Candles With Essential Oils Kill Bacteria

[Guest guest]

To use candles for EO diffusion,

light plain candles and after the you have a nice pool of liquid wax, blow out the candle and add

the EO, then relight. Don’t try to put EO in the wax with a flame as many

of them are very flammable.

Candles With

Essential Oils Kill Bacteria

Flame and Oils Work Together, Say British Researchers

By Miranda Hitti

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

on Friday, November

19, 2004

Nov. 19, 2004

-- Candles containing certain essential oils can do more than set a mood and

smell pretty. They can also kill bacteria, according to a new British study.

The

finding shows a new way to destroy bacteria, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and

Staphylococcus aureus (staph)

on surfaces, say researchers Lindsey Gaunt, PhD, and Higgins of England's

University of Southampton.

Gaunt and

Higgins worked on the project with , a professor at the university's

Bioelectrostatics Research Centre. They presented

their study in Tokyo

at the sixth joint symposium of the International Electrostatics Society of

Japan and the Electrostatics Society of America.

The

scientists made their own essential oil candles and tested them against the two

common bacteria.

Staph and E. coli can both spread

easily and cause skin infection and food poisoning respectively. There are

hundreds of strains of E. coli, most of which live harmlessly in the digestive

tracts of humans and animals; however, some strains

produce a powerful toxin.

The

scientists used essential oils of orange, palmarosa,

may chang, thyme, and an element of tea tree oil

called beta-pinene.

They

burned each candle for one, three, or five hours in an airtight chamber

containing E. coli and staph bacteria.

For

comparison, the researchers also tested plain wax candles without essential

oils and evaporated essential oils in water on a hot plate.

The

candles containing beta-pinene and may

chang did the best job of killing the bacteria. Both

were almost 100% effective, virtually wiping out the bacteria.

The staph bacteria were killed within an hour, but it took five

hours for the beta-pinene candle to destroy the E.

coli bacteria.

The other

essential oils had varying effects.

For

instance, orange oil worked better against E. coli, while palmarosa

was more effective against staph. That's probably due

to the different chemical composition of the oils, say the researchers.

In

contrast, the plain wax candle had no effect on bacteria, and vapor created by

the essential oil also had little to no impact on the bacteria.

The

candle flame and essential oil components appear to work together for a

sterilizing effect, say the researchers.

Carol in IL

Mom to seven kids, twin grandson's and ,

4 DS

" Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in

vain. " Psalm 127

My problem is not how I look, it's how you see me