Honeysuckle Oil and Pregnancy: What the Sources Say
We cannot tell you honeysuckle absolute is fine in pregnancy, and neither can any source we found: there are no pregnancy studies of honeysuckle absolute. What exists is guidance on essential oils in general, medicine-literature on a dried honeysuckle flower bud taken by mouth or injected into animals, and a label from us that says not for internal use. This page lays out what each of those says and does not say, so you can bring something specific to a midwife or obstetrician.
Honeysuckle Absolute
Our own Honeysuckle Absolute, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
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Shop Now →What each source covers
| Source | Material | What it reports | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| UKTIS essential oils page (December 2023, v4.0) | Essential oils, diluted, in massage and toiletries | Many pregnant women have aromatherapy massage without problems; some oils should be avoided for a "hypothetical risk"; levels in perfumes and cosmetics are "very unlikely to harm the baby" | Any named honeysuckle product; neat absolutes; bulk handling |
| Li et al., 2015 review (Evid Based Complement Alternat Med) | Dried Lonicerae japonicae flos, aqueous or alcohol extracts | Rat oral study: no adverse effect on reproductive function reported; mouse intraperitoneal alcohol extract inhibited early pregnancy; intravenous drip had antipregnancy effects in dogs | Humans; fragrance; skin or inhalation exposure |
| IFRA Standards guidance (51st Amendment, 2023) | Fragrance ingredients in consumer products | Scope list of what the underlying safety assessments leave out | Excludes aromatherapy applications from scope |
| Our certificate of analysis | One batch of our absolute | Density, refractive index, optical rotation, appearance, smell | Constituents, residual solvent, any pregnancy-relevant data |
What UKTIS says, and the limit of it
The UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS) publishes the "Best use of medicines in pregnancy" series. Its essential oils page makes four points that matter here. Diluted oils are often used in pregnancy massage and many women have it without problems. Oils are absorbed through the skin, more so over a larger area or on broken skin. Certain oils should not be used for massage at any stage because of a hypothetical risk (the page does not name them). And the page states that "no scientific studies have been carried out to assess whether the use of essential oils for pregnancy massage is safe." The same page says undiluted essential oils "should not be swallowed during pregnancy or at any other time," and that undiluted oils should not go on skin, where they can cause irritation or allergy. For the small amounts in perfumes, cosmetics, skin care and toiletries it says levels are usually low and very unlikely to harm the baby.
Notice what that leaves out. It is a statement about essential oils and about shop-bought finished products. A bottle of neat absolute is neither. Reasoning from the page, the relevant lines for a home blender are the dilution, the area of skin and the frequency, and those are exactly the decisions to take to a midwife rather than make from a web page. We do not sell any product with a pregnancy claim.
The medicine literature is a different material
The published work on honeysuckle and reproduction concerns Flos Lonicerae, the dried flower bud used in traditional Chinese medicine, usually prepared as a decoction. The 2015 systematic review (Li Y and colleagues) reports animal work only: an oral anti-early-pregnancy assay in Sprague-Dawley rats that "indicates no adverse effects" on reproductive function, and, separately, alcohol extracts given by intraperitoneal injection that inhibited early pregnancy in mice and an intravenous drip with antipregnancy effects in dogs. We read the review's text; we did not locate the underlying papers. Three reasons these do not transfer:
- The preparation is a water or alcohol extract of dried bud, not a hexane-and-ethanol absolute of fresh flower (see what an absolute is).
- The routes are oral, injected or intravenous, not skin or air.
- The animal results point in opposite directions depending on preparation and route, which is a reason for caution, not a verdict either way.
The review has no human pregnancy data. For the wider medicine-versus-fragrance split, see TCM versus aromatherapy. And we say nothing about whether any plant product treats or affects anything in the body; our shop makes no medical claims.
If you work with it rather than wear it
Makers handle more than wearers do. A perfumer or soap maker may open the bottle repeatedly, weigh neat material, and work with solvents elsewhere in the shop. Two things worth knowing, neither a finding about honeysuckle:
- The IFRA Standards describe themselves as covering consumer products and exclude aromatherapy applications and consumer products used in occupational settings from their scope. A fragrance limit therefore does not speak to a workbench; see the IFRA article.
- An absolute is made with hexane. ATSDR's n-hexane ToxFAQs say that breathing high concentrations can cause tingling or numbness in hands and feet, and that in animal studies high exposures reduced birth weights and activity. Those are high workplace-type exposures to the solvent, not residue in an absolute. We publish no residual solvent figure for ours, and the solvent article explains what to ask a supplier for in writing.
Your employer, midwife or an occupational health clinician is the right person for a workplace exposure question. Ventilation, gloves and dilution decisions are theirs to advise on, not ours.
Which questions a supplier can answer
A supplier can answer questions about the material: what the constituents are (a GC-MS report, in writing), what residual solvent the lot contains and by what method, and which batch you hold. We publish none of those three for our absolute; the certificate on the product page lists density, refractive index, optical rotation, appearance and smell, and a buyer who needs the others should ask in writing before ordering. A supplier cannot answer whether the material is appropriate for a particular pregnancy, because that depends on your history, the dose and the route, and that judgment belongs to a clinician. Be wary of any seller who answers the second kind of question with a flat yes.
The same split applies to scented products you did not make. UKTIS describes the levels in perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries as usually low. A candle, a diffuser or a bath product is a different exposure from a leave-on cream, and the UKTIS page as we read it does not break those out. If a specific product worries you, the product's maker and your midwife are the two people to ask.
What to bring to the appointment
- The product name and how you plan to use it: worn on skin, in a candle, in a diffuser, in a wash.
- The dilution and area in plain numbers, for example "2% in 30 ml of carrier oil, rubbed over both arms daily." At the density on our certificate (0.989), 2% of 30 ml is about 0.6 g of absolute.
- Whether you have ever reacted to a fragrance (allergy article).
- That the product is a solvent-extracted absolute from Lonicera japonica flower, with a certificate showing only physical properties.
For a general overview that does not repeat this, see Is honeysuckle oil safe?
Until someone has studied this material in pregnancy, the decision belongs with your midwife or obstetrician, and "not now" costs nothing.
Honeysuckle Absolute
Honeysuckle Absolute from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $13.99
Shop Now →Sources & Further Reading
- UKTIS (UK Teratology Information Service), 2023. Essential oils, version 4.0. medicinesinpregnancy.org
- Li Y et al., 2015. Lonicerae Japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos: A Systematic Pharmacology Review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2015:905063. PMC4519546
- IFRA, 2023. Guidance for the use of the IFRA Standards, 51st Amendment. ifrafragrance.org guidance PDF
- ATSDR. ToxFAQs for n-Hexane. wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs