Purity of essential oils: dōTERRA's CPTG™ quality test
How pure are dōTERRA essential oils Purity is the most important characteristic of an essential oil. When an essential oil is adulterated or contaminated, it becomes less effective. This is why purity is doTERRA's top priority when producing essential oils.
How does dōTERRA guarantee that their essential oils are pure? From the very beginning, their mission has been to share pure, high-quality essential oils with the world.But because there was no established standard for the purity of essential oils, dōTERRA decided to set this standard for purity in the essential oil industry itself.
Not all essential oil companies choose to use high testing standards. In fact, many companies skip important steps to save time or money.Unfortunately, the "purity" of an essential oil cannot be guaranteed if it is not properly tested.
To ensure that each bottle of essential oil is pure and free of contaminants or synthetic fillers, doTERRA created the CPTG™ Certified Pure Tested Grade process. The CPTG process includes a rigorous examination of each batch of oil, along with third-party testing to ensure transparency.Niet alle etherische olie-bedrijven kiezen ervoor om hoge teststandaarden te gebruiken. Sterker nog, vele bedrijven slaan belangrijke stappen over om tijd of geld te besparen. Helaas kan de 'zuiverheid' van een etherische olie niet gegarandeerd worden, wanneer deze niet goed getest wordt.
Om er zeker van te zijn dat elk flesje etherische olie zuiver is en vrij van vervuiling of synthetische vulmiddelen, creëerde doTERRA het CPTG™ Certified Pure Tested Grade-proces. Het CPTG-proces omvat een rigoureus onderzoek van elke partij olie, samen met tests door een derde partij om transparantie te garanderen.
Why is it important to use pure essential oils?
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Some people ask, "Is the purity of an essential oil really important?" or, "What happens if I use an essential oil that is not pure?"
The answer is yes, the purity of essential oils is important. Using an oil that is adulterated, contaminated or modified with synthetic fillers often affects the plant's full natural benefits.
That's why dōTERRA believes and oil is safe to use. But if you use a pure, unadulterated essential oil, you can use it safely and enjoy its full potential.
How do you know if an essential oil is pure?
Before you buy essential oils, it's a good idea to do a little research to find out how the company sources, produces and tests its oils.
Here are a few questions you can ask:Plant quality:Does the company use high-quality plants to produce its essential oils? Do the plants grow in the right conditions with the right farming methods?
Production methods: Does the company have safety protocols to ensure that the oils are not contaminated during the production process? Are oils adulterated or synthetic fillers added?
Testing methods: Does the company test every batch of essential oil? Is testing done by impartial outside parties? Are the test results publicly available?
Storage and handling: Are the oils carefully handled, packaged and stored to avoid chemical changes caused by exposure to heat or light? (Amber-colored bottles are usually best for storing essential oils).Hoe weet je of een etherische olie zuiver is?
Before buying essential oils, it is a good idea to do a little research to find out how the company sources, produces and tests its oils.
Ensuring the purity of essential oils: The CPTG process
dōTERRA begins the CPTG testing process shortly after distillation. The chemical composition of each oil is then checked. The dōTERRA production facility conducts a second round of testing to ensure that the oils distilled and tested in the first round are the same as the oils that arrive at our facility. A third check of the chemical composition of the oils is then performed when the oils are put into the bottles before they are shipped to consumers.
Each test is conducted to ensure that the essential oils are contaminant-free and that no unexpected adjustments were made during production.
8 ways to verify that dōTERRA Essential Oils are pure The CPTG quality testing process involves eight key steps to ensure that each batch of dōTERRA essential oils is pure, unadulterated and safe for direct use.These are the tests dōTERRA conducts to ensure the purity of its essential oils:
- Organoleptic test
- Microbial testing
- Gas chromatography
- Mass spectroscopy
- Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
- Chirality tests
- Isotopic Analysis
- Heavy metal testing
Organoleptic testing to determine essential oil purity Organoleptic testing involves the use of our human senses, particularly sight, smell, taste and touch. Expert distillers use the senses as a first-line quality test for clear indications of a product's acceptability. An oil that smells different than normal, has an uneven composition or an odd color immediately tells the distiller that something is wrong. These tests are often performed as the first quality control step before further testing.
Microbial testing to determine essential oil purity Microbial testing involves analyzing a batch of essential oils for the presence of unexpected microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. During the process, a sample is taken and added to a sterile growth medium in a sealed container or plate.The sample is then incubated and microbial growth is observed.This test is performed on products entering the plant and on finished products before they are shipped to ensure that no contamination has occurred during the filling process.
Gas chromatography to determine essential oil purity
During gas chromatography, an essential oil is evaporated and transported through a long tube to separate the oil into its individual constituents. Each constituent passes through the tube at a different speed depending on its molecular weight and chemical properties, which are measured as they exit the tube. This testing method allows quality control analysts to determine which constituents are in a test sample.
Mass spectroscopy to determine essential oil purity.
Mass spectroscopy is used in conjunction with gas chromatography to further identify the composition of an essential oil. In mass spectroscopy, the constituents previously separated by gas chromatography are ionized and passed through a series of magnetic fields. The amount of each constituent can be determined from its molecular weight and molecular charge, giving even more insight into the strength of the essential oil
Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine essential oil purity Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is performed to confirm the strength and consistent quality of a batch. This testing method identifies the structural components of essential oil compositions. During an FTIR scan, infrared light is shone through a sample of essential oil at various frequencies, and then the amount of light absorbed by the sample is measured. The quality of the sample is determined by comparing the results of an FTIR scan with a historical database of recorded absorption patterns of samples of high-quality oils: dōTERRA's CPTG™ quality test
Chirality tests to determine essential oil purity Chirality, a term derived from the Greek word for "hand," is a term used to describe the 3D orientation of a molecule.Just as you have two hands, chiral molecules consist of two shapes called the left and right hands.You can visualize this principle by looking at your hands: if you put them side by side, they are mirrored.Database of recorded absorption patterns of samples of high-quality oils: dōTERRA's CPTG™ quality test.
With molecules, each "hand" has different chemical properties, which affect their physiological interactions in the body. In nature, mainly one hand is produced.But in a laboratory, the ratio of left and right molecule is always 50/50 because of their structural similarities.The ratio of components left and right can be determined by a special type of gas chromatography.
Although this testing method is not performed on every batch, it is used to ensure that no synthetic elements are present in the essential oil
Isotopic analysis to determine essential oil purity
Matter is made up of very small chemical building blocks called elements. Although dozens of elements exist, they are all different because of the protons they contain. Sometimes an element can exist in more than one stable form if it contains more or fewer neutrons. When this happens, the elements are called isotopes. The element carbon exist in two stable isotopes, carbon-12 (6 protons and 6 neutrons) and carbon-13 (6 protons and 7 neutrons).
Because essential oils have biological constituents, they consist mainly of carbon atoms and have a certain ratio of carbon-12 and carbon-13 isotopes. This ratio is based on their location in the world
With a special type of mass spectroscopy, it is possible to determine which isotopes are present in an essential oil constituent and how many. If they come from the same location, each constituent of an essential oil should contain the same ratio of isotopes.If a particular constituent has an isotopic profile that is different from that of the other constituents, the quality control analyst knows that a particular essential oil is adulterated.
Testing for heavy metals to determine essential oil purity
Testing for heavy metals shows the amount of heavy metals in an essential oil. If essential oils have been properly distilled, they should contain no heavy metals. ICP-MS testing is performed using an energetic technique called inductively coupled plasma (ICP) to ionize the sample. The sample is then passed through a mass spectroscope, which separates the sample into its element particles and reads out which elements are in it to what degree.
The above text can also be found on the dōTERRA website.