Our founder and Director, Bopha Chan, sat down with Prof. Claudia Vickers from QUT to discuss the many benefits of terpenes, why they’re much better for you than other stimulants and the future of terpenes in Australia.
HI CLAUDIA, CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOUR SPECIALTY AND WHY YOU LOVE TERPENES?
Sure! I’m a biological engineer, and I specialise in manufacturing natural products that are scarce in Nature. I do that by introducing their metabolic pathways into yeast, so we can then brew them up in a fermentation vat – a lot like making beer and wine.
I love terpenes because they are so important for many processes in nature, but they also have lots of different applications in industry. That includes as flavours and fragrances, colourants, and nutraceuticals.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN TERPENES (IN SIMPLE TERMS) AND WHY ARE THEY BENEFICIAL. IS THERE SCIENTITFIC LITERATURE ON TERPENES?
Yes, there’s lots and lots of scientific literature on terpenes – in fact, they are probably one of the most well-studied groups of natural products. They’re also known as terpenoids or isoprenoids, and they’re made by plants and other organisms. They’re responsible for many of the distinctive aromas, flavours, and colours of lots of plants and plant parts, including herbs, fruits, and flowers.
They’re often used as food flavourings and colourants. Some familiar aromas that terpenes are responsible for include: citrus (limonene), peppermint (mostly menthol), pine trees (pinene), eucalyptus (eucalyptol), grapefruit (nootkatone), farnesol (green apple) and thyme (myrcene).
They’re also the main components of essential oils and have a long history of use in medicinal chemistry. Some terpenes have demonstrated properties as anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, anti-microbials, analgesics (or pain-relieving activity), and anti-anxiolytics (which means anti-anxiety activity). Some have also been shown to have anti-cancer properties.
HOW COULD TERPENES BENEFIT PEOPLE WHO CONSUME THEM?
For terpenes like limonene and pinene, which have anti-inflammatory activities, they could benefit conditions like arthritis and other inflammatory disorders. Terpenes like linalool and myrcene are known for their calming and sedative properties, and could be useful for stress relief, anxiety management, and improving sleep quality.
Several terpenes are known to interact with our endocannabinoid system – that’s a signalling network in the human body that regulates a lot of physiological processes, like mood, pain, appetite, immune response, and sleep. There are also other metabolic
pathways that terpenes can interact with. For example, caryophyllene, which is found in clove oil, rosemary, and lots of essential oils, has a pain-relieving (or analgesic) effect. It interacts with CB2 receptors, which play a key role in regulating immune responses and inflammation, and it enhances their potential for pain relief.
SO, SUGAR AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL STIMULANTS DON’T WORK THE SAME AS TERPENES DO, IS THAT CORRECT?
Sugar is quite different in how it affects us, because it has global metabolic effects. Stimulants like caffeine and guarana have very well-studied metabolic effects, and they interact with specific pathways in the human body. Terpenes interact with different pathways, so yes, they work differently than the sorts of stimulants you find in soft drinks and energy drinks.
IN OUR EXPERIENCE, THERE IS VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF TERPENES, ARE TERPENES A NEW THING? WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE?
Yes, it’s pretty common that folks haven’t heard much about terpenes! Even in the sciences, when I’m talking about terpenes, I always explain what they are. I guess it depends a bit on the audience, but certainly in the lay public, not many people have heard about them.
CLAUDIA, YOU’RE CURENTLY WORKING WITH TERPENE RESEARCH. WHAT KIND OF POTENTIAL DO YOU SEE FOR TERPENES IN AUSTRALIA?
There are so many different applications for terpenes, I think they are really under-recognised and under-utilised. I’m excited to see what Purple Universe is doing with terpenes, because there’s the opportunity for their potential to be better recognised. I really like that the Purus formulation doesn’t contain any sugar or artificial sweeteners, and it has terpenes in it so I’m always going to love this product!
