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WELLNESS

A study in Japan tested the antifungal effects of natural oil vapor. They grew a fungus in a lab container and exposed the samples to the vapor of different types of natural oils.

They tested the minimum amount of essential oil needed to stop the growth of the fungal colony. After 24 h, the vapor activity of the six essential oils was ranked in the following order:
oregano, clove, perilla, geranium, lavender and tea tree oil.

The vapors of oregano, perilla, tea tree, and lavender oils killed the mycelia by 3 h, but the vapors of clove and geranium oils were only active after overnight exposure.

The vapor of oregano and other oils induced fungal cell death by breaking the cel walll. The researchers state that scanning by electron microscope “revealed that the cell membrane and cell wall were damaged in a dose- and time-dependent manner by the action of oregano vapor, causing rupture and peeling of the cell wall, with small bulges coming from the cell membrane.”

"The antifungal effect was maximized by around 15 hours, and then decreased in parallel with the decrease of vapor concentration. This suggested that the active constituent accumulated on the fungal cells around 15 hours caused irreversible damage, which eventually led to cellular death."