The emu oil eczema ointment is one of the latest developments in the eczema treatment industry. Surprisingly, it has long been used by the aborigines of Australia as a treatment for many conditions pertaining to the skin and its underlying structures such as the muscle and bone. And if it weren’t for the recent studies made by Australian doctors, the validity of the emu oil as an eczema treatment will not have been proven.
The emu bird is a fast running ratite bird that is native to Australia. Birds belonging to the ratite species have flat breast bones and are mostly flightless because of their underdeveloped wings. Emu birds are smaller than ostriches which are also ratites. Scientifically named as Dromaius Novaehollandiae, their fats constitute the emu oil utilized in emu oil eczema ointments.
History tells us that Australian aborigines have been using emu oil for more than forty thousand years for medicinal purposes. While the aborigines of Australia hunted down the Emu birds for their meat, they also made use of their fat for the relief of minor body aches and faster healing of wounds. They also used emu fat to treat burns and bruises as well as protect their skin from the sun’s heat.
There were many ways that Australian aborigines derived emu oil from the fat of emu birds. Today’s Australian aborigines found in Wiluna, Australia revealed that they would hang the skin of an emu bird on a tree, and gather the oil that drips from the fat attached to the skin. Sometimes, they would also wrap the bird of the emu skin directly on the affected individual. Either way, the sun’s heat was the catalyst in liquefying the emu fat so that it could be better absorbed by the skin in the form of emu oil.
Interested in the use of emu oil by Australian aborigines, local doctors Peter Ghosh and Michael Whitehouse decided to conduct a study to determine the effects of emu oil on arthritis, an inflammatory condition which affects joints. Dr. Peter Ghosh was then the head of Raymond Purves Bone And Joint Research Laboratories, a professor at the University of Sydney, and a doctor of the Royal North Shore Hospital Of Sydney. Dr. Michael Whitehouse also had a remarkable standing as the head of the Department of Pathology in the University of Adelaide. By 1993, the study was posted on the Australian post with the conclusion that emu oil had a significant anti inflammatory effect and was useful against rheumatism. This study then jumpstarted numerous studies on the emu oil which only proved its role in fighting inflammation furthermore.
Like rheumatoid arthritis,an eczema rash is also an inflammatory condition. Only, the eczema rash is limited to the skin because it is an inflammatory skin condition. Because of that, it was theorized that the emu oil can also be used against eczema and thus emu oil eczema ointments were developed.
While there are not any studies which prove whether or not emu oil eczema ointment is able to treat eczema, the Omega fatty acids found in it have already been established to effective in the alleviation of eczema rashes and other inflammatory conditions throughout the body – including the prevention of a heart attack and the lowering of blood pressure. Predecessors to the emu oil eczema ointment such as Evening Primrose oil and fish oil have undergone studies that are specifically targeted against eczema and were found to effectively reduce eczema rash with continued supplementation. These oils happen to have the same Omega fatty acids found in an emu eczema ointment and are namely linoleic acid and linolenic acid. But the emu eczema ointment does have the advantage of having an additional Omega fatty acid which is not found in Evening Primrose oil or fish oil and that is oleic acid.