Stability of Essential Oils: A Review

Abstract

In recent years, consumers have developed an ever-increasing interest in natural products as alternatives for artificial additives or pharmacologically relevant agents. Among them, essential oils have gained great popularity in the food, cosmetic, as well as the pharmaceutical industries. Constituting an array of many lipophilic and highly volatile components derived from a great range of different chemical classes, essential oils are known to be susceptible to conversion and degradation reactions. Oxidative and polymerization processes may result in a loss of quality and pharmacological properties. Despite their relevance for consumers, there is a paucity of information available addressing this issue. Therefore, the present review provides a comprehensive summary on possible changes in essential oils and factors affecting their stability. Focusing on individual essential oils, the various paths of degradation upon exposure to extrinsic parameters are outlined. Especially temperature, light, and oxygen availability are recognized to have a crucial impact on essential oil integrity. Finally, analytical methods to assess both genuine as well as altered essential oil profiles are evaluated with respect to their suitability to track chemical alterations. It is believed that only a careful inspection of essential oils by a set of convenient methods allows profound quality assessment that is relevant to producers and consumers alike.

Identification and Natural Control of Mite in Ras Cheese

“…Several reports suggested the use of essential oils for controlling mites [14]. On the other hand, essential oils have gained great popularity as consumers have developed a particular ever-growing awareness toward the use of natural ingredients in food products [15][16][17]. In the current research, mites infested Ras cheese were identified.…”

β-Cyclodextrins as Encapsulating Agents of Essential Oils

“…Certain factors are crucial for maintaining the stability of essential oils, such as temperature, light, and oxygen availability. Therefore, these factors need to be carefully considered [49].…”

“…The authors verified that the oil composition was a function of temperature and that when frozen, the oil composition underwent only minor changes, and the primary quality was maintained, demonstrating the oil degradation effect under high temperature. The ambient temperature crucially influences the essential oil stability in several respects, and as a rule, chemical reactions are accelerated with increasing temperature because the reaction rates are increased by heat [49].…”

Chemical and physical variations of cannabis smoke from a variety of cannabis samples in New Zealand

“…This could be due to the taxonomy of the cannabis samples grown in NZ or a consequence of cannabis storage. It has been shown that the composition of terpenoids in the production of essential oils not only depends on the method of production of the oil but also on growing conditions such as soil, climate, growth stage, harvest time and previous storage of the plant material [60].…”