November 7, 2022
The Marilyn Magaram Center provides evidence-based education on the health benefits of herbs grown in our Wellness Garden, such as sage, rosemary, and thyme. In recent years we have noticed an increase in students asking about the health benefits of essential oils, which are extracted plant volatile compounds. For this topic, we enlisted the expertise of the Tisserand Institute to host, “The Basics of Essential Oils: All You Need to Know Before You Take a Nose Dive” held on April 28, 2022. This virtual workshop taught by Hana Tisserand was free for the CSUN community and covered the nature of essential oils and their main applications, safety and knowledge requirements for their use, and how to identify resources for current evidence and best practices using essential oils. Sustainability topics surrounding essential oils was discussed by highlighting growing and production practices, the part of plant used, plant yields, country of origin, packaging and shipping practices, and worker compensation to give consideration of environmentally conscious essential oil use. The Tisserand Institute’s core value is to seek out the science supporting essential oil claims and deliver evidence-based information for the effective use of essential oils. Participants that attended the event indicated that they would be interested to attend an in-person essential oils workshop in the future. We sincerely thank Hana Tisserand and the Tisserand Institute for delivering evidence-based information for the effective use of essential oils.