Bergamot Essential Oil
Bergamot is a citrus fruit that the namesake’s essential oil is made from; it offers more than a dozen terrific health benefits and is one of the best essential oils made from fruit that you can use and the conditions and problems that it treats are wide and varied. Bergamot fruit can be found in some of the more tropical parts of the world, but surprisingly, it can also be found in some parts of Europe. Bergamot was first cultivated in Southeast Asia, but it was cultivated in Italy and is in fact named after a city that is located in Lombardy, Italy.
The Basics about Bergamot Essential Oil
The fruit that the bergamot essential oil is made from is known scientifically as Citrus bergamia and it comes from the Rutaceae family. Bergamot has a lot in common with the citrus fruits oranges and lemons because that is exactly where it gets its lineage. A crossbreeding experiment of the lemon tree and orange tree resulted in the bergamot fruit, a yellow, pear-shaped citrus fruit. Although the tree that the fruit comes from was named after a city in Italy, it actually started in Asia and is now grown in Morocco, Brazil, Argentina and all along the Ivory Coast.
How is Bergamot Essential Oil Manufactured?
Bergamot essential oil is created from the bergamot fruit but it is not exactly the fruit itself that is used. Instead, you wait until the bergamot is nearly ripe and then you hand press or cold press the rind of the fruit and use it to make bergamot essential oil; it takes dozens of pieces of fruit just to create an ounce or two of essential oil.
Types of Bergamot Essential Oil
Although many essential oils vary widely even if they are called one single name, bergamot essential oil is a little bit different because there is only one fruit that it is based upon. Although there may be some mixing of the parent fruit essential oils: lemon and orange, bergamot essential oil that is made from bergamot fruit is fairly consistent.
How to Use Bergamot Essential Oil
This is one of the essential oils that is safe to ingest as long as you dilute it carefully. Make sure that whatever carrier oil you are using to dilute it is also digestible. You can also use bergamot essential oil as part of a massage oil composition or in aromatherapy as it has a very nice fragrance. Diluted, bergamot essential oil can also be used topically so you have multiple choices on how to use bergamot.
Composition of Bergamot Essential Oil
Bergamot essential oil is mostly made up of the actual fruit from the bergamot tree and then includes whatever carrier oil that gets added to become part of the mixture as well. However, here are the components that form bergamot’s chemical makeup:
- a-pinene
- myrcene
- limonene
- a-bergaptene
- b-bisabolene
- linalool
- linalyl acetate
- nerol
- neryl acetate
- geraniol
- geraniol acetate
- a-terpineol
Aromatic Description of Bergamot Essential Oil
Many people enjoy using bergamot essential oil because it has a very nice smell. Partly because of this, it is used in quite a few medicinal products and even some in an industrial capacity. As for the actual fragrance of bergamot essential oil, many people describe it as a floral scent that has a very strong underlying citrus scent.
Precautions & Side Effects of Bergamot Essential Oil
There are a few things that you want to keep in mind when it comes to bergamot essential oil. The first thing that you should know is that sunlight and bergamot essential oil can be an unsafe combination. Bergamot contains a substance called bergaptene, which will cause your skin to become extra sensitive when it is exposed to sunlight after being treated with bergamot essential oil. Because of this photo-toxicity, it may still be advisable to avoid very much bergamot essential oil used topically and even if you’re using what you think is a safe amount, you should still avoid being out in the sun for a while afterwards.
Attributes of Bergamot Essential Oil
In addition to the standard attributes identified below, bergamot oil also has the following features: is is a deodorant, and is febrifuge and vulnerary.
| Attribute | X | Definition |
| analgesic | X | Reduces pain in muscles and joints |
| anti-infectious | Prevents infection | |
| anti-inflammatory | Reduces inflammation | |
| antibiotic | Keeps biotic infections from developing | |
| antidepressant | X | Helps to alleviate depression |
| anti-neuralgic | Counteracts nerve pain | |
| anti-rheumatic | Counteracts pain from rheumatoid arthritis | |
| antiseptic | X | Prevents growth of organisms which cause disease |
| antispasmodic | X | Prevents spasms from occurring |
| antiviral | Kills viral agents | |
| aphrodisiac | Increasing someone’s sexual desires | |
| bactericidal | Kills bacterial agents | |
| carminative | Prevents formation of gas in the GI tract | |
| cholagogue | Assists with the discharge of bile | |
| cicatrisant | X | Assists in the formation of healthy scar tissue |
| decongestant | Reduces or eliminates congestions of nasal cavities | |
| expectorant | Loosens mucous and helps clear it from the body | |
| digestive | X | Helps with the digestion of food |
| emenagogue | Promotes healthy menstrual discharge | |
| febrifuge | Aids in the reduction of fever | |
| hepatic | Promotes healthy liver function | |
| hypotensive | Helps to lower blood pressure | |
| Insecticide | Kills certain types of insects or pests | |
| muscle relaxant | X | Relaxes tight muscles and prevents muscle spasms |
| nervine | Reduces anxiety and calms the nerves | |
| sedative | X | Aids in calming or induces sleepiness |
| stimulant | Increases physiological or nervous system activity | |
| stomachic | X | Aids in a healthy appetite or digestion |
| sudorific | Promotes or aids in activation of sweat glands | |
| tonic | X | Tones the skin or muscles |
| vermifuge | X | Kills parasitic worms |
What is Bergamot Essential Oil Primarily Used For?
There are a lot of uses for bergamot essential oil. For example, a couple of the components that make up this oil are able to treat depression because they are a natural antidepressant as well as a stimulant. This substance creates a physiological reaction that helps treat depression by increasing circulation and causing the body to release hormones more regularly. In addition, bergamot essential oil helps to maintain a healthy metabolism and it works as an antibiotic, analgesic pain medication and can even have sedative effects which do not make you sleepy as much as they do release tension and anxiety. Bergamot essential oil also removes toxins from the body and blood and contributes to overall better health.
Other Uses for Bergamot Essential Oils
In addition to all those direct health benefits that bergamot essential oil offers, it also acts as a tonic – an agent that tones up all kinds of muscles within the body including the muscles that make vital organs like the heart and lungs work. This has an indirect, but still incredible, effect on overall health. Bergamot essential oil works to treat symptoms of cough and cold acting as a cough suppressant and an expectorant as well as boosting the immune system and getting rid of the infection completely. Although research is only just now being conducted, there is some early information that may show that bergamot essential oils may actually be able to get rid of gallstones and treat or prevent halitosis, bronchitis and diphtheria.
Recommended Combinations Involving Bergamot Essential Oil
There are a number of things that you can combine bergamot essential oil with. You can either combine two essential oils to create a treatment that has more than just the health benefits of the individual by itself, or you can create aromatherapy concoctions which help heal the body and mind with fragrances. Bergamot blends particularly well with other citrus fruits but it also works well with the following: Black Pepper, Cypress, Geranium, Nutmeg, Sandalwood, Orange, Rosemary, Frankincense, Mandarin, Jasmine, Clary Sage, Ylang-Ylang and Vetiver. You can try different combinations using one pairing to see how it turns out or by combining several of the herbs and oils from that list into one.
The Final Word on Bergamot Essential Oil
Bergamot essential oil is one of the healthiest and most beneficial essential oils out there, combining the best of the two citrus fruits that offer amazing benefits – the orange and the lemon – and providing the body with assistance in making all of the various organs work properly and building up heart, lung and other tissue on other internal organs to make sure that the body stays healthy. Combine that with the infection fighting power, the immune system benefit and all of the other health concerns that bergamot essential oils may treat and you have one of the best natural health medicines out there, and one that you definitely should have in your medicine cabinet.
