Chennai these days is littered with hoardings.The large ones have all been taken up by advertisements for saree stores and cell phones, and so the quirky ads have been relegated to occupying the small amount of space on top of bus shelters. Once such advertisement that is all over the city is for a brand of cooking oil, featuring a rather healthy looking film actress suggesting mysteriously that for a healthy life, people should practise oil-pulling. I was consumed by questions. Pulling oil? From where? Is it fun?

Unable to bear the anxiety, I asked my dad what in the world oil-pulling was and he handed me a magazine that featured a six page advertisement on the benefits of oil-pulling therapy. That’s right, therapy. And it is not fun.

The advertisement was not really an advertisement. It was a study on the benefits of oil-pulling commissioned by the oil manufacturer and conducted by a doctor who was featured on the front page of the spread. The results of the study can be summarized thus:

A group of people were asked to take a couple of teaspoons of pure, unadulterated sesame oil, and pour into into their respective mouths. After this, they were asked to swirl the oil in their mouths for a period of fifteen to twenty minutes. Care had to be taken to suck the oil through their teeth.

Eww. The ad continues.

After the ordeal, the survivors were asked to spit the oil - which had become all foamy by now - out. They were then given free bottles of oil and asked to go back home and repeat the process every morning for a period of two months. After the two month period, when the oil pullers were examined, there were some random things that had happened to them and the good things are listed herein.

Based on the results of the study, we state with certainity that oil pulling is an easy way to maintain your health and well-being. [Link, in Tamil]

And so, we recommend that you make oil pulling an integral part of your daily routine. It has the ability to cure several ailments. We recommend that you continue oil pulling until you can eat and sleep well. [Link]

I asked my dad if he’d tried it, and he told me that on the one day he pulled oil, the maid showed up early. Chalk up one more victory for oil pulling. And wait, there is more good news. In another study linked on the website of the oil-maker, someone called F. Karach, MD claims that

[…] that the following illnesses can be effectively healed with the application of oil therapy: headaches, bronchitis, lung and liver conditions, toothache, thrombosis, blood diseases, arthrosis, paralysis, eczema, gastric ulcers, intestinal disorders, heart and kidney ailments, encephalitis, nervous conditions and female disorders. [Link]

Normally, I would’ve concluded my post here after issuing a fervent appeal to readers to throw away their Advil and and buy more oil. But then, this is Sepia Mutiny, so I was obliged to go a step further. This morning, I picked up the phone and called the doctor who conducted the study.

Thanks for talking to me. Can you tell me more about the study?

Yes, it was a study conducted on a very small sample. We’ve only listed out the benefits reported by people and we are not sure yet about any side effects. A larger study might be done soon.

Can we use other oils?

Yes, any type of oil should be ok. We only tried sesame oil.

About the therapy itself…

Don’t call it therapy. It is an edible product that possibly provides some benefits.

Why do you think it works?

I don’t know.

Any side effects?

I don’t know. We haven’t done a study large enough to study side effects.

Hmm. So hold on to your Advil then, folks. On another note, I am starting to wonder what benefits of vodka pulling are. It is a far more obvious candidate for someone wanting to design a therapy. You are encouraged to try it and let me know how it goes. And please, do swallow.