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Lavender is taken as capsules or inhaled as aromatherapy for anxiety and sleep. Trials outside cancer suggest it can ease anxiety, but in people with cancer it did not lower anxiety during radiotherapy and added nothing to massage in a hospice. It may have weak hormonal effects, so long-term use is best avoided with hormone-sensitive cancers.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is used in aromatherapy, cosmetics and as a traditional remedy for mood and sleep. Memorial Sloan Kettering's About Herbs summary cites clinical trials suggesting oral lavender preparations help depression and anxiety, and aromatherapy studies for preoperative anxiety, pain and sleep, with meta-analyses calling for more high-quality studies. In cancer settings the results are negative so far: aromatherapy did not lower anxiety during radiotherapy and lavender aromatherapy massage did not enhance the benefit of massage in a hospice. Anticancer effects are limited to cell lines and animal studies of perillyl alcohol. MSK advises against long-term oral or topical use in hormonal cancers because lavender may have weak hormonal effects, with case reports of breast development in children regularly exposed to lavender products. Reported reactions are nausea and belching orally and allergic dermatitis and photosensitivity topically. It may add to sedatives and anticonvulsants.
Linalool and linalyl acetate act on GABA-A receptors and the limbic system through smell; an oral preparation (silexan) has anxiolytic effects in trials.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Lavender" OR ABSTRACT:"Lavender" OR TITLE:"oral and aromatherapy" OR ABSTRACT:"oral and aromatherapy") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Lavender (oral and aromatherapy), not a curated reading list.
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