Castor Oil Crisis

What is castor oil being used for?

Castor oil patches and droplets are being cast by the media as the source for debloating, detox, and weight loss. However, what are the backings to these claims? Is this natural oil the solution, or simply another fad taking the media by storm?

What is castor oil?

Castor oil comes from the castor plant, where a viscous oil is able to be extracted. Castor oil has been used for millennia for various applications, including stimulating birth in ancient Egypt. Currently, castor oil has many applications ranging from biofuels to medicine to fertilizers. Castor oil has also been widely used as a laxative, as it is hydrolyzed by the small intestine to release glycerol and ricinoleic acid.

What does science say?

Unsurprisingly, there are no studies that have been done showing the effectiveness of castor oil patches. This is likely due to the fact that this trend has had a rise in recent months. However, as mentioned above castor oil has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Castor oil has been put to many uses in the body, additionally. One of them being added to drug delivery systems, as well as being used as laxatives. This is done due to the fact that the castor oil is hydrolyzed by the small intestine causing the release of glycerol and RA. 

Additionally, there was a study done looking at castor oil patches-for elderly subjects experiencing constipation. The castor oil packs were heated and applied, and symptoms and improvements were observed over 13 days. It was seen from the results that constipation was overall decreased, though studies need to be conducted on a larger group. Additionally, studies need to be done on a younger population to determine if the results carry over. 

Most of the scientific reports I have discovered show the effectiveness of castor oil in moisturization due to the fact it is a humectant. It is a common ingredient in many products, and a natural product to use on the skin. More science backs the use of castor oil for moisturization as opposed to its use for detoxification and digestion.

Wrap Up:

Castor oil is a popular wellness trend that claims to help people with digestion and detoxification. Content creators douse their belly buttons with castor oil or separately buy castor oil packs to apply at night. However, there is very limited scientific evidence showing the effectiveness of castor oil for this purpose. The long term effects are not studied, although the FDA has approved it to be a safe oil to use. Likely, this is another trend that will come and go. The evidence for its effectiveness online is largely anecdotal. It is important to note from this that people can experience confirmation bias-especially if they sink money into buying castor oil products. While it seems this is a safe practice, it is likely not an extremely effective one. A balanced diet and exercise is far more likely to get you in a good place with digestion. Due to its quick rise there is very limited data out there on this topic. Perhaps in the coming years more studies will be investigated on castor oil for digestion. To reiterate, when consumed castor oil acts as a laxative-and there is not strong data for its topical use for digestion. As always, if there is a skincare/ wellness trend you are curious about and are wondering about its effectiveness-please reach out to me and I’ll happily cover it!