Oregano Oil: Nature s Super Germ Fighter
James South, M.A
With the advent of widespread antibiotic
usage in the late 1940s, doctors began to vanquish the bacterial
germ diseases that had ravaged mankind since ancient times. By
the 1960s such ancient enemies as diphtheria, scarlet fever,
syphilis, bubonic plague and tuberculosis were easily treatable
with modern antibiotics. Yet by the 1990s, antibiotics were no
longer hailed as the miracle they had seemed just 40 years
earlier. By the 1990s many bacteria had developed a resistance
to most antibiotics. Widespread overuse of antibiotics also
seemed to promote a new plague: the development of fungal
infections especially Candida albicans in the young, the elderly
and the immunocompromised.1-3
Ironically, research beginning in the 1950s (the golden
years of antibiotic usage)4 continuing to the present day,
has provided a remedy for both bacterial antibiotic resistance
and fungal infestation: oregano oil. Oregano oil is produced by
distillation from the leaves and flowers of wild Mediterranean
oregano (Origanum Vulgare).1 Oregano oil is rich in phenolic
compounds, including carvacrol and thymol, 6,7 which have been
shown to be powerfully germicidal against a wide range of
bacteria, fungi and protozoal parasites, even at minute
concentrations of the oil.3-11
Although modern science has verified the broad-spectrum
antimicrobial activity of oregano oil, oregano has been used for
medicine and food preservation for thousands of years. According
to oregano expert Dr. Cass Ingram, ancient Greek physicians
routinely used oregano to treat a myriad of conditions,
including open wounds, lung disorders, venomous bites and
narcotic poisoning. When Islamic civilization flourished in the
Middle Ages, its doctors used oregano and its oil to treat germ
diseases. Powdered wild oregano was then used as a food
preservative, keeping unrefrigerated vegetables unspoiled for up
to two weeks. Medieval Europeans used wild oregano to prevent
milk spoilage. In the 1600s British herbalist Gerard promoted
oregano as the ideal treatment for head colds.1
A large number of in vitro, or test tube studies,
have shown oregano oil, or its most active constituents
carvacrol and thymol, to kill a broad range of bacteria and
fungi. Conner and Beuchat tested 32 plant oils against 13
food-spoilage and industrial yeasts by the agar diffusion
method. Growing yeasts were spread on special plates onto the
center of which small (6 mm) discs dipped in one percent or 10
percent essential oil were placed. The zone of inhibition,
wherein no yeasts grew, was measured after four days. Out of 32
oils, only garlic oil had a larger average zone of inhibition
than oregano oil, and oregano had a larger zone of inhibition
than garlic oil for four of 13 yeasts tested.4
Hammer and colleagues investigated 52 plant oils for activity
against nine bacteria and the yeast Candida using the agar
diffusion method. Oregano oil was one of only three oils that
inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a hard-to-kill
bacterium that causes human wound infections. Overall, oregano
oil was better at inhibiting germ growth than all oils tested
except lemon grass oil. Oregano oil was effective at
concentrations as low as 0.12 percent.5
Tantaoui-Elaraki and Beraoud tested 13 essential oils against
the common food contaminant mold Aspergillus parasiticus.
Oregano oil was one of four oils that could completely stop mold
growth at concentrations as low as 0.1 percent. The production
of aflatoxins, incredibly potent toxins produced by many
Aspergillus species, was also measured. Oregano oil was one of
three oils that could inhibit aflatoxin production more than 90
percent at an oil concentration of only 0.01 percent, and one of
six oils that could completely inhibit aflatoxin production at
0.1 percent.6
Baratta and coworkers tested sage, rosemary, oregano, laurel and
coriander oils against 25 bacteria. They noted that
oregano oil manifested the broadest and highest activity against
almost all of the bacteria tested; in fact it strongly inhibited
19 of the 25 bacterial strains under investigation, showed a
good activity against four bacteria and proved to be ineffective
against the growth of [two]. 7 They also found coriander and
oregano oil to have the highest activity against the fungus
Aspergillus niger. The zones of inhibition (ZI) were typically
much greater for oregano oil than the other four. Thus the ZI
for oregano oil against Salmonella bacteria was 46.8 mm,
compared to 7.6-12.6 mm for the other four oils; 29.8 mm against
Yersinia vs. 6.8-12.3 mm for the other four oils; 31.1 mm
against Citrobacter vs. 9.7-13 mm for the other four, etc. Only
two oils killed Pseudomonas aeruginosa: rosemary (ZI=8.6 mm) and
oregano (ZI=12.0 mm).7
Stiles and colleagues used both agar diffusion and the serial
broth dilution techniques to measure oregano oil s activity
against Candida albicans, the cause of the yeast syndrome.
Oregano oil was compared to Nystatin and Ca/Mg caprylate, two
common Candida treatments. At a concentration of just 0.91
mcg/ml (about 1 part/million), oregano oil had the same ZI as
Nystatin: 22-25 mm. At 1.82 mcg/ml (about 2 parts/million),
oregano oil had a ZI of 40-45 mm. Using the broth dilution
technique to measure the quantity needed to kill 99.9 percent of
the Candida, it took 45 mcg/ml of oregano oil, but 5,000 mcg/ml
of the Ca/Mg caprylate.8
Manohar and coworkers tested oregano oil against Candida both in
vitro and in vivo. Using the broth dilution technique, it took
just 0.25 mg/ml (about 250 parts/million) to completely kill
Candida, and 0.125 mg/ml to prevent the germ tube formation and
mycelial filament elongation necessary to cause Candida tissue
invasion. Groups of six mice were injected with 12.5 million
live Candida cells. All of the control group, which received no
antimicrobial, was dead within ten days. Six groups of mice were
force-fed oregano oil dissolved in olive oil at a dose from 8.66
to 52 mg/kg of bodyweight. Five of six survived 30 days (when
the experiment was terminated) with 8.66 mg/kg, while all of the
other groups survived 30 days.3
Force and colleagues gave 600 mg emulsified oregano oil for six
weeks to 13 adults who had tested positive for intestinal
parasites (Entamoeba, Endolinax, or Blastocystis). Parasites
could no longer be detected in 10 of the 13 after the treatment.
The parasite score (parasites counted under a microscope)
decreased for the other three. Seven of the eight who had
originally tested positive for Blastocystis hominis reported
significant improvement of their symptoms, such as bloating, GI
cramping, alternating diarrhea and constipation, and fatigue.9
Oregano is GRAS (generally regarded as safe), but the oil should
be used with caution, as it can be irritating to the mucous
membranes. It should be taken with food, partway through a meal,
not on an empty stomach. Oregano oil may trigger the
die-off phenomenon in those suffering intestinal
candidiasis or other intestinal microbial infestation due to its
powerful germ-killing action. See reference for more
detail on the die-off.
In an age when food poisoning sickens or kills many
thousands annually, oil of oregano taken with meals may be the
best preventative.
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References:
1. Ingram, C. The Cure is in the Cupboard. Buffalo Grove,
IL:Knowledge House, 2001.
2. Crook, W. The Yeast Connection and Women s Health. Jackson,
TN: Professional Books, 2003.
3. Manohar, V. et al. Antifungal activities of origanum
oil against Candida albicans. Mol Cell Biochem, 2001, 228:
111-17.
4. Maruzzella, J. & Lichtenstein, M. The in vitro
antibacterial activity of essential oils. J Am Pharm
Assoc, 1956, 47: 250 ff.
5. Hammer, K. et al. Antimicrobial activity of essential
oils and other plant extracts . J Appl Microbial, 1999,
86:985-90.
6.Tantatoui-Elaraki, A and Beraoud, L. Inhibition of
growth and aflatoxin production in Aspergillus parasiticus by
essential oils of selected plant materials. J Environ Path
Toxicol Oncol, 1994, 13: 67-72.
7. Baratta, M.T. et al. Chemical composition,
antimicrobial and antioxidative activity of laurel, sage
rosemary, oregano and coriander essential oils. J Essent
Oil Res, 1998, 10:618-27.
8. Stiles, J. et al. The inhibition of Candida albicans by
oregano . J Appl Nutr, 1995, 47:96-102.
9. Force, M. et al. Inhibition of enteric parasites by
emulsified oil of oregano in vivo . Phytother Res, 2000,
14:213-14.
10. Knobloch, K. et al. Antibacterial and antifungal
properties of essential oil components. J Essent Oil Res,
1989, 1:119-28.
11. Conner, D. & Beuchat, L. Effects of essential oils
from plants on growth of food spoilage yeasts. J Food Sci,
1984, 49:429-34.
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