If you believe what social media “influencers” have to say, then castor oil is a miracle cure for just about everything. What science says is a different story.
By Dona Suri
Castor oil cuts your flab, busts your cholesterol, de-fats your liver, heals your acne, cures dry eyes, floaters, eye infection, cataracts and glaucoma, melts your tumors, cysts, fibroids and hemorrhoids … And those are just some of the benefits IF you believe the claims floating around on social media.
You may have noticed that a lot of the stuff you find on Instagram, Tik Tok, WeChat and YouTube is fairly low on science even as it abounds in breathless user testimonials. No matter what ails you, social media can take care of it … usually with “one weird trick”.
Achieve popularity on a social media outlet and you can make a tidy income from pushing products. It may help to declare yourself a “wellness coach”. Go right ahead. No certification is required; anyone can hang out a shingle. You do have to be alert however. The moment you detect any whisper of a new miracle cure or diet or product, you must seize upon it, “discover” it and flog it to your audience.
If you are past a certain age, then over the years you have seen numerous “quick fixes” capture the spotlight only to be edged out by some newer fad. For the past couple years, the miracle treatment has been castor oil.
So, castor oil was discovered yesterday?
Nope.
The castor plant (Ricinus communis Linnaeus, belonging to the genus Euphorbiaceae) has been cultivated since those ancient days when homes were lit by oil burning in little clay lamps. Today, 89 percent of castor seed is grown in India, China and Brazil. Although innumerable ads tout “Jamaican Castor Oil” as “the best”, please note that castor seed – hence castor oil – is NOT grown in Jamaica. (See World Production table.) Incidentally, the castor plant seeds also contain ricin, one of the deadliest natural poisons in the world.
Castor oil is valued for its high density and powerful thermal conductivity. It is an ideal, renewable substitute for petroleum-based oils in the manufacture of plastics, resins, lubricants, paints, dyes, inks, soaps and fertilizer.
At present, it is not an optimal choice for production of bio-diesel but plant geneticists are at work to develop varieties to suit that purpose. At the very bottom of the list of industries that use castor oil, we find pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
Castor oil is a vegetable oil. It’s in the same category as soyabean oil, sunflower oil or rice bran oil, but, because it has a very thick and sticky texture, tastes bad and is high in compounds that make it unsafe to consume in high doses, it is a not a cooking oil.
It has one FDA-approved medical use: it is a stimulant laxative. Used sparingly, castor oil eases constipation, but it can also cause nausea and vomiting. Overdose results in non-stop diarrhea.
A non-approved medical use is to is induce labor. Midwives typically give a single oral dose, approximately a spoonful. Castor oil appears to work on the uterus by producing hyperemia* in the intestinal tract, which causes reflex stimulation of the uterus.
[* hyperemia: an excess of blood in the vessels supplying an organ or other part of the body.]
Castor oil may also increase prostaglandin production, which stimulates uterine activity.
Occasionally the mother’s body overreacts, putting both mother and baby at risk.
When we get into the claims for castor oil’s benefits, the list is not only very long but covers a very broad range.
… putting castor oil into the navel reduces period pain and alleviates symptoms of endometriosis*
[*endometriosis: painful condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.]
… applying castor oil to our belly button smooths wrinkles and prevents dark circles under the eyes.
… put castor oil in your belly button to alleviate knee pain.
… putting castor oil into the navel improves sperm count and mobility in males and enhances fertility in females
… consuming castor oil boosts metabolism, reduces inflammation, supports digestion, prevents fat absorption, and acts as a laxative
… applying castor oil to our belly button every night reduces fat fast.
… a castor oil compress applied to a cyst will dissolve it overnight
… applying castor oil to our belly button every night repairs, corrects and balances our body’s neurological system
… pour castor oil into your naval and keep it there overnight. It detoxifies the body.
Oh-oh … there’s the marketing guru’s favorite word: detox. And, by extension, toxin.
If toxins were specifically named, then they could be measured before and after some detox remedy and the process could be evaluated. But the makers of detox products and the promoters of detox procedures are not to be pinned down. The words start out vague and the more they are tossed around, the vaguer they get.
An exact, medically acceptable definition of toxin cannot be found. But never mind because there are innumerable experts who have absolutely precise information on how to get rid of a toxin, whatever it is. To be fair, most detox “recipes” match solid medical advice:
Exercise every day Limit alcohol Get enough sleep every night
Drink minimum eight glasses of water daily Go slow on sugar, salt and processed foods
Favor foods rich in antioxidants (berries, fruits, nuts, cocoa, vegetables, spices, coffee, green tea)
Favor foods rich in pre-biotics (tomatoes, artichokes, bananas, asparagus, onions, garlic, oats)
Green tea keeps you hydrated, working up a good sweat from exercise or a sauna revvs up your circulation and pumps you full of feel-good hormones, and eating grapefruit for breakfast gives you natural Vitamin C …
Fine, but none of these things is actually removing a lot of waste product from your body. That job is done elsewhere. Our bodies come equipped with four highly effective detoxifiers that operate 24×7; they are the liver, the kidneys, the lungs and the skin. Because our built-in detoxifiers are so good, we do not need to supplement them with any other products or processes.
Suppose that you had consumed some toxic substance in a life-threatening amount. What would you do?
Drink detoxifying aloe vera juice? Apply a castor oil compress?
No, you would go to the hospital immediately.
Now, think about those castor oil claims. Should we shrug them off as “silly but it can’t hurt you”? Actually, silly stuff can hurt you.
Someone with a medical problem adopts a useless procedure to deal with it. Days and weeks pass as the useless procedure is repeated. The problem, which might have been treated quickly and effectively in a short time, has gotten worse … perhaps past the point of treatment.
One video circulating on Facebook is certainly NOT in the silly-but-harmless category. This is the notorious “castor-oil-cures-cancer” clip. Here’s its history:
On February 2, 2018, a channel named Living Springs Retreat uploaded a video of a woman demonstrating the use of castor oil compresses on a woman allegedly suffering from uterine fibroids. The speaker was Barbara O’Neill of New South Wales, who described herself as a naturopath, nutritionist, and health educator. O’Neill claimed that the castor oil treatment had completely cured the patient.
It wasn’t long thereafter that the New South Wales Health Department investigated O’Neill and discovered that the castor oil “cure” was actually one of her more sensible treatments. Her other claims, particularly those regarding infant nutrition, causes and cures of cancer, antibiotics and vaccinations, were vastly more dubious and dangerous. The New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission permanently banned her from providing any sort of health service.
But the video was out there and it spread. Versions of it are now everywhere, and the message is that a castor oil compress is an effective treatment against tumors, cysts, breast cancer, and bone spurs. More than 140,000 people have viewed the video. Even if 133,000 viewers say “hogwash” you’ve still got 7,000 viewers who will be ready to forego effective medical treatment for a serious condition.
If someone tells you that castor oil imparts gloss, toughness, flexibility, adhesion, and water resistance to paint, believe him.
If someone tells you that castor oil will empty your bowels at top speed, believe him.
For the rest of the claims involving castor oil’s curative properties, fall back on an old adage:
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
