Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Cosmetic – antiperspirant – dentifrice
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-05
2001-08-28
Page, Thurman K. (Department: 1615)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Cosmetic, antiperspirant, dentifrice
C424S195180, C424S451000, C424S464000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280751
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to medicinal and cosmetic compositions comprising an essential oil in combination with at least one spice and/or at least one herb. Such compositions may be taken orally or may be absorbed through the skin.
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years in aromatherapy. The ancient Chinese are generally acknowledged as the founders of aromatherapy, but it is more than likely that quite early in the history of civilisation man had realised that certain aromatic plants could help restore his health. Aromatic substances were also used by the ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks as medicinal perfumes.
In the 10th century the Arabs were extracting essential oils from aromatic plants and using them medicinally. The Knights of the Crusades brought aromatic essences and waters back to Europe from the Middle East and they became so popular that perfume began to be manufactured and was well established by the end of the 12th century. The importance of aromatic plants for other purposes was realised early. When the bubonic plague reached England around the middle of the 14th century, fires were ordered in the streets at night, burning aromatic frankincense and pine; indoors, incense and perfumed candles were burnt to combat infection and disguise the stench of death; pomanders made from aromatic gums and resins were worn on ribbons round the neck to protect the wearers from the dreaded Black Death.
By the turn of the 18th century essential oils were widely used in medicinal preparations and Salmon's dispensary of 1896 contains recipes for numerous aromatic remedies. In the 19th century, essential oils were subjected to more scientific investigation, and it was discovered that some of them could be synthesised from other materials. As it is always quicker and cheaper to produce the laboratory versions than natural plant extracts, true essential oils began to fall from favour. Today, many of our medicines and perfumes contain so-called essential oils, though often they are mere imitations; while synthetics may smell like the real thing, they do no possess the same therapeutic properties.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are highly scented droplets found in minute quantities in the flowers, stems, leaves, roots and barks of aromatic plants. They are not true oils in the manner of lubricant vegetable oils, but highly fluid and exceptionally volatile.
Essential oils are complex mixtures of different organic molecules—terpenes, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones and phenols. Synthetic oils are usually made from one or more of the constituents predominant within a particular essential oil; menthol, for example, often substitutes for mint and eucalyptol for eucalyptus. However, there are sound reasons for believing that it is the interaction between each and every component that gives an essential oil its particular character and unique therapeutic properties.
The chemical composition of an oil is related to the time of day, the month or the season. Jasmine develops a strongly scented indole molecule at midnight when it is particularly intoxicating, and it is important to gather the petals at exactly the right moment. There are good years and bad years for essential oils as there are with wines. Some commercial producers have discovered that they can improve the quality of a poor yield by adding certain components and that an expensive oil like rosemary can be adulterated, without altering its aroma, by adding 30-40% of camphor which is considerably cheaper for the perfume industry. Such adulteration may be commercially acceptable but it might well alter the therapeutic properties of the oil. It is important to try to ensure that essential oils come from reputable sources and are as pure as possible.
Experts recognise an essential oil by its aroma and check its composition by a process called Gas Liquid Chromatography. Colour can also be an indicator; eucalyptus is colourless, chamomile varies from white to blue and others, like basil and sandalwood (both light greenish-yellow), are in pastel shades. Yet others are richly pigmented, like jasmine, a deep reddish-brown, patchouli, brown, and rose, orange-red.
Extraction of the Oils
Essential oils may be extracted from plants in a number of ways. One of the oldest methods is distillation, practised in ancient Persia, Turkey and India thousands of years ago. The Egyptians were preparing essence of cedarwoods for embalming and other purposes around 2000 BC; the wood was heated in a clay vessel covered by a screen of woollen fibres through which the steam had to pass. The essence was obtained by squeezing out the impregnated wool.
The Arabs are credited with having popularised distillation in the late 10th century. They began with extract of rose petals then experimented with other aromatic materials. Today, distillation remains the most commonly used means of extracting essential oils.
Other methods include enfleurage, often used for delicate petals like jasmine and tuberose; maceration, for tougher flowers and leaves, roots and bark; solvent extraction, the preferred method for gums and resins like myrrh and galbanum; and hand expression, chiefly employed for squeezing the highly aromatic oils from thick-skinned citrus fruit like oranges, tangerines and lemons.
The Properties and Uses of Essential Oils
Essential oils possess numerous properties which make them useful for treating many of our most common health and beauty troubles.
Professor Paolo Rovesti, Director of the Instituto Derivati Vegetali in Milan, has studied the effect of essential oils on the psyche and found that they can be useful in the treatment of anxiety and depression. He recommends ylang—ylang, citrus oils, jasmine, basil, patchouli and peppermint for treating general depression, geranium, lavender and bergamot for treating fear and anxiety, and peppermint, rose and carnation for improving concentration and eliminating lethargy. Sprayed into the air, these oils also have immediate and long-lasting effects.
The reasons for these reactions are as yet unclear, but it is known that odour molecules are perceived by thousands of tiny nerve cells in the nose and that each of these nerves is connected to that part of the brain which is concerned with emotional drives, creativity and sexual behaviour. This could explain why certain perfumes make us feel happy, why some essences, like jasmine and rose, have a reputation for being aphrodisiac and why unpleasant smells, like petrol fumes, can induce depression. While pure essential oils appear to have a positive influence on the psyche, it is doubtful that synthetic ones work in the same way.
Spices are conventionally used as flavourings in, for example, Indian or Thai dishes. Spices are usually the dried, aromatic parts of plants, generally the seeds, berries, roots, pods and sometimes leaves and flesh, which mainly, but not invariably, grow in hot countries.
The medicinal uses of spices in the past were often indistinguishable from their culinary uses, particularly so in mediaeval times, when apothecaries prescribed herbs and spices not merely for digestive problems, but for all types of ailments. Hot spices, such as pepper, were regarded as an appetite stimulant and a digestive aid; asafoetida, now known only in Indian cookery, was used by the Romans as a healing ointment, an antidote for snake bites, and an cure for gout, cramps, pleurisy, and tetanus; spiced salts were made with ginger, pepper, cumin, thyme and celery seed which were good for the digestion, promoting regularity and preventing 11 sorts of illnesses, plagues and chills; and citron seeds were given to pregnant women to relieve nausea. Roman and mediaeval writers also believed the fennel helped to promote and restore good vision and it was at one time a cure for obesity.
Chinese herbal medicine has been known in China for several thousands of years. Only recently, however, has it become recognised in the West that Chinese herbs may be used to treat medical conditions.
The inventors have unexpectedly found that it is possible to combine esse
Fletcher Jane Clarissa
Hargreaves Riley Michael James
Barnes & Thornburg
Page Thurman K.
Tran S.
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