# Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) **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 Poisoning: Phytophotodermatitis (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/phototoxic) > **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. ## 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 Calabr first reported its use on the skin to heal wounds. It is used in perfumery and cosmetics, and flavours Earl Grey tea. ## 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 and toxicology - **limonene**: with linalool and linalyl acetate, most of the oil - **linalool**: - **linalyl acetate**: - **bergapten**: a furocoumarin in the small non-volatile fraction; makes the skin sensitive to light **Mechanism.** Bergapten and the other furocoumarins are photosensitising: with sunlight on the skin they are potentially phototoxic and photomutagenic. **Standing.** There is no European monograph: the European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee declined to adopt one on the oil (public statement of 2012). ## 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. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum*. EMA/HMPC/56155/2011, 22 May 2012. - 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. - 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. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Public statement on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum (Bergamot oil)*. EMA/HMPC/528177/2011, 22 May 2012. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Citri bergamiae aetheroleum*. EMA/HMPC/56155/2011, 22 May 2012. --- *Bergamot.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-17. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bergamot Historical description, not medical advice.