Aromatherapy - the "essential oil" treatment - is all in the mind. Or so a team of researchers in Germany and Austria would have us believe.
Their study, reported in the latest edition of New Scientist, found aromatherapy oils which were meant to make people more alert, in fact, had no direct effect on the brain. Only people who believed the oils would work saw an improvement in alertness, the study discovered.
Volunteers for the project were asked to wear surgical masks onto which water and oils such as peppermint, jasmine and ylang-ylang were sprinkled alternatively.
The researchers found no significant difference between the performance of people given oils and those given only water.
This suggested that the oils did not have a direct effect on the brain when inhaled, said psychologist Josef Ilmberger of the University of Munich, who headed the research team.
Ms Marian Gallagher, secretary of the Irish and International Aromatherapy Association, questioned the validity of the study, given, she said, that aromatherapy worked by blending oils rather than using them individually.
