Summer is here and we can all finally get outdoors a bit more and enjoy the wonderful revitalizing and healing rays of the sun. Let’s face it - being out in the sun is one of the best things about summer. But sadly, skin cancer is now recognised as the most common form of all cancers with 1,000,000 new cases expected to be diagnosed this year in America alone. Those figures are astonishing, and we should all take heed of them.

However, it can be difficult to know what to do for the best when recent scientific studies have shown that that people who don’t get enough sunlight and also have diets low in vitamin D may be at higher risk of developing prostate, colon, rectal, ovarian and breast cancer.
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Two closely related species of citronella grass have been cultivated over the years to produce citronella essential oil; Cymbopogon nardus which is known in the oil industry as ‘Ceylon type’, and Cymbopogon winterianus known as ‘Java type’.

In the early 1900’s C. nardus was cultivated almost exclusively in Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), and C. winterianus was produced on the Indonesian island of Java. At that time, C. nardus oil was the most sought after variety but gradually C. winterianus increased in popularity due to its higher yield and slightly fresher aroma.
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