Gary Young created the tape "The Missing Link" for the alleged purpose of educating the public about the healing powers of essential oils. Young Living Essential Oils distributors purchase the tape inexpensively for distribution to potential customers and new recruits. Many distributor web sites post links to a transcript of "The Missing Link." [1]
Has Young, a man with no bona fide scientific training, produced a valid educational tape about subjects as complex as treatment of medical illnesses and essential oil chemistry? The answer is no, and the following analysis explains why the ideas presented in "The Missing Link" are inaccurate and misleading. Each selection from Young's writing is followed by a paragraph explaining its inaccuracies, misperceptions, and errors.
Young says: "One of the primary agents in the blood that is responsible for the delivery of the nutrients through the cell walls is called oxygen."
Reality: A man with even a high school education in biology, let alone a self-proclaimed essential oils expert, should recognize that humans do not have cell walls. Indeed no animals have cell walls, which are found only in bacterial and plant cells. Oxygen does not transport nutrients through animal cell membranes (not cell walls).
Young says: "You see, in the human body we have a substance called blood, and that blood has a very specific purpose. That purpose is to transport nutrients to the cells, to nurture and feed the cells. . . . .When we look at Essential Oils [sic], they have the same role, and play the same function in the plant, as blood does in the human body."
Reality: This is false. Plants do not use essential oils to transport nutrients. Plants transport nutrients in the phloem and water in the xylem. Few plants, approximately 5% of plant species, even produce essential oils. Essential oils can be toxic when in direct content with plant cells, and are stored in special oil glands to prevent damage the plant.
Young says: "Okay, how many of you ladies have seen a leaf on one of your houseplants torn or damaged? What comes out? It's a liquid, isn't it? It's called the resin by some, some call it the blood of the plant. Some call it the life force of the plant but it's the same thing, it bleeds."
Reality: Sap is the liquid that runs out when plant tissue is damaged. Essential oils do not run out, as Young implies. Sap is a combination of fluids from the xylem and the phloem. It runs out because the tissue is damaged and has not yet been sealed or repaired. Sap does not run out to "cleanse" the plant as Young also states in that paragraph. And most certainly essential oils do not run out because they are sequestered in oil glands
Young says: "As of three years ago, it was documented that Essential Oils [sic] produce the highest level of oxygenating molecules of ANY SUBSTANCE KNOWN TO MAN. So when we think about that, that we can get actual oxygen from the oils, it's quite exciting."
Reality: These statements are utter nonsense. Rodney Croteau, of Washington State University, has stated: "'Oxygenating molecules' has no scientific meaning. Essential oil compounds contain relatively few oxygen atoms. One cannot get oxygen, negative ions or ozone from essential oils. Nothing can live in ozone (it is an extremely powerful oxidant not antioxidant), and "negative ion environment' is a scientifically meaningless description. Some essential oils contain antioxidants, but the best antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, some flavonoids) are not found in essential oils. The essential oils are indeed very diverse in structure, function and properties." [2]
Young says: "Foods that are devalued and therefore we get no enzymes from the foods."
Reality: Enzymes are proteins that organisms use to speed up biochemical reactions. Today's foods contain amounts of enzymes comparable to the amounts found in the past. Our food supply has not been "devalued". Any enzymes present in food are first digested into their components, called amino acids, before they are absorbed. The human body then uses those amino acids to manufacture enzymes needed by humans. Human enzymes are often different than the enzymes present in the food source. It does not matter whether or not people eat enzymes, provided the body has an adequate supply of protein and other nutrients.
Young says: ". . . . now we have a new VIRAL tuberculosis, do we not?"
Reality: The correct answer is no, we do NOT have a new viral tuberculosis. The BACTERIA Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis. Bacteria are a life form completely different from viruses. Bacteria cannot change or mutate to become viruses. Similarly, when Young claims that there is a new "flesh eating virus, the streptococci A", he is completely wrong. Streptococcus A is a bacterium, and sometimes it is called the flesh eating bacterium.
Young says: There have been viruses around since the beginning of time. Look at what happened during Moses' time. Look at the 16th century plague in England and Europe that claimed millions of lives. Why is it happening? Why do we have more of it today? Because we have a weaker immune system."
Reality: Again Young confuses a bacterial disease with a viral illness. Bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis. And there is no evidence that our immune system is weaker than that of our ancestors who lived during the 16th century. The population today is healthier than ever, due to improvements in nutrition, sanitation, and advances in modern medicine.
The selections from "The Missing Link" are found in just the beginning quarter of the tape. It continues on in a similar vein. These examples are sufficient to establish that Young is completely devoid of scientific understanding. The latter portion of the tape makes many claims for medicinal uses of essential oils.
Young says: "So diffusing puts the oils into the atmosphere in your home. You're getting increased oxygen because it releases the oxygenating molecules, you're getting increased ozone and negative ions because that's where it comes from in nature, from the plant oils. You're getting antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, germicidal properties and the immuno-stimulating"
Reality: If only this were true! But as described above, essential oils are not oxygenating, and they do not supply ozone or negative ions. And while some preliminary research indicates that perhaps a few essential oils may have antibacterial properties, there is no data supporting their use in humans in any form to treat infectious disease. And there is no evidence that essential oils help the immune system. In fact the vast majority of people have normal immune systems that do not need stimulation. Some diseases are even caused by overactivity of parts of the immune system.
Young says: "How would you feel if you knew that if you broke a bone you can take a single oil and rub it on that broken spot and stop the pain within 3 - 6 seconds? You can do it with Essential Oils [sic]. . . . . I made a formula called Pane Away for that purpose."
Reality: When something sounds to good to be true, it generally is too good to be true. It is simply not possible to eliminate the pain of a broken bone within seconds by the topical application of essential oils. If it were true, every orthopedic surgeon in the country would probably beat a path to Young's doorstep.
A selection from Young's book Aromatherapy: The Essential Beginning [3] further documents his ignorance. Young writes about a type of white blood cells called neutrophils, a term familiar to anyone with basic medical training. In the introduction to "The Missing Link," Young claims to have studied hematology. Yet in that book, he misspells the word neutrophil as "nutrifile five times!
The above selections are but a smattering of Young's pseudoscientific writings. Young repeatedly demonstrates a lack of basic science knowledge. His writings supply no evidence that he is capable of understanding a subject as complex as essential oils chemistry. His claims have no foundation in even the most basic science.