Long before phytogenics, there were essential oils, and among them reigned oregano oil. In fact, a good part of it was sourced from Greece, not far away from where I live. Since then, much production moved to other countries and the story of oregano oil has remained an intriguing one.
At the beginning, oregano oil was promoted as a sure replacement for antibiotics, which had been banned in the EU by 2006. On some broilers farms, it worked, at least for some time, and some manufacturers also left the field. Good (and bad) memories linger and oregano oil products – even water-dispersable ones – still exist in the market, but they are not marketed as much as the next generation of similar products.
Some research inconclusively found that carvacrol was the active component in oregano oil. First natural, then synthetic, and today nature-alike pure carvacrol is a main component of most phytogenic additives (or botanicals as known in the U.S.) But are the two products the same? Here, I must admit that my experiences remain motley for either family of products: On some farms, they work; on others, they don’t. Perhaps it has to do with the microbial load of each farm, but that is another story.
What I would really like to see is a research report where synthetic (or nature-alike) carvacrol is tested against oregano oil. Of course, with negative (healthy) and positive (disease challenged) treatments. I know this is not going to happen, but that would be the best answer as to which product really works, and if it works.
Until then, and all this is based on a conversation I had with a supplier, everything depends on marketing and marketing alone. Even research that supports marketing is part of this process, but this is often more expensive than traditional marketing.
