Lore about the neem tree has a long history in India, where Ayurvedic medicine has used neem tree substances virtually as a "cure-all." All parts of the tree yield substances used in personal care products, treatment of a long list of diseases and even as an insect repellent. Neem oil comes from the seeds, and since the seed produces at least 31 different compounds, it's easy to understand its diverse benefits.
Components
Neem oil is produced from the seed kernels using either a pressing process or a solvent extraction. Depending on the process, the amounts of beneficial substances differ from one oil to the next, but the basic components are fatty acids and a compound called azadirachtin. The fatty acids include omega-6 (linolenic acid), omega-9 (oleic acid), palmitic acid, stearic acid and omega-3.
Azadirachtin
Azadirachtin is so complex it took researchers 18 years to figure out its chemical structure and 22 years to learn how to synthesize the compound, reports an article in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. Azadirachtin is an insecticide that deters feeding and disrupts growth, but additional research is needed to understand exactly how it works.
Medicinal Uses
Neem oil has been used for centuries in the Indian Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine to treat many different ailments, including cough, fever, malaria and wounds. The Neem Foundation says the oil is often used for skin diseases and inhibits the growth of bacteria. The Foundation also notes neem oil relieves pain and has anti-inflammatory effects, but does not make it clear whether those properties come from the processed oil, the leaves or both. Other uses of the oil are for treating bacterial, fungal and viral infections and skin irritations.
Skin Care
On Discoverneem.com, Birgit Bradtke compares neem oil's moisturizing properties to those of cocoa butter or shea butter. The oil is high in vitamin E and fatty acid emollients that heal dry and damaged skin. As an antibacterial, neem oil also helps treat acne.
Research
The antibacterial effect of neem oil was verified in 2001 at the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology in India, where Baswa and colleagues found that neem seed oil killed 14 different strains of pathogenic bacteria. In a review of neem research published in 2005 in Current Medicinal Chemistry, researchers Subapriya and Nagini stated that neem leaf and its constituents demonstrated anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties. In 2009, Akihisa and colleagues at Nihon University in Tokyo isolated 31 compounds from the neem seed. They found some of the compounds inhibited the Epstein-Barr virus and had anti-inflammatory and antitumor effects in mice.
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