Find out what castor oil can do for your health – 08/15/2023 – Balance

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration, agency that regulates food and drugs in the US) approves castor oil, or castor oil, for only one medicinal use: as a laxative.

But if you look on social media — including castor oil, the name in English —, you’ll find several other alleged uses for the oil, which is extracted from the seed of the castor bean, or castor bean. According to some people, castor oil can prevent wrinkles, sharpen eyesight, induce labor, promote hair growth, and even shrink tumors.

In July of this year, searches for “castor oil” on Google reached the highest level since 2004. But the increased interest in the oil is seen by doctors with concern.

“I think sometimes people want to go viral and that’s why they go around making these statements,” opined Dr. Ashley Brissette, ophthalmologist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. But she emphasized that castor oil “is not the cure-all that some people would like to imply.”

See what castor oil can and cannot do.

eye health

Some popular posts on TikTok show people dabbing castor oil over their eyelids in hopes of sharpening their eyesight, reducing the incidence of blemishes that show up in vision, or even reducing cataracts and glaucoma. What if the oil gets in your eyes? Even better, say some people.

But there is no high-quality evidence that castor oil can improve eye health, especially not reverse cataracts or improve vision, said ophthalmologist Yvonne Ou of UCSF Health.

According to Brissette, it’s true that some eye drops contain castor oil as a lubricant to combat eye dryness, which in turn can reduce blurry vision. But these products are made with specific formulations for eye use. They are not the pure castor oil that can be ordered online.

And if unsterile oil gets into your eyes, it can increase your risk of an infection, she said, which in turn can lead to a corneal ulcer (an open sore in the eye) or even trigger the blindness.

Brissette recommended seeking medical attention if castor oil gets into your eyes and they become reddened, severely painful, or if there are sudden changes in your vision.

tumors

Some people on the internet say that castor oil can penetrate deep into the skin and that placing a compress soaked in oil over the site of a cyst or tumor (for example, a tumor caused by breast cancer) can fragment the tumor.

The Doctor. Jun Mao, director of the service of integrative medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said he is not aware of any scientific evidence to support these claims.

For dr. Anna Shannahan, general practitioner at Northwestern Medicine, applying castor oil directly to the skin is unlikely to cause any problems other than possible irritation. But do not imagine that castor oil fights cancer.

“If that were the case, we’d be recommending it a lot more often,” she said.

childbirth

The claim, made decades ago, that ingesting castor oil can induce labor is supported by some evidence, albeit limited. In a small review of studies done in 2022, for example, researchers concluded that ingesting about four tablespoons of castor oil does indeed result in the cervix softening and dilating, inducing labor.

But most of the buzz about castor oil and childbirth comes from anecdotal reports, said Monica Woll Rosen, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of Michigan Medical School. And while it’s possible that the oil can stimulate labor in some women, it’s not something doctors recommend, in part because taking too much oil can trigger extreme nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration.

“It’s the last thing we want for a woman about to go into labor,” Shannahan said.

Constipation

The good news is that castor oil can indeed be an effective laxative, although it can have side effects like nausea and vomiting, Shannahan said.

Castor oil can be taken in small doses for constipation, depending on your doctor’s recommendation, but it is often not the preferred option compared to other constipation treatment options.

Hair and eyelash growth

Many castor oil proponents say that rubbing the oil over the eyelids or massaging it into the hair and scalp can promote eyelash and hair growth. But in this case, too, there is no rigorous evidence to support the claim, said dermatologist Angela Lamb of Mount Sinai Hospital.

It’s possible that the oil hydrates your hair, she said, making it less brittle so it can grow more, but that’s hard to say without conclusive studies. “But just because something hasn’t been studied and proven doesn’t mean it can’t be useful,” she said.

skin health

Some people rub castor oil into their skin to prevent and reduce wrinkles and dark circles. It can help hydrate the skin, but there’s no evidence that it’s helpful in combating aging, said Dr. Shoshana Marmon, professor of dermatology at New York Medical College.

Also, for her, oil can have the unintended consequence of clogging pores and exacerbating acne.

It can be difficult to discern what is true and what is not among the myriad health and beauty benefits that the internet attributes to the oil, Marmon said. “But sometimes there’s just no scientific evidence,” she concluded.

Translated by Clara Allain