We need to be willing to admit we were wrong.
Here is the response I got from doTERRA stating that their peppermint oil is a complete distill:
violation of FDA regulations. You may want to contact Life Science
In one video, one of the founders of doTERRA stated that their peppermint smelled amazing because it was from Washington. Well, other peppermints are from Washington.
What I think is troubling here is thatdoTERRA makes a lot of claims about their oils being the besttop quality. And their prices sure reflect that. I dont think I would purchase complete, 2nd or 3rd distillation oil for more than other companies are selling 1st distill forwould you?
Besides buying theYoung Living Starter Kit, I also bought alarge kit of doTERRAs oilsto try them out against YL. I asked doTERRA reps and corporate employees tons of questions, and I even used their oils exclusively for awhile.
And while I was doing my investigating, some different things popped up about both Young Living and doTERRA that made me think and wonder even more. About both companies.
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Before we get into the comparison, let me say that Ive had to admit I was wrong about things before.
My goal here wasnt really to say which of these was best, but to talk about different aspects of each of these essential oil powerhouses in the midst of my search for the best essential oil company and point out some of my concerns with both of them.
Does that mean there were synthetics added?
When I started out my journey with essential oils (which I never expected to go on, by the wayI initially thought thatessential oils were a scam), I went with Young Living. Because it worked.
Huh? So it seemed to me that the company was saying that it was proven that their Thieves® oil was proven to be effective, when what really was the case was that Eucalyptus, one component of Thieves®, was proven to be effective.
In each instance, Young Living was singled out as having a chemical (synthetic) overtone.
If there is truly no such thing as more than one distillation of peppermint, as many say, then why is doTERRA stating that there is a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and complete distillation of peppermint? Possibly it was an error.
But their great smell is part of what concerns me.
Before I go into moreI mentioned distillation techniques in one of my previous posts. Basically, the going wisdom about essential oils is that you put the plant parts and water in a distiller and under low pressure and low temperature, you distill the essential oils out of the plant.
However, his writings about Young Living and Gary Young leave something to ponder. Moreso in light of what else I found
If you read through the comments ofBest Essential Oils Parts 2 & 3, youll see that Young Living reps tout the fact that YL farms are in the U.S. as being an advantagethat it gives Young Living control over the whole process. Maybe, but other companies like doTERRA and most of the other companies Ive looked into have their oils sourced from wherever the plants grow naturally for higher quality.
Remember my enthusiastic posts about theirThievesandPeppermint and Wintergreen?
One thing I really like about doTERRA is their educational resources and also, their oils smell great.
Today Im going to share what happened as I looked into the heavy hitters in the Essential Oils Industry
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I found this interesting entry referring toYoung Living OSHA violations. I didnt find any by the other oils companies, although I didnt lookallof the essential oils companies up, of course. That would take a long long time and I couldnt find them all for sure.
One of the things that bugs me about doTERRA is that they dont have any certified organic oils. What I have heard is that its too hard for them to get that certification from all of the countries that they source from. Emily Wright says:
I looked up the tests online to see what they were all about, because I was curious to see the exact results and found, however, that the study was done on generic Eucalyptus Oilnot on Thieves Oil.
doTERRAs peppermintsmells good enough to eatas in candy cane good.
There are some other things about these companies and I couldnt go into all of them for various reasons.
I could go on and on about his site, but suffice it to say that I am not sure of all of Barretts accusations against Gary Young. (UPDATE All comments by Mr. Barrett against Gary Young appear to have been removed so I cant cite them any longer.)
It was hard to sort through all of the information, but Im going to lay out most of it for you here so you can see some of the concerns that came to my attention. This isnt everything that I found to be disconcerting, but its a lot of it.
This is exactly what doTERRAs peppermint oils smell like. So yummy, in fact, that if you have kiddos in the house, youd best keep it out of arms reach.
The most coveted, and most expensive (and thought to be the most therapeutic) oil is that which is collected during the first part of the distillation period. The resulting oil is called first distilled.
This isnt necessarily a negative, but thought I should point it out since Frankincense is such a popular essential oil these days.
Look at the following sources and see that Bio Young Aromas is the supplier to both companies.
oils and supplements and may be able to assist you further.
We had a blind smell test of 3-5 brands of the same oil.
Please note, this whole topic is very confusing and I am digging into it more and am going to be adding more information to this series about it and/or addressing it again in another post. You can read some information in later posts about why one chemist thinks that doTERRAs peppermint mint smell this way.
But that might be a problem. Heres why.
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I purchased Young Living, doTERRA, Mountain Rose Herbs, Aura Cacia, and 2 other companies oils and did a little Smell Challenge with my not-so-specially-trained Smell Testing Panel (a.k.a. my family).
Ylang Ylang first distill (which is referred to as extra) is typically considered to be the quality of oil that is most sought after / of highest therapeutic qualitynot the complete distillation.
This post is just one in my search for thebest essential oils company, and while its a bit off the beaten path, its one I thought I should write.
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One thing I really dont care for is that a lot of doTERRA reps (and corporate employees as well) say something like, Youll know it works by its smell.
distillation. There is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and complete and we use complete. (Source: my email.)
What do either of these companies have that makes wading through their distribution model worth it instead of just going to a physical store or ordering essential oils online without the commitment of signing up for anything?
Distillation, Bias, Vomit and Personal Attacks Part 6
The other alternative is that someone did something else to the peppermint oil to reduce the herby smell.
I touched on some of these issues in the beginning of myBest Essential Oilsseries. But heres more.
First of all,Young Livingwas pretty much the first on the block. They literally made essential oils mainstream. Theres something to be said for that.
I know there are abuses on both sides. But Quackwatch appears to be just targeting everything alternative: Chiropractic, acupuncture, Chinese medicine.You name it. If its alternative, its Barretts target.
In the literature that I got from Young Living when I signed up, there wereThieves®brochures. The brochure mentionedthis studydone that apparently addressed the superior therapeutic value of the oil.
As of the 2018 update of this post, all or many of the oils from Young Living do not have a country of origin indicated on the site.
Candy-cane-smelling peppermintis apparently, according to several sources, possibly from a redistill. The oils are either redistilled or some components are taken out to give the oil a clean pepperminty candy smell. (Source).
This from doTERRAs website:A 100% pure therapeutic-grade essential oil should have a balanced, broad fragrance profile and should smell crystal clean. I dont know about you, but I dont know what crystal clean means.
UPDATE 4/16: I will be updating this distillation information.
Are Multi-Level Marketing Oils Worth It? Part 5
Of course, OSHA violations dont mean that a company is bad. If they cleaned up their procedures correctly, then possibly their new procedures are better than ever.
They travel down a tube and into a vatalong with the steam. The oil collects on top of the water and is removed andvoilayou have essential oils.
research articles or provide this information as it would be in direct
As of the 2018 update of this post, all or many of the oils from doTERRA do not have a country of origin indicated on the site. This is interesting especially since the company and/or its reps repeatedly say that they cant get organic certification due to it being hard to get it in the countries where their oils are sourced.
The information here is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a medical professional before changing your diet, exercise program, or before trying any natural remedies.
You can let her know that our Peppermint uses complete
The two companies have a big command over the marketplace and there is a lot of tension between the two. I think its difficult to say which is best, and of course different aspects of each company continue to change making them both kind of moving targets.
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carterii (typically the least expensive)
My thinking thatLilla Rose Flexi Clipswere a waste of money (see my I was wrongLilla Rose review).
If youve been looking into essential oils at all, chances are you have come across Young Living and doTERRA.
Thanks for your patience! This has been a long road, but I promise, we are nearing the end.
or saying myNatural Dishwasher Rinse Aidwas a great idea.
Most peppermint essential oils smell like the peppermint you find growing out in nature. Kind of herby and not really like a candy cane.
It makes sense that a lot of people are asking this question, because these two companies own a huge market share in the industry.
I heard from a reader that there is source map for doTERRA oils, but I couldnt find it. I did findone pagethat shows sourcing for Spikenard and Petitgrain. It shows that the Petitgrain Oil is sourced from Paraguay. Other companies have organic Petitgrain from Paraguay so I would be interested in hearing where their other oils are from to see if their claim about organic being something they cant do is reasonable or not.
Do you think one is better than the other or would you rather not work with either of them?
Then you wont be surprised to know that wedid this with essential oils as well.
I dont know. But just be careful where you shop because both MLMs and retail stores can have issues with not having pure oils.
Of course, there are other things to think aboutpurity, etc. So well keep the conversation going andtouch on other companies as well.
doTERRA prides itself on selling the top of the line quality. Their ylang ylang, however, is also a complete distillation. Some may say that this is a matter of taste, but in the essential oils industry, the first distill of ylang ylang is more valued and therefore, a higher priced oil. To their credit, doTERRA does call their ylang ylang a complete distill on their website.
Thanks toKitchen Stewardship, I realized that doTERRA doesnt disclose all of the oils in this bug repellant blend. I will say that we have used this to treat after bite itching (and my son likes it), but I think that not including ingredients on a label is not preferable. (UPDATE doTERRA now discloses the ingredients of their Terra Shield blend. Im glad they are doing that.)
I personally am very concerned about abuses in the alternative medical field. But Im also concerned about abuses in Western medicine.
Whenever theres a great deal on essential oils (or other healthy living deals) I let my readers know about itbelieve me, you wont want to miss out!
ManyA good number (updated 4/2015) of Young Livings farms are located in the U.S. I think thats fine for a company being more in control of their product, but not great if you follow conventional wisdom that plants grow best (and have the best therapeutic qualities) when they are grown in their indigenous locations (where they are supposed to grow naturally).
However, there are some pretty not-so-savory things on the internet about D. Gary Young. Of course, the internet can be full of truths and lies. But I still think these things might be worth paying attention to. Dr. Stephen Barrett has written a load of unsavory things about D. Gary Young. In fact, this information is a lot of what gave me pause when I initially was looking into signing up with YL. I mean, theThieves Oilworked great for me, but I really didnt like what I was reading.
byAdrienne1,840 CommentsUpdated: May 3, 2018
I get it. It can be hard. But they could source some or many of them organically if they wanted to. At least I see other companies doing it. Maybe Im wrong, but that is the way it seems to me. Ive looked into organic certification before and it wasnt as expensive as most companies (those without certification) make it out to be.
In a sense, thats fine, I guess. But I still was confused and decided to email headquarters.
So if in fact, the first distillation of peppermint oil is the most valuable, then their peppermint oil might not be top quality.
When I first wrote this series, doTERRA had very few oils so if you were looking for a company that could be a one stop shop, then it wasnt really a great option. That has changed somewhat since that time.
This is one of the big questions out there in the essential oils world.
Then, while researching the whole thing, someone else from the company said that it was because it was distilled only from the leaves and the flowers. I couldnt get a real answer on it. I tried for months and months. Its a very disconcerting situation when I cant get answers to questions like this.
You know I like testing things before recommending them to you, like in my:
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we cannot comment on any
items or research that contain useful information concerning essential
The reason for this is because we source from so many developing countries. The certification requirements and availability differs from country to country. Some countries dont even have a certification offering.
As time wore on, however, I wasnt sure what to think.
2018 Update: Heres something interesting that just came to my attention. Young Living and doTERRA appear to have the same source for some of their oils.
I hope this all makes sense. If notask away.
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Most companies sell either just one variety of Frankincense Oil, or several varieties, but doTERRAs Frankincense is, at least as of the date I am writing this addition to this post (Aug 2016), a blend of different varieties (source):
This first distillation only applies to ylang ylang and possibly peppermint, according to what I have learned.
I will add, however, that the most disconcerting thing to me about the whole issue was that I could never get solid information about WHY their peppermint smelled the way that it did.
Now, I do have my concerns about Mr. Barrettmainly that hes basically an anti-alternative therapy hound. And I like alternative therapies. Most of them, at least.
My family and I have been harmed by the practices of traditional Western medicine (overuse of anti-biotics,over-use of prescriptions meds,doctors misdiagnosing acid reflux, etc.). In some cases, weve been healeddespitewhat mainstream doctors told us to do.
Now, Young Living is the oldest oils company, so theyve had more time for there to be violations, and all of the violations appear to be of the same incident.
I was pretty excited about the results I had, but as I started writing about essential oils, I started having some second thoughts. In particular, one rep from doTERRA started pointing out some things that had me rethinking my decision and wondering if I made the right decision or not.
Not necessarily of course, but we still didnt care for it.
Youve for sure heard Young Living is the best! or doTERRA is the most pure.
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