Products Containing (Too Little) Tea Tree Oil Can Be Dangerous

from Bottom Line's Daily Health News
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Products Containing Tea Tree Oil Can Be Very Dangerous

One of the hottest selling points of beauty and household products these days is the claim of being antibacterial. The appeal of wiping out nasty bugs as you cream your skin or clean your tub explains much of the popularity of products containing tea tree oil, since the main pitch on many of these is that tea tree oil has been used for years as an effective antibacterial and antimicrobial. But all is not well in the shade of the tea tree, as a new study from the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) makes clear.

David McDowell, PhD, professor of food studies, found that rather than providing protection against bacteria, most products containing tea tree oil are in fact likely to promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is extremely serious as antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in particular the MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) strain, are a scourge of the medical community, which is struggling to keep the sometimes lethal infections these bugs cause at bay. As regular readers of Daily Health News know, MRSA bacteria have grown resistant to most antibiotics. Though this was previously more of a problem in health-care settings, it is now rampant in the community as well. A few antibiotics are still effective at eradicating MRSA and other antibiotic resistant bugs, but as the bacteria continue to mutate, no one knows how long that will hold true.

TOO LITTLE IS TOO DANGEROUS

When I contacted Dr. McDowell, he said the problem is that in most of these supposedly good-for-you products, the concentration of tea tree oil is too small -- less than the 4% necessary to be truly antibacterial. And even in products that have 4% tea tree oil added, the tea tree oil is often impure or unstable. When tea tree oil concentrations are too low, only some of the weaker bacteria are killed off, and the way is left clear for stronger and more drug-resistant bacteria to emerge and become more numerous. He considers using OTC tea tree oil products unnecessarily and/or in weak concentration to be, in his words, "very stupid and very bad." It's especially a problem with the use of beauty products, he said, because there is always bacteria on the skin, including some that may have low resistance to antibiotics. Exposing these bacteria to products containing tea tree oil in low concentrations can stimulate their mutation to become much more resistant to a wider range of antibiotics.

Be prudent even in the application of proper-strength tea tree oil for true antibacterial purposes such as to ward off skin infections, says Dr. McDowell. The more we use tea tree oil -- or for that matter any anti-bacterial product, the more we encourage development and predominance of resistant bacteria. "Using tea tree oil and other antibacterial agents wrongly or unnecessarily speeds the rate at which we reduce the already fading power of current antibiotics," he explains. It is not that we don't need antibacterial products -- we certainly do, but the lesson is to use them wisely, sparingly and well.

Source(s):

David McDowell, PHD, professor of food studies, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, Northern Ireland.

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