Aromatherapy

Scientific aromatherapy is a branch of phytotherapy that specifically focuses on the use of essential oils for therapeutic purposes. These essential oils are volatile compounds extracted from plants, and their application aims to preserve health and treat various ailments naturally.

The term aromatherapy was coined in 1936 by the chemist from Lyon, R.M. Gattefossé, to designate a therapeutic approach based on essential oils extracted from plants. This does not refer to a phytotherapy that uses aromatic plants or their galenic forms but specifically to officinal essential oils.

The use of essential oils in scientific aromatherapy requires special attention to the benefit/risk ratio and cautious use due to their complex and concentrated composition.

Essential oils are very powerful natural products that must, therefore, be used with caution. Their therapeutic fields of action are numerous and not yet all known. A single oil can have many different therapeutic properties.

Pharmacists or practitioners are advised to complete their training to acquire real competence in the field of aromatherapy, where users are often misinformed. This underscores the importance of scientific rigor in the practice of aromatherapy.

Scientific aromatherapy, therefore, is the art of maintaining and improving health using the volatile essence of aromatic plants, while respecting safety and efficacy standards established by thorough scientific knowledge.

Definition of essential oils on the ANSM website

Essential oils are considered as "preparations" based on plants. (Article R5121 of the CSP)

They are "odorous products, generally of complex composition, obtained from a botanically defined plant material, either by steam distillation, dry distillation, or by an appropriate mechanical process without heating."