Emu Oil - The Product for All Seasons
Many health care practitioners are discovering that Emu oil is one of the most exciting products to reach the American marketplace in recent times. The emu is a large flightless bird, related to the ostrich. Emu oil has been used by the Aboriginal natives of Australia and primitive tribes of New Zealand for thousands of years and has literally dozens of medical uses that have been documented in folk literature and are now being confirmed in trials in this country. The best news is that there seem to be numerous benefits and no known serious adverse effects, unlike the horror stories that are becoming so common with many new products these days, making treatment often times more miserable than the medical condition. Is this truly a wonder drug? The real wonder is that more consumers don’t yet know of this “new” product derived from such ancient wisdom.
One of the most common uses for emu oil is as an anti-inflammatory pain reliever. The oil is applied topically for relief from sore muscles, aching joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, shin splints, tendonitis, diabetic neuropathy, and even fibromyalgia.
Some professional sports teams are using the oil as part of their standard after-game massage therapy for athletes with highly abused muscles and joints, and a number of physical therapists have begun incorporating the oil into their regimens as well. There are no hard and fast rules for frequency of application, but historically the product appears to have a fairly rapid onset of action and long duration, with patients reporting relief of pain within minutes, lasting up to several days. Three or four applications daily in cases of moderate or severe inflammation is considered safe, though many report relief from a single treatment. The oil has even been used to reduce pain and inflammation from shingles, bedsores, and hemorrhoids.
The active ingredients in emu oil, though not yet uniformly standardized, are known to be the omega fatty acids oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acids. Linoleic acid is considered to relieve joint pain and aching muscles, and oleic acid is a local anti-inflammatory agent. The oil is known to be very penetrating, most likely because it does not contain phospholipids, and is being incorporated into topical products by some compounding pharmacists as a carrier and penetrating vehicle. Combinations of pain relieving ingredients, such as anti-inflammatories, analgesics, or anesthetics, with emu oil providing the penetration and additional analgesic effects, are proving successful in management of both acute and chronic pain conditions.
Other topical uses of emu oil are numerous, including treatment of psoriasis, eczema, sunburn, chapped lips, surgical scars, stretch marks, healing of chemical and thermal burns and even burns from radiation therapy. Skin thickening has been demonstrated, with dramatic healing of burned skin as well as reduction in wrinkling, hence the growing popularity of emu oil in cosmetic products and wrinkle creams. The oil is high in emollient characteristics, very moisturizing, and is being added to lip balms to enhance healing of chapped lips, used to treat canker sores, age spots, to diminish acne inflammation, and to relieve itching from insect bites.
Orally, the oil has been used to promote heart and vascular health. The Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acid content enable emu oil to lower cholesterol, triglycerides, and low density lipoproteins (LDL), possibly enough to eliminate the need for more drastic treatment with prescription cholesterol-lowering medications.
Although there are no known adverse reactions reported, caution is advised if a patient is taking anticoagulant medication and/or aspirin. The linolenic acid content of the emu oil might possibly increase the risk of bleeding. Also, caution is recommended if taking other herbal products with known anticoagulant activity, such as feverfew, ginkgo, garlic, ginger, and horse chestnut.
As a last note, you should be aware that with increasing awareness of nutritional needs and dietary deficiencies these days, the emu meat is a very heart-healthy alternative to the usual beef, pork, and poultry. Emu meat is virtually fat-free and cholesterol-free, and the number of ways to prepare it is limited only by your emu-gination !
References:
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database
Therapeutic Research Faculty
PO Box 8190
Stockton, CA 95208
Emu Today and Tomorrow
Volume 9, Issue 10
October, 1999
“Composition of Emu Oil: The Micro View”
Dr. Leigh Hopkins, American Emu Association Oil Standards Team Research Leader
AEA News, Spring 1997
“Moisturizing and Cosmetic Properties of Emu Oil: A Double Blind Study” (1994)
By Dr Alexander Zemtsov, Dr. Monica Gaddis, and Dr Victor Montalvo-Lugo
AEA News, Spring 1997
