[VidSitePro id=8 ]I’m dr. Hamza Fargo a practicing pediatrician and medical editor for Medscape tea tree and lavender essential oils of two popular ingredients in many personal care products including ones marketed to children tea tree oil has become a common addition to kids here and body products lavender oil is often added to calming sprays and aromatherapy products both are touted as safer more natural alternatives to chemical ingredients but are they really safer it’s difficult to know for sure since the FDA doesn’t oversee essential oils that are not used in a drug over the last few years the safety of these oil has been called into question after a few small studies suggested that frequent use might cause gynecomastia in boys as young as 4 or 5 so the research at this point is limited but here’s the evidence we have to date in 2007 Colorado pediatrician Clifford Bloch reported three otherwise healthy boys ages 4 7 and 10 with gynecomastia all of the children had normal thyroid and sex hormone levels the one common denominator though was use of personal care products that contained lavender or key tree oil and all three boys the gynecomastia resolved within a few months of could discontinuation as a result of this case report the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences examined the effects of these oils on human cells and reported that they mimic the effects of estrogen while dampening the effects of androgens in other words they found evidence that these oils act as endocrine disruptors a couple of additional very small studies have found a similar link between lavender and tea tree oils and breast growth yet other research has contradicted these findings in 2013 the Research Institute for fragrance materials conducted its own study of lavender oil and female rats and found no evidence of the oil exerted estrogen-like activity as of now there’s no definite of proof that lavender or tea tree oil stimulates breast growth in pre-pubertal boys and girls those studies suggest a possible link while only a handful of cases have been published in my experience endocrinologists are reporting seeing this in practice in 2007 the nieh s issued a warning about the potential for lavender and tea tree oils to act as endocrine disruptors yet the research also cautioned against drawing any firm conclusions until more studies have been completed that warning still remains in effect although more research is needed in the office though it’s important to ask about use of these oils with parents when you see a young patient with enlarged for us and most importantly in those cases stop those products to see if it makes the difference for Medscape I’m dr. honza Bhargava
Twitter: @M_M_Rangoonwala
Instagram: @holistic_meaning