Emu oil

After the parade there was a street fair and among the vendors I found an opportunity to learn about some questionable science.  There was a booth with a sign advertising healing and natural cures and chiropractic.  I went to investigate.

They were selling various products made from emu oil, something I had never heard of before.  This included emu oil based skin lotion, suntan lotion, and a pain lotion.  I sat in the "pain test" chair and was sprayed or rubbed with several of these lotions.  I was told the pain lotion "increased oxygen flow and thus stopped headaches".  I wasn't sure how a lotion would affect oxygen flow or how that would decrease pain (usually increased blood flow to a region is associated with pain and inflammation).

My notion before trying it is that these would be placebo like lotions and they would have no effect.  However, the anti pain lotion produced a very definite tingling sensation, much like that produce by Ben Gay.

I looked up their product on the web and found it contains several active ingredients, most notably methyl saliyclate and menthol.  Those are the same ingredients as in Ben Gay.  I suspect the sun tan lotion is also a legitimate sun tan lotion and contains sun blockers.

So the question is what does emu oil have to do with any of this?  Their literature didn't help much.  Almost all of the literature explained why their emu oil is better than other emu oils.  Theirs is more pure.  It warned us about the difference between distilled oil, refined oil, and various other distinctions.  There way was best, although no reason was given.  Also, they used hand fed Minnesota emus, and the Minnesota emus are better, don't you know.

A Google search for emu oil produces almost exclusively vendor hits for the first four pages.  I expect a lot of hits for vendors, but was surprised at how complete it was.  There were only three hits other than vendors in four Google pages.  One was a Wikipedia page.  Considering I had never heard of emu oil before, there seems to be a large market for it.

Emu oil is made from the fat of emus, which are raised as farm animals for their meat, leather, and other products as well.  In all of the pages, there was only one scientific reference (repeated ad naseum), to a study that indicated emu oil might have anti-inflammatory action (many other oils were tested and found to work as well).

The literature also emphasizes that emu oil contains several omega fatty acids.  However, those would only be beneficial if it was ingested, not for a topical ointment.  The literature also emphasized that Australian Aborigines used emu oil for a wide variety of ailments.  I was not able to verify that from a credible source.  However, the claim that natives used a particular preparation is a common theme in alternative medicine, and is not evidence one way or the other for efficacy.

It seems these products aren't completely bogus.  Any lotion needs a lipid base, and emu oil should work as well as palm oil or similar bases.  At least in some of their products, they add genuine active ingredients.  The question is whether being based on emu oil is any better than being based on any other oil.  Is there some reason to prefer emu oil over Ben Gay?  No evidence was given to support this.  The emphasis was on being "natural" and how the emus were raised how the oil was prepared (apparently, being distilled with care makes the oil better).

I always thought an emu was a cool animal.  They have a dopey face you just have to love.  There is nothing wrong with trying to use all of the animal for a product rather than wasting it, but you should not have to pay more for some imaginary special properties of the oil.  I've heard emu meat is tasty.  I suppose I wouldn't mind giving it a try some time, if I had the chance.  But only from a Minnesota emu.