discontinued.
After researchers at the National Institutes of Health learned about these cases, they conducted experiments using human cells to see if these essential oils could influence hormones. The tests showed that both oils may boost estrogen, the female hormone that stimulates breast growth, and inihibit androgens, the hormones that inhibits breast tissue growth. Read the full story, Lavender and Tea Tree Oils Linked to Breast Enlargement in Boys
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Comments
I would like to commend on blaming Lavender and Tea Tree Oils for extra breat growth in boys: whenever we use commercial lotions or shampoos we are exposed to petrochemicals with or without the essential oils. Petrochemicals are known for years as xenoestrogens (which are “Fake” estogens). This is how our body recognizes petrochemicals. So in fact the boys were exposed to an overload of estrogen from the mineral oil companies (Petrochemicals are banned in certain countries in Europe from personal care products because they are a known cause of brest cancer as well)- these caused the extra breast growth. Don’t try to blame good old natural substances for that!
Dr. Helga Pizzera
Lakeview Naturopathic Clinic