Bergamot
Citrus bergamia Risso & Poit.; in pharmacy Citri bergamiae aetheroleum, bergamot oil
- Known today as
- Citrus bergamia, of the family Rutaceae, a tree up to five metres high with big, dark green, lemon-like leaves, fragrant star-shaped white flowers, and round or pear-shaped yellow fruit with a thin, smooth peel and a sour, bitter, greenish-yellow pulp. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report calls it a hybrid of bitter orange and lemon, or by other authors of bitter orange and lime, grown mainly in Calabria for the essential oil pressed from the peel. The oil is mostly limonene, linalool, and linalyl acetate, with a small non-volatile fraction holding the furocoumarin bergapten.
- Kind
- Plant
- Constituents
- limonene, linalool, linalyl acetate, and 1 more
- Poisoning
- Phytophotodermatitis
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Caution. The furocoumarins in the oil, chiefly bergapten, make the skin sensitive to light and are potentially phototoxic and photomutagenic; blistering skin reactions have followed contact with bergamot aromatherapy oil and then sunlight, and the European agency recommends psoralen-free oil and avoiding sun after use of preparations that contain them. Drinking Earl Grey tea in excess, more than a litre a day, has been reported to cause reversible muscle cramps, twitching, tingling, and blurred vision. Not recommended in pregnancy or breast-feeding.
Bergamot: what was it used for?
An oil for the skin and for scent. The assessment report records that bergamot oil has been used in Italian folk medicine since 1725, chiefly for fever and worms, and later for infections of the mouth, skin, and urinary tract; in 1804 Francesco Calabrò first reported its use on the skin to heal wounds. It is used in perfumery and cosmetics, and flavours Earl Grey tea.
Bergamot: what does modern science say?
The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee declined to adopt a monograph on the oil (public statement of 2012): its long Italian use on the skin as an antiseptic and wound aid lacked adequate information on dosing, and the studies were not sufficient for any well-established use. Trials of a different preparation, oral nutraceutical supplements containing bergamot, are more numerous: a 2022 meta-analysis of fourteen trials found that bergamot supplementation might improve blood lipids, while calling the findings for bergamot-containing products inconsistent and further evidence necessary, and a 2026 meta-analysis of eleven trials found it reduced body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference, with considerable heterogeneity.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- Bergapten and the other furocoumarins are photosensitising: with sunlight on the skin they are potentially phototoxic and photomutagenic.
- Syndrome
- Phytophotodermatitis
- Standing
- There is no European monograph: the European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee declined to adopt one on the oil (public statement of 2012).
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Public statement on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum (Bergamot oil). EMA/HMPC/528177/2011, 22 May 2012. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum. EMA/HMPC/56155/2011, 22 May 2012. Read in part · the text read
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Bergamot: what lore surrounds it?
The plant appeared in southern Italy before 1700, the assessment report records, and Christopher Columbus is believed to have brought it from the Canary Islands. The belief that the name comes from the city of Bergamo, where the oil might first have been sold, it calls “totally unfounded,” a matter only of the likeness of the names.
Sources
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Public statement on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum (Bergamot oil). EMA/HMPC/528177/2011, 22 May 2012. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum. EMA/HMPC/56155/2011, 22 May 2012. Read in part · the text read
- Sadeghi-Dehsahraei H, et al. (2022). The effect of bergamot (KoksalGarry) supplementation on lipid profiles: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytotherapy research : PTR. PMID 36251526. Abstract read · the text read
- Pujia C, et al. (2026). Effect of Citrus bergamia Supplementation on Body Composition in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. PMID 41572527. Abstract read · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in full, 1 read in part, 2 abstract read. 2 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Club members can point at a technical term in this entry, such as a constituent, an action, or a word of Jung’s, to read its definition from the source. The Club.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 17, 2026
- Chicago
“Bergamot.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 17, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bergamot.
- MLA
“Bergamot.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 17 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bergamot. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Bergamot. (2026, October 17). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bergamot
Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club
See Also
Poisoned alike: phytophotodermatitis
Citron · Masterwort and angelica · Dittany · Lovage · Fig · the syndrome, with all of them →
Sharing limonene, linalool, linalyl acetate
Carum carvi · Anethum graveolens · Elettaria cardamomum · Salvia sclarea · Ocimum basilicum · Coriandrum sativum · Lilium candidum
Nearby in the alphabet
Betony (Betonica officinalis) · Benzoin (the resin of Styrax benzoin of Sumatra) · Bezoar stone (A concretion formed in the stomach of goats and other animals) · Ben-nut (Moringa oleifera, whose oil is the “ben oil) · Bilberry · Bells (and wrongly, called their “baptism) · Birch leaf (trees of Europe from Sicily to Iceland and of northern Asia) · Bearberry
Historical description, not medical advice.
