Oregano Oil is a very popular remedy as an anti-infective, and is purported to work with bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, as well as parasite infections.
However, what most people do not understand is the temperature of oregano oil in the body is cooling.
When some food or herb has a temperature, we are referring to its ability to increase yang energy, or depress yang energy, or increase the yin energy, or the cooling energy in the body. Traditional Chinese medicine has observed clinically the temperature of foods and herbs for thousands of years, by their effect on the human body.
The difficulty with oregano oil is that if it is used long-term it will depress the yang energy of the body, and lead to a yang deficiency. In order to fight infections, and keep infections one must have enough yang energy to feed the wei-chi energy which is a yang energy to begin with.
By depressing the yang energy of the body, with regular intake of oregano oil, you can lead to a yang deficiency, which in men shows up as a impotence. If prolonged a yang deficiency can lead to kidney-yang deficiency, then spleen-yang deficiency, with noticeable food bits in the stool. Then raw foods would not be tolerated at all any longer, because of their need for much yang-energy to process.
In women, the long-term use of oregano oil could cause infertility, because of the ability of oregano oil to cause kidney-yang deficiency.
The bottom line is that while Oregano Oil is purported to be good for colds and flu's, it can leave you with a serious yang-deficiency, if you are not careful enough with your diet, and cause further illness down the road.
Because of the cooling nature of Oregano Oil, caution is necessary in using it during a cold or flu, because in weak individuals, it can drive the “COLD” deeper into the body. So, if the cold or pathogenic factor is already deeper in the body, a remedy which is cooling should NOT be used. Pathogenic factors enter the body through the back of the neck, into the meridians, and if your immunity is not strong enough cause a cold.
Also, think of when you have had a cold, keeping warm was of the utmost importance, because losing heat would make you feel worse. And in fact losing heat during a cold or flu, by not keeping warm enough will only prolong the infection and make you feel much worse.
Because oregano oil is a very pungent oil which is its taste factor, it is good for the lungs, but the pungent taste makes it deceptive in terms of its temperature.
Garlic, and ginger for example are yang-increasing foods/herbs which warm the body. Cooked garlic in soups is an excellent way to diminish the length of the cold/flu, and warm the stomach and circulate energy. Ginger may be good for the flu, but it can scatter qi (chi), or energy.
In addition because of the communication between yin and yang energy in the body, and with those people who already have a yang deficiency to begin with (especially those of older age), oregano oil may cause a further drop in both energies, because of communication between yin and yang energies in the body.
Therefore it is advisable to use oregano oil long-term only with a balancing oil that is truly warming. Unfortunately there are probably no such products yet on the market.
Another option is to use foods that tonify yang, use less raw foods, and more cooked foods, like apple pie (with cinnamon –a yang tonifying herb).
The experience of verifying the temperature of Oregano Oil was gathered from personal experience of the author, as a Natural Health Practitioner, and expert in TCM food/herb therapeutics.
Yang energy keeps you alive, and a deficiency is often associated with multiple-chemical sensitivity.