Did you know that May 20 is International Clinical Trials Day? This date commemorates the day James Lind started the first clinical trial in 1747. As a surgeon mate aboard a British Royal Navy ship, Lind carried out one of the first controlled clinical trials recorded in medical science. The story goes that Lind recruited 12 men suffering from scurvy, divided them into groups of two, and then allocated each group to one of six treatments. By the end of the week, the patients treated with citrus fruits were well enough to nurse the others.

Clinical Trials have come a long way since Lind’s first randomized trial, yet they are still important as they allow medical professionals to gather data and make conclusions about safe and effective ways to promote specific health outcomes.

What is Clinical Research?

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), clinical research is medical research that involves living humans. Clinical research looks at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. This research can study new drugs, new ways of doing surgery, new medical devices, new ways to use existing treatments, and new ways to change behaviors or improve health.

Clinical Research at doTERRA

Today, there are more than 22,000 scientific papers published on essential oils—fewer than 500 are human clinical trials. As the leader in essential oils, doTERRA stands a pioneer in essential oil clinical research and continues to make significant investments in the field to ensure maximum safety and efficacy. This research is also further proof of doTERRA’s commitment to sharing the beneficial properties of essential oils with the world.

“We are excited to be involved in this important work and honored to represent doTERRA as a reputable contributor to essential oil science,” says Nicole Stevens, doTERRA Director of Clinical Research. “It speaks very highly of the vision and commitment of our executives that we have a clinical research department and the resources for ground-breaking studies taking place right here at doTERRA. We expect to make ripples in the scientific community for years to come!”

doTERRA’s first in-house clinical trial took place in 2015. Since that time, our clinical research team has completed seven in-house trials, with five more currently open. Our clinical research team recently moved into a new permanent location across the street from the doTERRA Global Campus in the Prime Meridian Healthcare (PMH) building. This research facility provides the perfect opportunity for collaboration with the PMH medical professionals in planning and conducting research protocols.

Stay up to date on doTERRA’s latest research news on our Science Blog.