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Oil of cloves From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oil of clove, also known as clove oil or eugenol, is an essential oil extracted from the clove plant, Syzygium aromaticum.[1][2] Clove oil is commonly used in aromatherapy and for flavoring food, tea, and toothpaste.[2][3] In alternative medicine, it may be used as a topical medication to relieve toothache.[1][3][4] There is insufficient medical evidence to support its use as an analgesic for treating pain.[1][3]
Madagascar and Indonesia are the main producers of clove oil.[5]
There are three types of clove oil:[5]
Distilled clove oil from buds contains mixed phytochemicals, including as main constituents phenylpropanoids (primarily eugenol), carvacrol, thymol, and cinnamaldehyde, with smaller quantities of polyphenols, carbohydrates, lipids, oleanolic acid, and rhamnetin.[1]
Clove oil is toxic in anything other than small therapeutic doses,[1] and several cases of acute liver and kidney damage have been reported, principally in children.[2] In foods, the level of clove oil used as a flavor ingredient does not exceed 0.06%, and is considered safe.[1]
Particularly in South Korea and India, eugenol, an aromatic compound extracted from clove oil, is used in alternative medicine to relieve toothache.[6] Applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth or tooth socket remaining after extraction, eugenol or clove oil may relieve toothache temporarily.[6] There is insufficient scientific evidence that eugenol is effective for treating dental pain.[2][3]
Eugenol is a reliable source for producing natural vanillin (by the US definition). It is a versatile molecule, which can be converted to vanillin with a few simple steps of conversion through the use of naturally available phytochemicals.[citation needed]
Clove oil is commonly used to anesthetize or euthanize laboratory or pet fish.[7][8]
Clove oil is a component of choji oil (Japanese: 丁子油), which was traditionally used for the maintenance of Japanese swords.[9][10]
In Germany, Commission E permits the sale and administration of clove oil for use in alternative medicine.[11]