Herbal formula

Myrtol (GeloMyrtol forte)

Q: Is Myrtol made from myrtle?

Only a little. GeloMyrtol forte and Myrtol contain a distillate of rectified eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon oils mixed in a 66:32:1:1 ratio, so myrtle oil is about 1 part in 100 and eucalyptus and orange oils make up almost all of it. The name is a holdover: in the nineteenth century, myrtol meant a fraction distilled from myrtle oil itself. The trial results belong to the four-oil product, not to myrtle.

Q: Does Myrtol work for acute bronchitis?

It has some good evidence. In a double-blind trial of 413 adults, coughing fits fell by 62.1% after about a week with GeloMyrtol forte against 49.8% with placebo, and an earlier trial of 676 adults found faster recovery than with placebo. The differences were modest, the trials were run with the manufacturer’s involvement, and they have not been independently repeated. Our thyme and ivy page covers another tested option for productive cough.

Q: Can Myrtol replace antibiotics?

Not when antibiotics are truly needed. In a 2000 trial of 676 adults with acute bronchitis, about 92% responded after a week to the distillate, the antibiotic cefuroxime, or the mucus drug ambroxol, compared with 77% on placebo. That mostly shows that typical acute bronchitis does not need an antibiotic, which matches NHS advice that bronchitis usually clears up without treatment. Pneumonia and other bacterial infections need medical assessment, and a capsule should not delay it.

Q: Does Myrtol help with sinusitis?

Trials suggest it can speed recovery a little. In 463 adults with sinusitis after a cold, symptoms improved faster than with placebo from day 4, and the authors reported remission about three days sooner, although sense of smell improved equally in both groups. A 1997 trial in 331 patients also found a benefit. The European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis (EPOS 2020) lists it among herbal products with a significant effect in adults. See our Sinupret page for a comparable herbal option.

Q: How should GeloMyrtol forte be taken?

The German label advises adults and adolescents over 12 to take one 300 mg capsule three to four times a day for acute illness, or two to three times a day for chronic illness, half an hour before meals with plenty of cold liquid. The last dose can be taken at bedtime. The capsules are enteric-coated so they pass through the stomach first. See a doctor if you are not better after 10 days, or sooner if you develop breathlessness, fever, or bloody or pus-like phlegm.

Q: Can children take Myrtol?

Only from age 6, and only in the doses on the label. The 120 mg Myrtol capsule is aimed at children aged 6 to 12, who take one capsule three to four times a day for acute illness; GeloMyrtol forte is also labeled for this age group at a lower dose. Both products are contraindicated in babies and children under 6, and the capsule contents must never be used for inhalation in children. No placebo-controlled trials in children have been published that we could find.

Q: Is Myrtol safe in pregnancy or while breastfeeding?

Safety has not been established. The German label says there is no experience in pregnant women and that 1,8-cineole, the main marker compound, crosses the placenta in rats, so a doctor should prescribe it in pregnancy only after weighing the benefits and risks. The oils are expected to pass into breast milk, and the same caution applies while breastfeeding. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using it if you are pregnant or nursing.

Q: Can I make my own version with essential oils?

No. The capsules contain a rectified distillate in measured doses inside an enteric coating, and the trials apply only to that product. Bottled eucalyptus, orange, myrtle, or lemon oils are not made for swallowing, and Poison Control warns that misused essential oils can cause serious poisoning, including pneumonia if oil is choked into the lungs. Keep essential oils locked away from children, and if anyone swallows one, call poison control right away (1-800-222-1222 in the United States).

Also known as GeloMyrtol forte, Myrtol 120 mg, ELOM-080, Myrtol standardized, Gelomyrtol, eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon oil distillate

A German capsule of distilled eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon oils, tested against placebo in acute bronchitis and sinusitis.

Main use: Acute bronchitis and sinusitis

Promising clinical evidence

4 ingredients

Updated October 10, 2026

Key points

01

Mostly eucalyptus and orange, not myrtle

The distillate starts from eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon oils in a 66:32:1:1 ratio, so myrtle and lemon are only 1 part in 100 each.
02

Positive placebo-controlled trials

Trials in 413 adults with acute bronchitis and 463 with acute viral sinusitis found faster improvement than with placebo, though the differences were modest.
03

Research largely run with the maker

The main trials were funded by the manufacturer or co-authored by its staff, and we found no independent replication. A COVID-19 trial missed its goal.
04

A licensed medicine in Germany

Germany authorizes it for bronchitis and sinusitis from age 6. EMA has not assessed the combination, and we found no FDA-approved version.
05

Not under 6, and mind the gut

Avoid with inflammatory gut or bile duct disease, severe liver disease, or under age 6. Stomach upset is the main side effect. Never swallow bottled oils.

Myrtol is the everyday name for ELOM-080, a German herbal medicine made by distilling a blend of four essential oils: eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon, mixed in a ratio of 66:32:1:1. It is made by G. Pohl-Boskamp in Hohenlockstedt, in northern Germany, and sold in pharmacies without a prescription as GeloMyrtol forte, an enteric-coated soft capsule containing 300 mg of the distillate, and as Myrtol, a smaller 120 mg capsule aimed mainly at children aged 6 to 12. Research papers also call it Myrtol standardized. Its German product information describes it as a secretolytic, a medicine that loosens mucus and makes it easier to cough up, approved for acute and chronic bronchitis and for sinusitis in adults and children from age 6. Despite the name, the capsules are not mostly myrtle: myrtle oil is 1 part in 100 of the starting mixture, while eucalyptus and sweet orange oils make up 98 parts. Scientists from a competing manufacturer describe GeloMyrtol forte and Sinupret as the two top-selling cold remedies in Germany (Seibel and colleagues, Planta Medica 2023).

The name is older than the product. In the nineteenth century, myrtol meant something distilled from myrtle oil itself: King’s American Dispensatory (1898) records that it was once thought to be the oil’s chief constituent but was really a mixture of pinene, cineole, and dipentene boiling between 160 and 180 °C, and that physicians of the time gave myrtle oil in capsules for foul-smelling bronchitis. Today’s Myrtol keeps the name but not the recipe, since the modern distillate is made mostly from eucalyptus and orange oils. The Pohl-Boskamp product has been studied for decades. Paparoupa and Gillissen (Pharmacognosy Reviews 2016) trace measurements of its effect on mucus transport in healthy volunteers to 1995, and placebo-controlled trials in acute sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, and acute bronchitis were published in 1997, 1999, and 2000. Its current German marketing authorization, number 6096046.00.00, dates from a grant or renewal in November 2006, and the professional product information was last revised in July 2021. The 120 mg capsule, called GeloMyrtol in older studies, is now sold as Myrtol and is also promoted for people who have trouble swallowing larger capsules.

According to the German product information, the distillate acts both as a mucolytic, thinning sticky mucus, and as a secretomotor agent, getting mucus moving so it can be coughed up or cleared; animal and laboratory studies have added antimicrobial effects at high doses and anti-inflammatory effects. Three marker compounds reach peak blood levels one to three hours after a capsule: 1,8-cineole, which comes mainly from the eucalyptus oil, limonene, mainly from the orange oil, and alpha-pinene, with cineole exposure about 20 times that of the other two. Paparoupa and Gillissen summarize small human studies in which the distillate sped up mucus transport in the nose and sinuses, but much of the work on mechanisms comes from animals and cells. This page describes what is in the capsules, the trials of the finished product in acute bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, and acute sinusitis, who paid for them, how the capsules are taken, and the cautions on the label. The trial results belong to this four-oil product and cannot be credited to eucalyptus, orange, myrtle, or lemon oil on its own. Nothing here is medical advice.

What’s in it

Ingredients in label order. Results from trials of this formula belong to the combination, not to any single herb in it.

Eucalyptus · Essential oil, rectified

66 parts in the 66:32:1:1 mixture that is distilled

Eucalyptus globulus

The largest share and the main source of 1,8-cineole, the marker compound that reaches the highest blood levels. The label does not name the eucalyptus species used.

Read the eucalyptus monograph →
Sweet orange · Peel essential oil, rectified

32 parts in the 66:32:1:1 mixture that is distilled

Citrus × aurantium f. aurantium

About a third of the blend and the main source of limonene, one of the product’s three marker compounds. We found no trials of orange oil alone for cough or sinusitis.

Read the sweet orange monograph →
Myrtle · Essential oil, rectified

1 part in the 66:32:1:1 mixture that is distilled

Myrtus communis

Gives the product its name, which once meant a fraction distilled from myrtle oil, but makes up only 1 part in 100 of today’s mixture. Its own contribution cannot be separated.

Read the myrtle monograph →
Lemon · Peel essential oil, rectified

1 part in the 66:32:1:1 mixture that is distilled

Citrus × limon

A minor ingredient at 1 part in 100. No trial has tested what lemon oil adds to the blend.

Read the lemon monograph →

03 Evidence

What the research shows

Promising clinical evidence

Our rating for acute bronchitis and sinusitis, based on trials of this combination.

Acute bronchitis has the most trial data. Gillissen and colleagues (Drug Research 2013) randomized 413 adults with acute bronchitis, and no complicating illness or medication, to GeloMyrtol forte 300 mg four times a day or a matching placebo for up to 14 days, double-blind. After about a week, coughing fits had fallen by an average of 62.1% with the distillate and 49.8% with placebo (p < 0.0001). The distillate also halved coughing fits sooner, left more people free of daytime coughing fits, and eased difficulty coughing up phlegm and sleep disturbed by night-time coughing; both treatments were generally well tolerated. Two of the five authors worked for the manufacturer. An earlier four-arm, double-blind trial by Matthys and colleagues (Arzneimittel-Forschung 2000) randomized 676 adults with recent-onset acute bronchitis to the distillate for 14 days, the antibiotic cefuroxime, the mucus-thinning drug ambroxol, or placebo. After one week, 92.9% responded to the distillate and 77.3% to placebo, against 92.4% with cefuroxime and 89.6% with ambroxol. An antibiotic doing no better than two mucus medicines fits the NHS view that bronchitis usually clears up without treatment; it does not show the capsules can replace an antibiotic when one is needed.

Chronic bronchitis was tested over a winter. Meister and colleagues (Arzneimittel-Forschung 1999) randomized 246 people with chronic bronchitis to 300 mg three times a day or placebo for six months. Among the 215 who could be evaluated, 72% on the distillate went without a flare-up against 53% on placebo (p < 0.01), and those who did flare up needed antibiotics somewhat less often (51.6% versus 61.2%); we found no later trial repeating this. For acute sinusitis, Federspil and colleagues (Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie 1997) compared the distillate, another essential-oil product, and placebo in 331 patients treated for about six days, and both oils beat placebo. The largest sinus trial is by Pfaar and colleagues (The Laryngoscope 2023): 463 adults with acute viral rhinosinusitis, sinus inflammation following a cold, took one capsule four times a day or placebo for 14 days. Patient-rated symptoms were significantly better by day 4 (p = 0.012), investigator-rated scores were better at days 7 and 14, and the authors reported remission about three days sooner, while sense of smell improved equally in both groups. The trial was funded by Pohl-Boskamp, and two of its authors were company employees.

Reviews add perspective rather than new data. A 2025 systematic review by Matl and colleagues (Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology) found five trials of essential-oil capsules in acute rhinosinusitis, covering 1,281 adults; the distillate outperformed placebo in the Pfaar trial, and mild stomach upset was the most common side effect across the studies. Its only head-to-head comparison, against the herbal product Sinupret (BNO 1016) in 228 patients, was a manufacturer-funded observational study that was neither randomized nor blinded (Gottschlich and colleagues 2018), and the reviewers rated it at high risk of bias. The 2020 European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis (EPOS), as summarized by Jaume and colleagues (Current Allergy and Asthma Reports 2020), lists Myrtol and other essential-oil capsules among herbal products with a significant effect on symptoms of acute post-viral rhinosinusitis in adults, based on individual randomized trials. Paparoupa and Gillissen’s 2016 review is a narrative summary that drew partly on the manufacturer’s database, and Gillissen had led the 2013 bronchitis trial. Not every result is positive: in a manufacturer-funded trial in 121 outpatients with COVID-19, the distillate missed its main goal of reducing coughing fits, with benefits seen only in after-the-fact subgroup analyses (Dreher and colleagues, Advances in Therapy 2025).

Regulatory status differs sharply between countries. In Germany, the product information for GeloMyrtol forte lists a marketing authorization (Zulassung) rather than a registration based on traditional use, and its approved uses are stated without the traditional-use wording such products carry; it is sold only in pharmacies but without a prescription, for loosening mucus in acute and chronic bronchitis and in sinusitis. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and its herbal committee have not assessed the combination. EMA has a monograph on eucalyptus oil, which it accepts for cough with a cold and localized muscle pain only on the basis of traditional use, and its public summary states that combinations are not covered; its list of herbal assessments contains no entry for myrtle, sweet orange, or lemon oil. In the United States, we found no version approved or listed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the federal over-the-counter rules name guaifenesin as the only expectorant active ingredient. Anyone outside Germany who sees “Myrtol” on a label should check whether it is the same distillate, in enteric-coated capsules, before assuming the German trials apply.

Important questions remain open. Nearly all of the trials were funded by the manufacturer or included its staff as authors; the abstracts of the 1997, 1999, and 2000 trials do not say who paid for them, and we found no independent replication of the bronchitis or sinusitis results. The effects, while statistically clear, are modest: in the 2013 trial the gap over placebo was about 12 percentage points in coughing-fit reduction, and in the sinus trial recovery came days rather than weeks sooner, in illnesses that usually settle on their own within about three weeks. There are no published placebo-controlled trials in children; a surveillance study of 511 children aged 4 to 12, summarized by Paparoupa and Gillissen, had no comparison group. Nor can single-oil evidence be borrowed. Purified cineole capsules have their own trials, eucalyptus oil has only traditional-use approval, sweet orange oil has mainly aromatherapy studies, and myrtle and lemon oils are each 1 part in 100 of the mix, so no one can say how much each oil contributes. The results apply to this distillate, at these doses, in enteric-coated capsules.

04 In practice

How it is taken

Two products contain the distillate, both made by Pohl-Boskamp and sold in German pharmacies without a prescription. GeloMyrtol forte is an oblong, enteric-coated soft capsule with 300 mg of the distillate, coated so that it passes through the stomach before releasing its oils. Myrtol is an oval capsule with 120 mg, intended mainly for children aged 6 to 12 and for people who find larger capsules hard to swallow. Both labels list the same four rectified oils in the same 66:32:1:1 ratio. The capsules also contain sorbitol, which matters for people with hereditary fructose intolerance, and the manufacturer states that the GeloMyrtol forte capsule shell is made from beef gelatin. Choosing a product mostly means matching the strength to the age on the label and checking that the pack contains this specific distillate rather than a loose blend of similarly named oils. A bottle of eucalyptus, orange, myrtle, or lemon essential oil is not a substitute: aromatherapy oils are not made or dosed for swallowing, and the label warns that the capsule contents must not be used for inhalation in children.

Doses differ by product and age. For GeloMyrtol forte, the German label advises adults and adolescents over 12 to take one capsule three to four times a day for acute illness and two to three times a day for chronic illness, a dose also suggested for long-term use; children aged 6 to 12 take one capsule one to three times a day for acute illness and once or twice a day for chronic illness. For the 120 mg Myrtol capsule, children aged 6 to 12 take one capsule three to four times a day for acute illness and three capsules a day for chronic illness, while adults and adolescents take two capsules three to five times a day for acute illness. The trials used one 300 mg capsule four times a day for up to 14 days in acute bronchitis and sinusitis, and three a day for six months in chronic bronchitis. Take the capsules half an hour before meals with plenty of cold liquid; the last dose can be taken at bedtime to ease the night. In three beagle dogs, food delayed absorption by several hours (Seibel and colleagues), consistent with that advice.

How long to take it depends on the illness. The package leaflet advises seeing a doctor if you do not feel better after 10 days or feel worse, and the label asks people to see a doctor promptly if symptoms last longer than expected or get worse, or if breathlessness, fever, or pus-like or bloody phlegm appears. The NHS notes that bronchitis usually clears up in around three weeks, and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) gives the usual course of acute sinusitis as two to three weeks, so the capsules may shorten the worst phase a little but will not end an illness overnight. Stop taking them and get medical help at once if signs of an allergic reaction appear, such as breathlessness, facial swelling, hives, or feeling faint. Long-term use for chronic bronchitis is allowed on the German label but is best agreed with a doctor, who can check for conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that need their own treatment. Avoid doubling up with other eucalyptus oil or cineole products, and mention the capsules to a pharmacist before starting a new medicine.

05 Caution

Before you use Myrtol (GeloMyrtol forte)

In the trials the distillate was generally well tolerated, and stomach complaints are its main side effect. The German product information lists stomach or upper-abdominal pain as common, affecting between 1 and 10 people in 100. Uncommon effects, in up to 1 in 100 people, include inflammation of the stomach or gut lining, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or other digestive upset, changes in taste, headache, dizziness, and allergic reactions such as breathlessness, facial swelling, hives, rash, and itching. Very rarely, in fewer than 1 in 10,000 people, the capsules have set existing kidney stones or gallstones moving, and severe anaphylactic reactions have been reported at a frequency that cannot be estimated. Paparoupa and Gillissen describe one case of anaphylactic shock 20 minutes after a capsule, in which skin tests pointed to dibutyl phthalate, a plasticizer in the capsule coating, rather than the oils. Matl and colleagues found mild stomach upset to be the most common adverse event across essential-oil sinusitis trials. Swallowing bottled essential oils is a different matter: Poison Control warns that misused essential oils can cause serious poisoning, and that oil choked into the lungs can cause pneumonia.

The label rules the capsules out for babies and children under 6, for people with inflammatory diseases of the stomach, intestines, or bile ducts, for people with severe liver disease, and for anyone allergic to eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, or lemon oil, to cineole, or to another ingredient. People with asthma, whooping cough, or other airway diseases with marked over-sensitivity should take it only after talking to a doctor, and people with hereditary fructose intolerance should not take it because of its sorbitol. For pregnancy, the label notes there is no experience in pregnant women and that 1,8-cineole crosses the placenta in rats, so a doctor should prescribe it only after carefully weighing benefits and risks. The oils are expected to pass into breast milk, and the same advice applies while breastfeeding. Because the capsules can, very rarely, set stones moving, people with known kidney stones or gallstones should check with a doctor first. Children aged 6 to 12 should take only the doses on the label for their age and product, and we found no published placebo-controlled trials in children.

The German product information urges caution when the capsules are combined with medicines that have a narrow therapeutic range, where small changes in blood levels matter, and says they should be taken alongside other medicines only after careful weighing of benefits and risks. Older animal studies and one older human study suggest that high doses of cineole can induce liver enzymes of the cytochrome P450 family, which could weaken or shorten the effect of other drugs, and eucalyptus oil inhibited the enzyme CYP3A4 in the test tube at 100 µg/ml. Such effects have not been seen in people taking the capsules as directed, but adequate interaction studies have not been done. Of the four oils, eucalyptus carries the most concern; our eucalyptus page describes a warfarin user whose clotting test fell while taking lozenges containing eucalyptus oil, menthol, and licorice. We found no established drug interactions for sweet orange, myrtle, or lemon oil at these amounts, and the orange juice interactions described on our sweet orange page involve juice, not oil. Tell a pharmacist about the capsules if you take blood thinners, anti-seizure medicines, transplant drugs, or other closely monitored medicines.

A mucus-loosening capsule is meant for an ordinary chest or sinus infection in someone otherwise well. The NHS advises an urgent appointment for a cough lasting more than three weeks that is not getting better, coughing up blood or blood-stained mucus, chest pain, shortness of breath, or feeling too unwell for daily activities, and also for people with bronchitis who are over 65, pregnant, or living with a long-term heart, lung, or kidney condition, diabetes, or a weakened immune system. Call emergency services for anyone struggling to breathe, whose lips or skin are turning pale, blue, or gray, or who suddenly becomes confused. For sinusitis, NICE lists warning signs that need hospital assessment: swelling or redness around the eye, a displaced eyeball, double vision or newly reduced vision, swelling over the forehead bone, a severe frontal headache, signs of meningitis or other nerve problems, or signs of a severe whole-body infection. Children under 6 with a cough or blocked nose need other options from a doctor or pharmacist. If anyone swallows an essential oil, contact a poison control center at once; in the United States the number is 1-800-222-1222.

06 Questions

Frequently Asked Questions