Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Jeff, there was a question on McDougall Friends on FB re essential oils and whether they came under the umbrella of 'NO OIL'. An example was lemon oil as an ingredient in a spice/herb mix. Thanks! JoAnn

Just a nudge in case you didn't see my post Thanks.

Jeff?

JOJO1947 wrote:Jeff?

Ooops!

Don't know how I missed this 3x. Sorry

I would want to see a specific example of a product.

In Health
Jeff

I took a closer look at this issue...

According to many distributors of essential oils, a 1 oz bottle of pure essential oil is 30 ml, which is about 600 drops. This is the equivalent of 6 tsp or 2 tbsp.

Since most oils are around 120 calories per tablespoon, this means that each drop or oil, has about .2 calories.

These oils are very concentrated with strong flavors and usually diluted for use, especially when used in food products. Many can be toxic at full strength.

So, let's look at an actual product.

This is Mrs Dash Table Blend.

http://www.mrsdash.com/products/seasoning-blends/®-table-blend

The whole container is 2.5 oz. A serving size is 1/4 tsp, which is .7 grams and it has about 100 servings per container.

The ingredients are: onion, spices (black pepper, chili pepper, parsley, celery seed, basil, bay, marjoram, oregano, savory, thyme, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, mustard, rosemary), garlic, orange peel, carrot, lemon juice powder, tomato, red bell pepper, citric acid, oil of lemon

Since ingredients have to be listed by weight and there are 10 ingredients (if I count the "spices" as one since they are in parenthesis), that means the oil has to weigh less then the other 10. It can't weigh more. Lets just say they all weigh an equal amount which would mean each ingredient weighs about .07 grams. While this is possible that they all weigh the same, in real life, the other ingredients will most likely weigh more, but there is no way the oil can weigh more then the .07 grams. That makes this a worse case scenario.

A lb of oil is 4000 calories and 454 grams. This means each gram of oil is 8.8 calories. This means that .07 of a gram has .6 calories.

And that is the worst case scenario "if" all the ingredients weighed the same, which they can't.

What do you think?



In Health
Jeff

This question of essential oils has recently come up again, this time with regards to herbal teas that use lemon or orange “oil”. Here is the product in question:

Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Tea

INGREDIENTS: ROOIBOS, CHICORY ROOT, NATURAL
FLAVOR, ROSEHIP, CINNAMON, LEMONGRASS,
PEPPERMINT, CHAMOMILE, ANISE SEED, GINGER
ROOT, ORANGE OIL, ORANGE PEEL

Makes 12oz (360ml)
Amount per serving
Calories 5
Total Fat 0g
Sodium 30 mg
Total Carb. <1g
Protein 0g

I’m pretty sure this was one of the tea selections at some of the Mcdougall 10-day programs I’d attended but just wanted to double check that this is an acceptable product. Btw, I did write to the company to make sure the “natural flavors” listed were not animal based. They replied back that the product was vegan and the natural flavors were from cinnamon and orange.

Zena wrote:I’m pretty sure this was one of the tea selections at some of the Mcdougall 10-day programs I’d attended but just wanted to double check that this is an acceptable product.

I would read Jeff's post right before this one. It's a fraction of a calorie. I wouldn't sweat it.