JACM

THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Volume 00, Number 00, 2020, pp. 1–5
ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/acm.2019.0361

The Effects of Essential Oil on Salivary Oxytocin

Concentration in Postmenopausal Women
Wataru Tarumi, PhD and Kazuyuki Shinohara, PhD

Abstract
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Objectives: The aim of this study was to find essential oils that have increased the oxytocin concentration in
postmenopausal women.
Methods: Fifteen postmenopausal women participated in this study and the effects of 10 different essential
oils were investigated. The essential oils included rose otto, sweet orange, lavender, neroli, frankincense,
jasmine absolute, ylang ylang, roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian sandalwood. The subjects were
exposed to the control first for 20 min, followed by exposure to an essential oil for 20 min. Each subject received
exposure to only a single kind of essential oil per day. Saliva was collected four times for each patient:
immediately before and immediately after control exposure, and immediately before and immediately after
essential oil exposure. The oxytocin concentration in the saliva was measured using a competitive ELISA kit.
Results: The results showed that salivary oxytocin concentrations increased significantly more after exposure
to lavender, neroli, jasmine absolute, roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian sandalwood than after exposure
to the control odor.
Conclusions: The aroma of certain essential oils may elicit increased secretion of oxytocin in postmenopausal
women. This study suggests that olfactory stimulation with any of a number of essential oils increases salivary
oxytocin concentrations, which may inhibit aging-induced reduction in muscle mass and function in women.

Keywords: odor, essential oil, oxytocin, postmenopause, anti-aging

Introduction for preventive purposes to inhibit the decline in muscle

function in women. Aromatherapy is considered one kind of

A ging is a natural process in all living organisms and

is characterized by a sustained reduction in physiological
function. Reduction in physical function with aging increases
the likelihood of falls, fractures, reduced quality of life, hos-
pitalization, and entrance to nursing homes.1–3 The state of
reduced physical function features decrease in muscle mass
and function.4 Muscle mass and function are lower in women
than in men,5–7 and in addition, reduction in muscle mass and
function accelerates with aging, particularly in women.8–10
Age-dependent accumulation of adipose and connective tis-
sues in skeletal muscles increases postmenopausally,11,12
which reduces the quality of muscles.9,13,14 Therefore, the
quality and mass of female skeletal muscles are susceptible
to adverse effects of aging. The average life expectancy for
women is longer than that for men; therefore, women are more
vulnerable to frailty and disease associated with aging.
From the above perspective, it is thus important to de-
velop a variety of strategies, including alternative medicine,
complementary or alternative medicine that can help extend
the healthy life expectancy of women.15 Aromatherapy is
defined as a therapy that uses essential oils, namely aroma
components extracted from plants, to act on the body and
mind for the purpose of treatment of disease and relief of
symptoms.15,16 Our previous study showed that exposure to
essential oils increased the secretion of hormones that al-
leviated menopausal symptoms in women.17,18 Studies on
the application of aromatherapy to a variety of geriatric
diseases and problems have been conducted, and scientific
evidence of efficacy of aromatherapy is accumulating.
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is synthesized in the
magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic and paraventricular
nuclei and is released from the posterior pituitary gland.19
Oxytocin is released into the circulation as a hormone and is
involved in parturition, lactation, and control of the hypo-
thalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.19 Oxytocin is reported to
act as a neurotransmitter and is involved in the development

Division of Advanced Preventive Medical Sciences, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Graduate School of Bio-
medical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.

1
 2 TARUMI AND SHINOHARA
of social skills and in the sexual behaviors of humans.20,21
Oxytocin is also known as an antioxidant that can play a role
in protection against ischemia–reperfusion injury in skeletal
muscle.22,23 Oxytocin activity decreases age dependently. A
recent study showed that decline in oxytocin activity con-
tributes to the aging-associated decrease in skeletal muscle
mass and strength.24 Such loss of skeletal muscle mass and
strength with aging is called sarcopenia.25
In mice, blood oxytocin concentrations greatly decrease
with aging.26 Oxytocin receptor expression levels of muscle
stem cells also decrease with aging.26 Oxytocin is indis-
pensable for the regeneration and homeostasis of skeletal
muscle; a genetic lack of oxytocin leads to premature sar-
copenia. Of interest, administration of oxytocin to aged mice
improves muscle stem cell function and enhances muscle
regeneration.26 Pharmacological inhibition of oxytocin sig-
naling impairs muscle regeneration in young mice.26 There-
fore, targeting oxytocin receptors can be a potential new
Downloaded by University Of Newcastle from www.liebertpub.com at 02/11/20. For personal use only.
therapeutic strategy for anti-aging of skeletal muscle.
In summary, we consider aromatherapy a promising ther-
apy to inhibit the aging-related decrease in muscle mass and
function in women. This is a feasibility study to screen es-
sential oils with potential to increase oxytocin concentrations
in postmenopausal women. If we can find essential oils that
can increase salivary oxytocin concentration, the results of this
study will enhance the feasibility of clinical studies that aim to
inhibit the decrease in oxytocin concentrations and maintain
muscle mass and function in postmenopausal women by the
use of essential oils. From this perspective, we exposed post-
menopausal women to essential oils to examine whether
salivary oxytocin concentrations increased. In this study, we
selected essential oils that have long been considered to have
anti-aging effects in the field of aromatherapy.17,18,27,28
Materials and Methods
Participants
To test the effects of 10 essential oils, 15 women for each
essential oil participated in this study. These 15 women were
exposed to different essential oils. The number of subjects was
set based on our previous studies.17,18 One subject did not par-
ticipate in the exposure experiment with lavender essential oil
for personal reasons. Table 1 provides the number and age of the
subjects. The subject’s age is an indicator of whether menopause
has occurred owing to aging. This is because the mean age at
menopause is 50.5 years.29 The definition of menopause is
amenorrhea for at least 12 months. The subjects were selected
according to this definition.29 All subjects were nonsmokers and
provided written informed consent before the initiation of the
study. The study protocol was performed according to the De-
claration of Helsinki. This study was approved by the Ethics
Committee of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences,
Nagasaki University (approval no. 13121970).
Chemicals
The effects of 10 different essential oils were investigated in
this study. The essential oils included rose otto, sweet orange,
lavender, neroli, frankincense, jasmine absolute, ylang ylang,
roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian sandalwood. The
essential oils were produced by Sanritsu Co., Ltd (Osaka,
Japan). To determine the concentration of each essential oil
used in the main experiment, we performed a preliminary ex-
Table 1. Age and Number of Participants
Who Participated in the Testing
of Each Essential Oil
Essential oil n Age (years), average – SD
Rose otto 15 59.47 – 6.44
Sweet orange 15 58.47 – 6.38
Lavender 14 57.21 – 5.55
Neroli 15 59.60 – 6.27
Frankincense 15 59.40 – 6.48
Jasmine absolute 15 57.00 – 5.42
Ylang ylang 15 58.67 – 6.35
Roman chamomile 15 58.33 – 6.52
Clary sage 15 57.67 – 5.85
Indian sandalwood 15 58.93 – 6.62
SD, standard deviation.
periment. As a preliminary experiment, 7 women (37.8 – 3.1
years old) evaluated the degree of pleasure when they sniffed
each concentration of essential oil. Participants rated the
pleasantness of each odor using a 9-point Likert scale (1 = ‘‘I
don’t like it at all,’’ 9 = ‘‘I like it very much’’). We adopted a
maximum odor concentration that did not give a rating of <5
(neither comfortable nor uncomfortable) by 7 participants in
the main experiment. The information about the solvent, con-
centration, chemical composition of each essential oil is given
in Table 2. Note that only sweet orange was not diluted, and
dipropylene glycol was used as its control. This information
was available from the brochure of the products.
Apparatus for odorant exposure
We used an apparatus for odorant exposure that had been used
in a previous study.17,18 It consisted of an air pump, a flowmeter,
a glass bottle, a silicon tube, and a glass funnel. The glass bottle
was filled with 15 mL of each diluted essential oil or solvent. The
flow rate was set at 2.0 L/min using the flowmeter. Air was sent
to the glass bottle, and then airflow from the glass bottle was
delivered, through the silicon tube, close to the subjects’ nostrils.
The glass funnel was used to reduce the airflow stress that
subjects might experience during the experiment.
Procedure
To stabilize the psychological state of the subjects, we
asked them to rest quietly for 15 min after arriving at
the laboratory. In the present experiments, we exposed the
subjects to essential oils using a method that had been es-
tablished in our previous study. In brief, subjects were ex-
posed to the control first for 20 min, followed by exposure to
an essential oil for 20 min. Each subject received exposure
to only a single kind of essential oil per day. Saliva was
collected four times for each patient: immediately before
and immediately after control exposure, and immediately
before and immediately after essential oil exposure. The
saliva collected was stored at -80C until analysis.
Measures of salivary oxytocin levels
Saliva samples were thawed completely and centrifuged
at 1,500 g for 15 min at room temperature. The oxytocin
concentration in the saliva was measured using a competitive
ELISA kit (Oxytocin ELISA kit; Enzo Life Sciences, Inc.)
according to the protocols recommended by the manufacturer.
 ESSENTIAL OIL, POSTMENOPAUSE AND OXYTOCIN 3

Table 2. Composition of Each Essential Oil Used in the Present Study

Essential oil Conc. (%) Chemical composition (%) Solvent
Rose otto 6 Citronellol (34.18), geraniol (11.84), nonadecane (7.74), Propylene glycol
nonadecene (7.30), nerol (5.75)
Sweet orange 100 Limonene (95.09) —
Lavender 30 Linalyl acetate (36.90), linalool (31.30) Dipropylene glycol
Neroli 7.5 Linalool (37.60), limonene (12.53), b-pinene (11.09), trans-b- Dipropylene glycol
ocimene (7.31)
Frankincense 45 a-Pinene (40.13), limonene (15.73), sabinene (6.56), Dipropylene glycol
a-thujene (6.05)
Jasmine absolute 12 Benzyl acetate (16.39), benzyl benzoate (16.25), phytol Dipropylene glycol
(9.13), linalool (6.95)
Ylang ylang 1.5 Linalool (17.18), geranyl acetate (9.77), benzyl benzoate Dipropylene glycol
(8.87), methyl-p-cresol (7.65), germacrene D (7.03),
b-caryophyllene (6.55)
Roman chamomile 0.75 Isobutyl angelate+isoamyl methacrylate (35.27), isoamyl Dipropylene glycol
angelate (15.45), methyl allyl angelate (8.31)
Clary sage 12 Linalyl acetate (58.63), linalool (17.09), germacrene D (3.23) Dipropylene glycol
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Indian sandalwood 30 a-Santalol (44.50), b-santalol (21.19) Propylene glycol

Analysis jasmine absolute, roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian

Oxytocin secretion exhibits a circadian rhythm. To 30
minimize the impact of the circadian rhythm on experi-
mental results, we determined the rates of change in salivary
oxytocin concentrations. The rate of change was calculated
by dividing the oxytocin concentration after exposure to the
odor by that before exposure. Smirnov–Grubbs test was
performed within control groups to verify that the experi-
ment was working properly. This test succeeded in ex-
cluding subjects with outliers (lavender: n = 2, frankincense:
n = 1) from the lavender and frankincense groups. To show
the effect of essential oils on salivary oxytocin concentra-
tions, we compared the rates of change of salivary oxytocin
concentrations between the control and essential oil groups.
Statistical analysis was performed using paired t-tests be-
tween groups, and significant difference was set at p < 0.05
in the all statistical analyses.
Results
We observed a significantly larger increase in the salivary
oxytocin concentration upon exposure to an essential oil
than exposure to the control odorant for lavender, neroli,
sandalwood (Table 3). Significant difference was not ob-
served between other essential oils and control.
Discussion
This study examined the impact of exposure to essential oils
on salivary oxytocin concentrations in postmenopausal wo-
men. The results showed that salivary oxytocin concentrations
increased significantly more after exposure to lavender, neroli,
jasmine absolute, roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian
sandalwood than after exposure to the control odor.
Clarifying the relationship between exposure to odorants
and endocrinological changes is useful for the elucidation of
physiological mechanisms and associated drug develop-
ment. We were able to obtain provisional evidence that
chemical components in lavender, neroli, jasmine abso-
lute, roman chamomile, clary sage, and Indian sandalwood
exerted biological effects. Among these essential oils, ex-
posure to clary sage oil is reported to increase salivary
oxytocin concentrations in pregnant women.31 This supports
the validity of our study results with clary sage and also
enhances the reliability of the results with essential oils
other than clary sage.

Table 3. Averages and Standard Deviations, and 95% Confidence Interval

of Salivary Oxytocin Concentration Under Each Condition
Control 95% CI Essential oils 95% CI p
Rose otto 1.15 – 0.33 0.97–1.34 1.29 – 0.33 1.10–1.47 0.2407
Sweet orange 1.15 – 0.29 0.98–1.31 1.35 – 0.43 1.11–1.59 0.0877
Lavender 1.02 – 0.45 0.73–1.31 1.62 – 0.68 1.19–2.06 0.0011
Neroli 0.99 – 0.33 0.81–1.18 1.33 – 0.36 1.13–1.53 0.0066
Frankincense 1.03 – 0.22 0.90–1.16 1.03 – 0.21 0.92–1.16 0.9292
Jasmine absolute 0.99 – 0.46 0.73–1.24 1.42 – 0.75 1.01–1.84 0.0492
Ylang ylang 1.10 – 0.42 0.86–1.33 1.65 – 1.18 0.99–2.30 0.1147
Roman chamomile 1.01 – 0.37 0.80–1.21 1.60 – 0.43 1.36–1.84 0.0002
Clary sage 0.97 – 0.28 0.82–1.12 1.43 – 0.48 1.16–1.69 0.0031
Indian sandalwood 1.15 – 0.39 0.94–1.37 1.55 – 0.61 1.21–1.89 0.0170
The oxytocin concentration is expressed as ‘‘rates of change’’ ([concentration after exposure]/[concentration before exposure].
CI, confidence interval.
 4 TARUMI AND SHINOHARA
Table 2 lists the major chemical constituents of lavender,
neroli, jasmine absolute, roman chamomile, clary sage, and
Indian sandalwood. Linalool is a major component of lav-
ender, neroli, jasmine absolute, and clary sage. The odor of
linalool reportedly exerts anxiolytic effects.32 Oxytocin
also has the same effects.33,34 Therefore, linalool may ex-
ert anxiolytic effects by enhancing oxytocin secretion in
postmenopausal women. This reasoning is based on the
assumption that essential oil-induced increase in salivary
oxytocin concentrations is attributed to linalool. On the
contrary, the effects observed may have been induced not by
a single chemical component but by a combination of che-
mical components.35–37 Linalool is present in neither roman
chamomile nor Indian sandalwood essential oils. In contrast,
linalool is present in ylang ylang essential oil; however, this
essential oil did not increase salivary oxytocin concentrations.
This suggests that not a single chemical component but a
combination of chemical components determines the bio-
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logical effects of essential oils. Alternatively, Indian sandal-
wood has increased salivary oxytocin concentration, which
may be because of undetected chemicals for trace amount.
This study was designed based on the assumption that
changes in salivary oxytocin concentrations reflect human
biological phenomena; many studies support this assump-
tion.38–46 However, these studies do not guarantee the effect
and safety of increasing salivary oxytocin concentrations by
essential oils in postmenopausal women. Nevertheless, we
did not perform experiments to evaluate muscle mass and
function in postmenopausal women, and it is also not clear
whether an increase in salivary oxytocin concentrations
correlates with an increase in blood oxytocin levels. Fur-
thermore, if aging is a decrease in physical function because
of a natural process, an oxytocin activity appropriate for the
physical age may be required to maintain homeostasis. For
this reason, treatments that increase salivary oxytocin con-
centrations must be carefully verified for safety. It is thus
too early to draw a conclusion regarding the safety and
efficacy of increasing salivary oxytocine concentration in
postmenopausal women.
This study has limitations regarding experimental methods
that should be taken into consideration in future studies. First,
we used essential oils and solvent with their inherent aromas,
which prevented us from conducting a blinded study. In addi-
tion, it has been reported that individuals have different olfac-
tory abilities.47 Therefore, the personal preferences of the
subjects may have affected the results. Second, the subjects
were always exposed to the control odor first, followed by es-
sential oils to prevent persistent effects of the essential oils from
affecting the results of the control. Therefore, the order of ex-
posure may have affected the results. Third, because oxytocin is
produced cyclically, the possibility that the timing of the ex-
perimental start had an effect on the results cannot be ruled out.
In the essential oils with the effect of increasing salivary oxy-
tocin selected by this study, it is necessary to verify the rela-
tionship between the effect of the essential oil and the cyclical
oxytocin secretion in the future. To apply the results of this study
to future clinical studies, these limitations need to be addressed.
In conclusion, this study supported the possibility that the
aroma of any number of essential oils increased the secretion
of oxytocin in postmenopausal women. We do not yet fully
understand the meaning of these results; however, taking
previous studies into consideration, this study suggests that
olfactory stimulation with certain essential oils can serve as
an anti-aging strategy in postmenopausal women.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Yoko Komori and Yuka Nakazawa for
their technical assistance.
Authors’ Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: W.T. and K.S.
Performed the experiments: W.T. Wrote the article: W.T.
and K.S. Performed critical revision of the article for in-
tellectual content: W.T. and K.S.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information
No funding was received for this article.
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Address correspondence to:
Kazuyuki Shinohara
Division of Advanced Preventive Medical Sciences
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Nagasaki University
1-12-4 Sakamoto
Nagasaki 852-8523
Japan
E-mail: kazuyuki@nagasaki-u.ac.jp