SKIN DEEP

Emu Oil Benefits Skin Wellness

By Dr. William Code, MD, FRCPC

Would you like your skin less prone to wrinkles?  Would you like your skin and hair to be thicker?  Would you like to reduce itching or burning skin without using steroids?  Emu oil – in topical or oral form – can help with all of the above.

Emu oil has been used for thousands of years by Australian aborigines.  They apply emu fat (or oil) on cuts, muscle injuries and sunburns.  The Australian emu has been on this planet 80 million years.  Its’ ability to heal almost any injury is reckoned to be one reason emus have outsurvived the dinosaur.

The Canadian Emu Oil product line, Songlines, takes its name from the Australian outback. The Australian aborigine has no written language. Instead, the elders tell the secrets of life to young people in song as they walk their desert path.  The English word describing this is “songlines”.  Hence, ‘Songlines’ will be your secret friend in skin and hair care.

The Life of an Emu

Why does the Australian emu or the Canadian farmed emu have such special fat?  Perhaps it is partly due to the special life pattern of adult emus.  The emu eats a great deal of food in late spring, summer and fall.  They store this in a fat pad on their backs, much like a camel. When the female chooses a mate in early fall, they set up “house” and eat very little.  Once she has laid 6 to 8 large (500-600 gm.) dark green eggs, the male begins to sit on them.  He will stay on the eggs continuously for 56 days without eating or drinking anything.  The female becomes bored and begins new relationships, but still eats virtually nothing -  living off her fat pad.  Somehow this fat has many special properties to permit adult emus to go the entire winter, breeding, laying eggs and incubating them, while eating very little.

Emu oil is completely safe and natural – so safe, you can drink it.  Today, Songlines Health Products makes a very popular gel capsule. I take several gel capsules each morning and it improves my energy with my multiple sclerosis.

There are three main attributes of emu oil.  The first is its penetration ability on skin.  This deep penetration permits a deep moisturizing effect and at the same time, supplies nutrition to the deeper skin layers.  The second property is emu oil’s anti-inflammatory ability.  This fine tunes the body’s healing response and reduces inflammation.  Thirdly, emu oil produces relief from pain.  This relief can be superficial as in burns and cold sores, or deeper as in a sprained ankle.

Pain Relief and Healing

It is unusual to have something that penetrates skin so well but is nontoxic.  (Remember, I said you can ingest emu oil.)  Emu oil’s penetration makes it a superb choice for dry skin, eczema, cracked fingertips and even psoriasis.  I routinely use it on paper cuts, skin scrapes or wounds.  The oil decreases discomfort and speeds the healing process.

In Politis’ Canadian emu oil study, published in the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 1999, he demonstrated emu oil doubles the speed of wound healing.  In another Canadian study, done in PEI, emu oil reduced inflammation of an ear much better than corn oil or lard (pig fat).

The anti-inflammatory effect helps reverse the inflammatory response. Inflammation is four things – redness, swelling, pain and loss of function.  For example, if I hit my thumb with a hammer, it would turn red, swell up, hurt and be difficult to use (loss of function).  Yet inflammation is how our bodies start the healing process.

Fine Tuned Relief

Emu oil seems to fine-tune this response with reduced swelling, redness and pain so that the area heals more rapidly (hence the term fine-tuning of the healing response).  This example helps explain the improvement of inflamed skin (eczema, acne or sunburn) when emu oil is applied.

Emu oil’s anti-inflammatory effect was also demonstrated in the Australian study of Snowden and Whitehouse.  They showed reduced redness and swelling in joints when emu oil was applied to the skin surface.  The effect of the emu oil was equivalent to a large dose of ibuprofen.  But, fortunately, emu oil does not have the tough side effects of the NSAIDS (aspirin and ibuprofen) family.

The pain relieving properties of emu oil may result from a combination of the reduced inflammation or skin penetration or both.  Emu oil is a superb solution for sunburn.  I have never seen anything work as well as emu oil on shingles (Herpes zoster).  Shingles is the same virus as chickenpox – so emu oil can greatly relieve the itch of children with this as well.  Cold sores, herpes simplex, are a cousin to chickenpox and feel better when emu oil or Songlines all-natural Lip Balm is applied.

Healthy Skin Defies Aging

Emu oil penetrates the skin and nourishes the skin by supplying essential fatty acids.  Dr. Holick MD, PhD, dermatologist of Boston showed emu oil could slow aging and thinning of skin by 30% . In addition, emu oil can help rete pegs return, which help attach the top layer of skin to the lower layer, and hence reduce the slackening or looseness of skin that makes wrinkles occur.

Holick demonstrated aging of skin could be reversed and also prevented.  In addition, he outlined how a few drops can reduce hair brittleness (especially in African Americans), slow and reverse hair thinning (great also after chemotherapy hair loss), make beard shaving for men and leg shaving for women a much more pleasant and comfortable experience.

So, there we have it, emu oil can help your skin problems and maintain skin health.

                   Reported Uses of Emu Oil