Mustard Essential Oil: Is It Any Good?
Mustard essential oil is one of the rarely used essential oils. It is, however, widely used in India and neighboring countries, where it finds utility in cooking, skin care, and hair care as well. As edible oil, mustard is considered extremely healthy, though in the rest of the world, mustard oil is often regarded as being toxic and unsuitable for cooking.
Mustard oil and mustard essential oil are two completely different types of oils in terms of chemical composition and the process of manufacture. They are both extracted from mustard seeds, but the process of extraction makes their chemical composition completely different. Essential oil is extracted from steam distillation, and the extraction of mustard oil is done using cold compression.
Health Benefits
Stimulant: Just like mustard oil, mustard essential oil is known to be a very strong stimulant. It is good for digestion and helps regulate your bowel movements as well. It also dissipates heat to the body and improves blood circulation. Therefore, it can be used for massage as well.
Appetizer: A little known fact about mustard essential oil is that it boosts hunger. Mustard essential oil helps stimulate digestive juices to improve digestion. When you cook a dish using mustard essential oil, it can improve your digestion and increase hunger. This is ideal for those who are underweight.
Anti-bacterial and anti-fungal: Mustard essential oil has fungicidal and bactericidal properties. The essential oil fights bacterial infections in the digestive system and the urinary system when ingested. Applying it externally on the body can help treat bacterial and fungal infection on the skin. Regular use of the oil on skin can help prevent any kind of bacterial or fungal growth. When applied topically, mustard essential oil can also work as an insect repellant.
Vitalizer: Mustard essential oil can be used as a hair tonic. It contains certain stimulating fatty acids such as linoleic acid and oleic acid. Their combination can make mustard essential oil great for the hair. It stimulates great blood flow to the scalp, encouraging healthy hair growth, and stimulating nourishment to the hair roots. There are contesting findings which indicate that regular use of mustard oil may give a brown tint to the hair.
Tonic: Mustard essential oil is a great tonic for your body. Regular use of this oil keeps you healthy, revitalizes your vital organs, boosts your immunity, tones up your system, and gives strength. It also increases your stamina. Consuming this oil regularly gives you more energy in your daily life and helps you perform your daily chores with more vitality.
Therapeutic benefits: There are many other therapeutic benefits of mustard essential oil as well. You can use this oil for the treatment of colds and coughs. The oil generates heat inside and helps the natural treatment of these ailments. You can also use this oil for the treatment of headaches and body aches. Simply warm the oil and massage your body with it to get the maximum therapeutic benefits.
Consult an aromatherapy expert for more information on the benefits and uses of mustard essential oil.
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