Positive Influence Of Plants On People'S Health

Bruchac (1995), hypothesizes that humans and plants interact on a more active basis and plants have the ability to speak to human beings and enter their lives in a variety of ways. Lavandula or more commonly Lavenders like all other plants is no exception to this theory. Lavender is a flowering plant that is indigenous to the lands that surround the Mediterranean Sea and the southern parts of Europe and has more than 47 genus's and close to a dozen subspecies. Since time immemorial, lavender and its extracts are believed by many to contain a variety of therapeutic and curative properties with some past medical practitioners such as the roman physician "Pedanios Dioscorides" mentioning it in his medical journal the "De Materia Medica" Tisserand et al. (1994).

Lavender oil which is the most populous form of lavender is derived by distilling the flower spikes of certain species of lavender. During distillation, two forms of the oil are obtained; these are the colorless and insoluble lavender flower oil and the lavender spike oil. As lavender oil continues to gain popularity particularly as an essential oil, there is a lot scientific and medical research being conducted to evaluate the curative properties of lavender as well as the efficacy of integrating lavender oil as a treatment option either by itself or as part of other medication.

Scientific Evidence that Lavender Works

There has been a steady increase in the popularity of natural remedies as an alternative to the current medicines explaining the growing increase in lavender and other essential oils which have had a lot of curative claims surrounding lavender. Historically it was used to anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, yellow fever, headaches, nausea, and even pain. Today the most common use of lavender is in aromatherapy, but people also use it for its analgesic, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, hypnotic and anxiolytic properties. While there have been numerous animal and human studies conducted in recent years to investigate the properties as mentioned earlier and evaluate traditional medical remedies of lavender using modern scientific methods, a substantial amount of them was small and of poor quality. Most of the information about lavender oil is extracted from abstracts that lack content, are biased and are usually missing vital data points of the full information.

There is therefore little to no scientific evidence to back the claims of lavender's efficacy as a curative course of treatment. Despite the lack of scientific backing or empirical data for the alleged benefits, most people believe that this delightfully fragrant herb is beneficial to them. Probably as a result of generational beliefs passed down through time. It is imperative that individuals tread lightly when navigating medical literature regarding lavender and consult with their doctor should they want to use it as an alternative treatment method.

Medical/Clinical Studies

Conducted around Lavender

Because the most populous application of lavender is in aromatherapy, it would make sense that a lot of the studies conducted about lavender and its extracts are regarding the nervous system, anxiety and the application of lavender oils in enhancing wellbeing to improve the state of body, mind, and spirit. There have been multiple studies conducted outside of the mentioned scope, but most are not worth mentioning since most of the clinical studies have been poorly conducted and are significantly lacking with regards to the proper supportive empirical data. Below we shall review a few of the notable medical/clinical studies that have been conducted on both humans and animals as well as their outcomes.In the treatment of transient focal ischemia, a study conducted by Wang et al. (2012) on mice sought to assess the activity of lavender oil on the condition along with its neuroprotective effects. The study evaluated elements such as the neurological deficit, infarct size, histopathology changes and oxidative stress markers over a period of 22 hours where reperfusion therapy was conducted. In the study, scientists noted that treatment with lavender oil aided in reducing the neurological deficit scores, MDA levels, and infarct size. Additionally, the use of lavender also reduced the damage caused to the neurons (Wang et al., 2012).

The researchers identified antioxidant attributes in the lavender oil which are reportedly responsible for the neuroprotective effects of the plant’s extracts on cerebral ischemia. In a placebo-controlled trial, Kasper et al. (2010), conducted three different studies on the ability of Silexan which is a lavender oil preparation that is produced from lavender flowers through steam distillation to treat the subsyndromal anxiety disorder successfully. The study conducted on 221 adults suffering from anxiety disorder, restlessness and agitation aimed to investigate the anxiolytic properties of lavender further. The patients were randomized and a daily of 80 mg/day silexan or placebo was administered orally over a period of six weeks. Following the designated duration of the study, there was a notable improvement amongst the patients who received doses of silexan. Reports about the study also indicate that the patients experienced a general improvement in the health and overall well-being while there was a notable decrease in cases of being restless or sleep disturbances. The lavender oil preparation was productive with regards to the general mental and physical health of patients without causing any undesired sedative or other drug-specific effects. This demonstrated that the silexan was a safe way to alleviate anxiety and had a meaningful anxiolytic effect. If the above study is anything to go by, the reported effects of aromatherapy to prompt an improvement in the general mood among the subjects of the study coupled by a decrease in their psychological distress levels are true.

Another pilot study was run by Conrad et al. sought to investigate the "effects of clinical aromatherapy for anxiety and depression in high-risk postpartum women" (2012) to establish whether it can be used as a complementary treatment option. Unlike with the Kasper et al. study where patients were required to ingest Silexian the lavender production, this study was done with twenty-eight women on a purely observational basis using 2% diluted lavender oil concentration. The women were expected to attend 15-minute sessions twice a week over a period of four consecutive weeks. The study comprised of two different groups, the randomized treatment group and a systematically selected control group, comprised of volunteers, who were advised to keep off aromatherapy for the entire length of the study. The women in the randomized treatment group were 0-18 months postpartum and were divided into either the inhalation group or the aromatherapy hand technique group. Using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) the women were scaled thrice. The first scaling was done before commencement of the study, the second scaling at the mid-section of the study, while the last scale was done after completion of the study all spread equally across the four weeks.

At the end of the study, the postpartum women registered significant improvements with regards to their anxiety and depression problems indicating the potential use of aromatherapy coupled by its minimal risk in implementation. Even though the three mentioned clinical trials had positive outcomes and were brilliantly useful in the improvement of future experimental research trials, if they are not further researched and conducted on a much larger scale they only serve expand our understanding of the pharmacological effects of lavender. Future trials should adopt a more rigorous, standard and experimental research methodologies that are well documented and would help provide scientific evidence that lavender works. Additionally, researchers should also look to apply different methods of utilizing the lavender to alleviate any doubt that could arise regarding the effects a particular method would have on the efficacy of lavender. They could use methods such as oral administration, or aromatherapy to move away from the common application method.

Chemical components and chemical structures of Lavender

In an assessment of different Lavender species, it is important to note that there may be variances in their chemical compositions, but they are all structured similarly with regard to chemical and ethnobotanical properties. The dominant constituents of lavender are linalool, linalyl acetate (Barazandeh, 2002). Other components such as 1,8-cineole B-ocimene, terpinen-4-ol, and camphor exist in moderate proportions. Even though I earlier mentioned that there are over 100 compounds that can be found in the lavender, most of them are present in low quantities. The process of distilling the oil from the flower spikes can affect the dominance of the constituents in lavender oil. Saadatian et al. (2013) identified a total of 60 and 100 compounds during an experiment they conducted where they used 96% and 70% of ethanol solvent extraction respectively.

In another chromatographical research conducted by Saadatian et al. (2013), a similar suggestion was made about lavender oil and its extracts containing over 100 compounds. Saadatian et al. however did not do a further breakdown on the other compounds. Because of such investigations, medical experts today are informing the outcome and results of their clinical trials. But even as the research into the constituents of lavender oil and its medical benefits continues to progress in a positive trajectory, there have been a few negative results. One such instance is the association of lavender oil by Henley et al. (2010) with being an endocrine disruptor exhibiting anti-androgenic activity in vitro. Most studies today don't provide details of adverse reactions resulting from the lavender oil or its compounds. Individuals conducting these studies sometimes choose to mask the failure or negative results. This could have grave effects as it dramatically implies the tolerability and safety of lavender oil.

References:

1. Barazandeh, M.M., (2002). Essential Oil Composition of Lavandula latifolia Medik from Iran. J. Essent. Oil Res., 14: 103-104.
2. Bruchac, J. (1995). Native Plant Stories
3. Conrad, P., Adams, C. (2012) The effects of clinical aromatherapy for anxiety and depression in the high-risk postpartum woman—a pilot study.
4. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 2012;18(3):164–168.
5. Henley, D.V., Korach S.K. (2010). Physiological effects and mechanisms of action of endocrine disrupting chemicals that alter estrogen signaling. A randomized clinical trial. HORMONES 2010, 9(3):191-205