Traditional Uses for Castor Oil

The castor plant (Ricinus communis) grows in many parts of the world and tends to grow in tropical or desert climes. Its six-starred leaves with pointy seed hulls are often seen in the southwestern U.S., and throughout Africa and Asia.

The castor bean plant and its derivatives have been therapeutically used for thousands of years in traditional practices. Castor beans have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs and have been used among ancient Ayurvedic remedies.

However, we should be careful with castor beans, because they can be highly poisonous.

One of the castor bean’s central ingredients is ricin, which is highly toxic if eaten in significant quantities. For children, even a seed or two can cause immediate sickness and even death. Ricin poisoning will cause nausea, cramping, internal bleeding, vomiting and liver and kidney damage. In addition, harvesting the bean and plant can leave the plant residue on the skin, which can cause nerve damage. So it is best not to handle the plant without adequate protection.

At the same time, the juice from the leaves of the castor plant or the purified oil from the beans can be highly therapeutic when applied correctly. Traditional herbalists have used castor juice and oil for headaches, inflammation, warts and ringworm. Ayurvedic physicians have used castor oil for intestinal problems and allergies. These effects have not been confirmed by research.

Castor oil’s ricinoleic acid content is thought to produce much of its therapeutic effects.

Castor bean oil processing will typically only leave trace amounts of ricin in the oil. Thus, castor oil has been used externally for many years by general physicians and folk healers alike.

In 1958, D. C. Jarvis, M.D. documented that he and associate physicians used castor oil externally for the following conditions:

–Warts: applied oil night and morning to ward, rubbing it lightly about 20 times.
–Skin ulcers: again, applied oil directly to ulcer
–Newborns: applied castor oil to the navels of newborns if they showed any slow healing
–Breast milk: applied to breasts to increase milk flow.
–Eye irritation: a drop of oil into the eye for irritation
–Child health: rubbed into scalp of growing child to stimulate health
–Eyelashes: applied to eyelashes to thicken and lengthen them
–Chest colds: applied to the chest with menthol
–Abrasions: applied to skin abrasions to decrease pain and speed healing
–Corns and calluses: applied directly onto the skin and rubbed in nightly
–Sore feet: massaged into the feed to relieve soreness.
–Papillomas: applied nightly
–Moles: rubbed into the mole nightly before going to bed

Edgar Cayce popularized the use of castor oil in the early to mid twentieth century. His readings often prescribed castor oil pack applications. William McGarey, M.D., worked many years with castor oil among many patients at his Phoenix medical clinic. He was also the medical director of the Edgar Cayce Medical Research Division, which documented the use of a number of Cayce’s prescriptions over the years.

Dr. McGarey, who emigrated from Yugoslavia in 1901, communicated that castor oil was a standard treatment “back in the old country.”

The Cayce prescription is for a castor bean oil pack. A pack is made by soaking two or three pieces of flannel cloth in the oil, or applying a liberal amount onto the skin. Then the area is covered with a piece of felt cloth and the felt is covered with

Some of the ailments the pack was used for by Dr. McGarey and his associates included aphonie, appendicitis, arthritis, cancr, cholecystitis, cholecystalgia, colitis, constipation, epilepsy, gallstones, gastritis, migraine, hepatitis, hervia, Hodgkin’s disease, hookworm, cirrhosis, neuritis, multiple sclerosis, lymphitis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, cellulitis, sterility, ringworm, uria and colic.

Many other traditional doctors have applied castor oil during their treatments. Dr. Jethro Kloss and Dr. Paavo Airola were advocates of the use of castor bean oil for cysts and warts.

In study from Royal Children’s Hospital in Australia (Tursi et al. 1994), researchers found that the lipase from castor oil could be beneficial for cystic fibrosis patients with pancreatic insufficiency.

Castor oil can be applied as a massage oil or blended with other oils for a soothing and therapeutic massage.

This information is for research purposes only not intended to treat or cure any disease. Be sure to consult your health professional if you suspect you or your family members have any disease, and before making any significant changes to your diet, lifestyle or supplements. In no case should a person consume castor oil without the consent of a qualified health professional.

REFERENCES

Tursi JM, Phair PG, Barnes GL. Plant sources of acid stable lipases: potential therapy for cystic fibrosis. J Paediatr Child Health. 1994 Dec;30(6):539-43.

Airola P. How to Get Well. Phoenix: Health Plus, 1974.

Jarvis DC. Folk Medicine. Greenwich: Fawcett, 1958.

Reilly HJ, Brod RH. The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health Through Drugless Therapy. Virginia Beach: ARE Press, 1975.