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Borage Oil
The Healing Power of Borage Oil
Borage has been used in connection with the following conditions:
Eczema, Infantile seborrheic dermatitis, Rheumatoid arthritis
Borage oil, extracted from the seed of the blue, star shaped borage
flower, is gaining much attention by alternative health practitioners
and mainstream medicine alike for its profound medicinal properties.
Whereas the oil is getting all of the credit, it is actually the oil’s active
component, gamma linoleic acid (GLA), that has drawn the interest
of researchers. The majority of the early studies done on GLA, dating
back to the late 1940’s, were conducted with the oil of evening
primrose.
Active constituents: Borage seed oil is the richest source of gamma
linolenic acid (GLA) and contains 20–26% GLA.
While GLA from evening primrose oil has been widely researched,
scientific evidence supporting the use of borage oil has been limited.
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who received either 1.4 grams of
GLA daily from borage oil or placebo for twenty-four weeks
experienced significant reductions in such symptoms as tender and
swollen joints after utilizing the oil.
Borage oil has also been employed for atopic dermatitis (eczema) in
open clinical trials, with reductions in skin inflammation, dryness,
scaliness, and itch without side effects being reported.
However, a controlled study using 360 mg of GLA daily from borage
in patients with atopic dermatitis (3–17 years of age) was unable to
reproduce these results.
In another open pilot study, forty-eight children with infantile
seborrheic dermatitis were treated with borage oil (0.5 ml) applied to
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the diaper region twice daily. Within ten to twelve days, all the
children were free from skin lesions, even in the areas not treated
with borage. Moreover, using the oil topically two to three times a
week kept the seborrhea in remission until the patients were six to
seven months old. There were no relapses after the oil was
discontinued.
For the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, the adult dose of GLA
from borage is 1.4 grams daily for at least two months. Although one
can try borage oil at a dose of 360 mg of GLA daily for eczema,
research has not successfully supported its use for this condition.
Topically, 0.5 ml of borage oil can be applied to areas of seborrhea
daily for two weeks and then three times a week until the condition is
stable.
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