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Essential Oils Make Young Boys’ Breasts Larger, Study Says

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Scientists have suspected for years that essential oils like lavender and tea tree promote abnormal breast enlargement in young boys. Now, a new study provides evidence supporting this link.

These plant oils are frequently added to other beauty and skincare products because of their scents, and are sometimes even added to household products. Essential oils are also sold in their pure form, Tech Times reports.

In 2007, researchers published a report stating that three boys between four and ten years old developed male gynecomastia – a condition wherein the male breast gland grows larger because of a hormonal imbalance. When the boys stopped using products like soap, hair gel, shampoo and lotions that contained any plant oils, they went back to normal.

The team found proof that adds more weight to the suspected link between male breast enlargement and essential oils. They discovered that lavender and tea tree oils have estrogen-like and testosterone-inhibiting properties that compete with or disrupt the hormones that control male characteristics.

Kenneth Korach, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said,

The results of our laboratory studies confirm that pure lavender and tea tree oils can mimic the actions of estrogens and inhibit the effects of androgens. This combinatorial activity makes them somewhat unique as endocrine disruptors.

There are eight chemicals present in these essential oils that act as endocrine-disrupting substances, the researchers state, meaning they interfere with how hormones work in the male body.

In this new study, J. Tyler Ramsey, from the NIEHS, and colleagues analyzed the eight chemicals that are included in essential oils. They found that four of these chemicals are present in both lavender and tea tree oils, and the other four were present in either oil.

The researchers applied the chemicals to human cancer cells in laboratories, and found that all eight chemicals produced varying estrogenic and/or anti-androgenic properties. These changes are consistent with the hormonal conditions that prompt male gynecomastia.

Ramey said, “Our society deems essential oils as safe. However, they possess a diverse amount of chemicals and should be used with caution because some of these chemicals are potential endocrine disruptors.”

 

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