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I am aware that Tea Tree Oil has been used by many people for a long time. However, the EU Scientific Committee has expressed concerns about the safety of tea tree oil. Many of you will no doubt be familiar with the lengthy opinion given by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products from 2004 see: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/c...sccp_o_00c.pdf
I would be interested in whether members of the Forum are using Tea Tree Oil in their practice?Given the concerns raised in the literature, I would be interested to know if practitioners consider it safe to continue to use tea tree oil in practice?
Thanks
Kelvin08
Last edited by Admin : 29th October 2008 at 03:03 PM.
Reason: check4spam message removed
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
I can never understand why so many jumped on the tea tree oil bandwagon when it efficacy compared to other modalities (that have well documented efficacy) has not been demonstrated. Is that being ethical?
Tea tree oil (an essential oil derived primarily from the Australian native Melaleuca alternifolia) has been used as a topical antiseptic agent since the early part of this century for a wide variety of skin infections; however, to date, the evidence for its efficacy in fungal infections is still largely anecdotal. One hundred and four patients completed a randomized, double-blind trial to evaluate the efficacy of 10% w/w tea tree oil cream compared with 1% tolnaftate and placebo creams in the treatment of tinea pedia. Significantly more tolnaftate-treated patients (85%) than tea tree oil (30%) and placebo-treated patients (21%) showed conversion to negative culture at the end of therapy (p◂0.001); there was no statistically significant difference between tea tree oil and placebo groups. All three groups demonstrated improvement in clinical condition based on the four clinical parameters of scaling, inflammation, itching and burning. The tea tree oil group (24/37) and the tolnaftate group (19/33) showed significant improvement in clinical condition when compared to the placebo group (14/34; p = 0.022 and p = 0.018 respectively). Tea tree oil cream (10% w/w) appears to reduce the symptomatology of tinea pedis as effectively as tolnaftate 1% but is no more effective than placebo in achieving a mycological cure. This may be the basis for the popular use of tea tree oil in the treatment of tinea pedis.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin2
Tea tree oil cream (10% w/w) appears to reduce the symptomatology of tinea pedis as effectively as tolnaftate 1% but is no more effective than placebo in achieving a mycological cure. This may be the basis for the popular use of tea tree oil in the treatment of tinea pedis.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelvin08
the EU Scientific Committee has expressed concerns about the safety of tea tree oil.
Here is part of the news story from the Guardian: Tea tree oil faces ban over health fear
Scientists say even small amounts could provoke rashes and allergies
Quote:
Tea tree oil, the increasingly popular remedy for everything from spots to insect bites and vapour rubs, is under threat of being banned by the European Union. The EU has said that even small amounts of the undiluted oil could be unsafe and unstable after clinical trials found users risked rashes and allergies.
Cosmetic products, such as shampoo and bath oils, that use the oil in concentrations of less than 1 per cent are safe. But the toiletries and cosmetics firms that produce the neat form of the natural remedy have been given until June to convince a panel of scientists that the oil is safe to sell to the public.
The warnings follow revelations that boys have been warned against using oils or hair gels that contain tea tree oil after three cases of them growing breasts were reported.
Researchers in the US believe that the oils may have hormone-like properties that lead to gynaecomastia - the growth of breasts. When the boys stopped using the oils, the breasts disappeared. Writing in New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers say that the repeated use of such oils may disrupt hormonal function.
It has also been revealed that tea tree oil in cosmetics and creams could increase the chances of catching 'superbug' infections in hospital. Exposure to low doses of the oil made pathogens such as MRSA, E.coli and salmonella more resistant to antibiotics.
'Because essential oils are natural products, the public often assumes they must be safe,' says Frances Fewell, director of the Institute for Complementary Medicine. 'You should never apply any sort of essential oil directly to the skin without diluting it first in a suitable carrier oil. Tea tree oil has become very popular, and many people have started applying it directly to deal with acne and skin infections. In fact this is a very aggressive oil. The skin can dry out, blister or form a rash.'
In a strongly worded report, the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products has said it has serious concerns about the neat oil which, it found, is 'a severe irritant' to the skin and 'degraded rapidly' if exposed to air, light and heat.
The SCCP said existing safety tests were inadequate and that even widely sold toiletries were of 'questionable stability and were being sold without adequate proof of safety'.....
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
We advise using 100% tea tree oil in the treatment of verrucas when the salicylic acid is having no effect. It is difficult to know whether its effective, because its not been fully investigated in scientific trials. Tea tree oil, applied twice daily on its own or mixed with garlic juice seems to have an effect wheather this be antiviral or it damages the verruca cells. But we certainly have had results and ofcourse gentle on the skin unlike the acid or cryo-therapy
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Perhaps....
REFERENCES
1. Journal of Applied Microbiology 2000, Jan 88; The mode of antimicrobial action of the essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree oil), Cox et al.
2. US Pharmacist 24th April 2001, article by Wendell L Combest, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, University School of Pharmacy, Winchester, Virginia.
3. Centre for Biostructural and Biomolecular Research, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Western Australia.
Tea tree oil contains constituents called terpenoids, substances known to have antiseptic and antifungal properties. The compound terpinen-4-ol is the most abundant of these and is thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's antimicrobial activity.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnpod
The references quoted report in vivo observations
The only reference you quoted was:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnpod
Journal of Applied Microbiology 2000, Jan 88; The mode of antimicrobial action of the essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree oil), Cox et al.
That was in vitro in a lab. It was not a clinical trial.
The well designed RCT's show its no better than placebo (like the one posted above). Some poorly designed clinical observations studies with potential for bias (some without a placebo group) claim to show it works.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by markjohconley
Struth ! They never taught us these "gems" 20 years ago, certainly weren't covered at BootCamp.
That's because it's surpressed by big pharma
Three cheers for placebos, the most effective, flexible and safe medical treatment you know. Long may they last and long may patients benefit provided medics never become infected with their own propaganda.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Tea tree oil contains constituents called terpenoids, substances known to have antiseptic and antifungal properties. The compound terpinen-4-ol is the most abundant of these and is thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's antimicrobial activity
On a semi serious note on this one, I might take another opportunity to plug Ben Goldacre's book "bad science". It has a section on this sort of thing. If you are the proud owner of this book (and if you're not, you should be) turn to the chapter on "nonsense de Jour". p93 in the paperback.
I'm paraphrasing because its a big book.
There is a chemical called curcumin found in tumeric, which shows promise as a cancer treatment. That is, if you dunk some cancer cells in it they tend to die. Michael Van straten, Ever optimistic writer for the express, has stated that "recent research shows that tumeric is highly protective against many forms of cancer, especially prostate"
Now there may be evidence that essence of tumeric works on cells in a dish but does this mean eating curry prevents cancer? No. To get to a measurable (much less active) amount of curcumin in your system you'd have to eat 100g of tumeric. For a mutton curry (serves 6) you might use a teaspoon (about 5g) of turmeric. Thats 120 curries in one go. That's a lot of curry. Methane poisoning would probably kill you before you felt the benefit.
Lots of things have antiseptic and antifungal properties. Fairy liquid has antiseptic properties. Thats not the same as saying that pulling some on a grotty nail will cure the fungus, or that putting it on a VP will get rid of it.
Some studies are hard to do. This one isn't. Two groups of VPs or fungal nails. Two batches of oil in coded unmarked bottles, one tea tree oil, the other crisp and dry (or other brand of cooking oil) perhaps with a dash of perfume. If tea tree oil IS effective it'll show up. Until such a study, which would be easy and cheap to do, comes up I'll stay in the "placebo" camp. Which is not the same as ineffective, but also not to say its a good treatment.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Tea tree oil has those effects in vitro. But, in general, the clinical in vivo trials are showing its no better than placebo.
Absolutely. Rutherford et al (2007) stated that the antimicrobial effect of Tea Tree Oil (TTO) against bacteria, fungi and virus, NB herpes simplex only, has only been demonstrated in in vitro studies and that no clinical studies have revealed superiority of TTO over existing licensed pharmacological treatment.
IMO more worryingly, is the fact that the incidence of reactions to oxidized TTO is recorded as being relevant enough to warrant warnings on TTO products. Once a bottle of TTO is opened it continues to oxidate and increase in strength enough to become a severe irritant. Just because it is a `natural` antimicrobial, that does not make it safe (would you eat Foxgloves from your garden if someone said “Hey, it`s natural”?). How many practitioners out there recommending TTO for TP or VPs are explaining the nature of oxidation?
Quote:
Tea tree oil contains constituents called terpenoids, substances known to have antiseptic and antifungal properties. The compound terpinen-4-ol is the most abundant of these and is thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's antimicrobial activity
Agree with the above statement; however these terpenoids (terpinolene, ascardiol, a-terpinene, etc) are KNOWN sensitizers for contact dermatitis, which increase with oxidation of the oil upon exposure to light, moisture, heat and air. So much so that, oxidated TTO has a sensitizing capacity multiple times stronger than a newly opened fresh bottle of TTO, after just a few days if opened daily.
The amount of pts that I`ve seen presenting with Paronychia and contact dermatisis associated with use of TTO, is enough for me to discourage its use, IMHO of course.
Cheers,
Bel
Refs;
Rutherford T, Nixon R, Tam M and Tate B. Allergy to tea tree oil: retrospective review of 41 cases with positive patch tests over 4.5 years. Australasian Journal of Dermatology (2007) 48; 83-87
Aberer W. Contact allergy and medicinal herbs. Journal of the German Society of Dermatology (2008) 6; 15 -24
Hausen BM. Evaluation of the main contact allergens in oxidized tea tree oil. Dermatitis2004; 15: 213-14
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