Lavender and Tea Tree Oils May Cause Breast Growth in Boys

[Sgent]

A study published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that repeated topical use of products containing lavender oil and/or tea tree oil may cause prepubertal gynecomastia, a rare condition resulting in enlarged breast tissue in boys prior to puberty, and for which a cause is seldom identified.

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), confirmed in laboratory studies what a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Science Center’s School of Medicine suspected after diagnosing three of his young male patients with prepubertal gynecomastia. The researchers found an association between the use of products containing these oils and the rare disorder, but cautioned more research is needed. At this point, the findings are only applicable to young males with unexplainable enlarged breasts who are regularly using products containing these essential oils.

"We want to encourage doctors who may be seeing patients with gynecomastia to ask their patients about the products they are using. Patients with prepubertal gynecomastia may want to consider reducing the use of products that contain these oils,” said Ken Korach, Ph.D., chief, Laboratory Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology at NIEHS and author on the study. “Although we found an association between exposure to these essential oils and gynecomastia, further research is needed to determine the prevalence of prepubertal gynecomastia in boys using products containing lavender and tea tree oils. Results of such epidemiological studies are important to tell us how strong the association is between topical application of the oils and prepubertal gynecomastia”

The three otherwise healthy Caucasian boys, ages four, seven and 10 years, had normal hormonal levels when they were diagnosed with gynecomastia by Clifford Bloch, M.D., in Colorado. All had either used lavender-scented soap and skin lotions, or shampoos or styling products that contained tea tree oil and lavender oil as ingredients. In each case, several months after the suspected products were discontinued, the gynecomastia had subsided or resolved.

National Inst. of Health Pres Release
Terra Sigillata's Take (the blog of a natural products pharmacologist)

[begin_within]

1. No, it's from eating the "Wilmas" in the Flinstone vitamins.

[aquart]

2. Now that's interesting.

Have they checked how it affects menopausal women?

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. My first thought as well

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. I use lavender frequently and I have not yet had

the symptoms that are supposed to accompany menopause and I am menopausal. Of course I cannot say if it's the lavender or not, but it is interesting.

[Sgent]

19. This study

was initiated by "accident" -- a pediatrician discovered that 3 boys in his practice all suffered from this condition and used lavander/tea tree oil. He then teamed up with the local medical school to perform a real study.

It wouldn't surprise me to see more research in the future.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Ah, terpene chemistry.

Interesting stuff.

[YOY]

5. My wife swears by herbal Lavender products for feminine problems

Perhaps there is a connection.

[LiberalEsto]

11. I drank lavender tea for morning sickness

It helped me a lot 21 years ago.

[Mabus]

6. I've been seeing commercials for laundry soap with lavendar

Oopsie.

fwiw, I use essential oils for muscle pain. They are the most reliable source for pain relief for me. I have used both lavendar and tea tree oils but not on a regular basis.

[Jeanette in FL]

8. Why don't they ask their patients how much Monsanto Bovine Growth Hormones

they have been ingesting through milk, milk products, beef.

Yeah right, its essential oils that have been used for thousands of years that is causing this.

[donsu]

13. kick

nt

[Kelly Rupert]

14. Are you suggesting a correlation between

lavender oil and beef ingestion?

[progressivebydesign]

18. No shit.. I wonder how any parent can feed that to their kids...

We gave up milk with hormones and anti-biotics a few years ago. I thought.. wouldn't it be just like the breast milk issue in humans? What a mother ingests, the baby ingests? Why would someone knowingly subject their kids to that? The only meat we eat is poultry, and that is also free of hormones and anti-biotics.

I was also wondering why exactly what scenario would cause a little boy to be using lavender oil? not exactly a smell most little boys would like to be sporting.

[Donnachaidh]

9. oh please with this shit already

Now it's tea tree oil that is so bad? I'll bet Neutrogena is having high level meetings today about this stupid report.

Just another waste of money trying to get people to FEAR natural products - so they will use the industrial waste the Pharma groups make instead.

Bullshit, pure and simple. :rant:

[yardwork]

17. I agree with you

Lavender oil and tea tree oil are ancient remedies. They've been used for centuries, probably thousands of years. Nobody ever noticed before that they cause boys to develop breasts.

I'm very very dubious of this study. What was the study design? Has it been reviewed by a reputed scientific journal? Where's the original data? Do we have any info or just a report in the popular press?

[SoCalDem]

10. Not surprising at all. We have ben bathing in, eating, breathing chemical-stew for decades

The irony is, that EVERY part of our day and life is bombarded with this stuff, so there's little chance of any "one" thing being "held responsible" for what ails us...or will ail us down the road.

In the 50's, there was a commercial that went...

"better Living through Chemistry".. Little did they know... (or DID they?..)

[Kelly Rupert]

12. Would you seriously claim that American life is worse now

than it was 50 years ago, especially as regards medicine, illness, and life expectancy?

[SoCalDem]

15. Didn't say that..

I just said that we are exposed to a myriad of things and there's no way to pin "blame" on any one thing, or even a combination of things.

Longer life for Americans & westerners is a fact of life, and the things you named are responsible for it, but an extended life is not always such a positive thing.

[donsu]

16. nowadays we are on a decline of general health

there are gains in treatments

but losses in preventive medicine

more and more cancers, diabetes, heart problems, reproductive problems, normal vs. abnormal genital problems, etc.