I took a closer look at this issue...
According to many distributors of essential oils, a 1 oz bottle of pure essential oil is 30 ml, which is about 600 drops. This is the equivalent of 6 tsp or 2 tbsp.
Since most oils are around 120 calories per tablespoon, this means that each drop or oil, has about .2 calories.
These oils are very concentrated with strong flavors and usually diluted for use, especially when used in food products. Many can be toxic at full strength.
So, let's look at an actual product.
This is Mrs Dash Table Blend.
http://www.mrsdash.com/products/seasoning-blends/®-table-blend
The whole container is 2.5 oz. A serving size is 1/4 tsp, which is .7 grams and it has about 100 servings per container.
The ingredients are: onion, spices (black pepper, chili pepper, parsley, celery seed, basil, bay, marjoram, oregano, savory, thyme, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, mustard, rosemary), garlic, orange peel, carrot, lemon juice powder, tomato, red bell pepper, citric acid, oil of lemon
Since ingredients have to be listed by weight and there are 10 ingredients (if I count the "spices" as one since they are in parenthesis), that means the oil has to weigh less then the other 10. It can't weigh more. Lets just say they all weigh an equal amount which would mean each ingredient weighs about .07 grams. While this is possible that they all weigh the same, in real life, the other ingredients will most likely weigh more, but there is no way the oil can weigh more then the .07 grams. That makes this a worse case scenario.
A lb of oil is 4000 calories and 454 grams. This means each gram of oil is 8.8 calories. This means that .07 of a gram has .6 calories.
And that is the worst case scenario "if" all the ingredients weighed the same, which they can't.
What do you think?
In Health
Jeff