Ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory
bowel disease, is a major health problem in the western part of the world. Canada has the highest
prevalence of colitis patients, so a Canadian research group has
been testing the use of lavender as a cure for colitis, since most treatment
options involve constant medication or surgery. Development of colitis is
dependent on the diversity of your gut microbiota: specific players have been
identified as inducers (Citrobacter
rodentium) and protectors (microbes belonging to the phylum Firmicutes)!
Lavender has been used for
centuries as a home remedy because of its anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory,
and anti-allergy properties. It’s been specifically used to alleviate
intestinal discomfort and abdominal pain. Its healing properties have been
attributed to the monoterpenes in its structure. Each monoterpene has been
isolated and studied separately in the past, but this research group wanted to
investigate their combined properties in the face of colitis in a murine model.
The mice were induced with colitis using C. rodentium. One group was treated with
Okanagan lavender essential oils (OLEO) which was administered via oral gavage.
This group was compared to untreated colitic mice. The researchers found that
the OLEO had some healing effect on the treatment group (as compared to the
untreated group): the disease was less severe, intestinal tissue damage was
reduced, infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages was decreased, levels of
inflammatory mediators were reduced, and regulatory T cell populations were
increased. The OLEO increased the
numbers of Firmicutes in the gut microbiota while inhibiting growth of C. rodentium. The researchers propose
that if these positive results are translated into a human model, lavender could
be a promising therapy for patients who suffer from colitis.
I did a little research about
common, current uses of homeopathic uses of lavender essential oils (LEO) today
and found a hospital’s website that warned against internal use of LEOs. At
this point, lavender has not undergone proper safety testing for ingestion,
however, it is being administered topically to alleviate pain (such as joint
pain), insect stings, acne, and burns. It is also administered via aromatherapy
to alleviate stress, anxiety, and even insomnia. There has also been a study that
used lavender in a bath to alleviate episiotomy pain post-normal spontaneous
vaginal deliveries.
Lavender, like Resveratrol (see my
last blog post!) seems to be another ancient homeopathic remedy that is a
modern-day hot topic for curing serious illnesses! If ingestion of lavender is
found to be safe and administered for approval, we may be able to offer
patients suffering from colitis a promising cure!
Sources:
2.https://lahey.org/Departments_and_Locations/Departments/Colon_and_Rectal_Surgery/Ebsco_Content/Ulcerative_Colitis.aspx?chunkiid=224316
I'm curious about the ingestion warning that the noted hospital applies in terms of LEO's. It seems to me that since Lavender has been used for centuries without approval by any official agency, that like you said, their warning might be more of a cautionary stance since they don't 100% know the exact effects of LEO ingestion. However, I feel like performing basic studies regarding proper LEO dosing would be the most simple and logical solution moving forward. This remedy needs to get approved. It would be a much simpler, cheaper, possibly more effective and less invasive treatment option for Colitis than surgery or medication administration.
ReplyDeleteI eat it and it tastes yummy.
DeleteTamara, this is seriously right up my alley (haha, no pun intended).
ReplyDeleteI think that alternative medicines (not homeopathic because that's using the thing that kills you in small doses, just to be a nit-picky history major) is going to be the way of the future.
In Hawaiian culture, kahuna la'au lapa'au aka doctors still practice today. They use endemic plants found only in Hawai'i such as popolo (pokeberry) , 'olena (turmeric), and wiliwili (type of coral tree). There must be some merit to using alternative medicines even if it is only for the placebo effect.
This study using lavender solidifies that understanding in my mind. That there is something unique in each of these plants that can help cure common illnesses that we have today. But seriously, this is super interesting and I hope that this lab will continue on to clinical trials (I personally eat a lot of lavender and it hasn't done anything to me that I know of! )
Here's a link to a Hawaiian plant database if anyone is interested: http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu/search/?query=wiliwili.
Here's a NIH link about native healing across the US: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/healing-ways/medicine-ways/healing-plants.html
I think this is fascinating! I am personally a big fan of aroma therapy and every one knows my stance on mints (they make you smarter, or at least clear your mind and relieve stress). Using aroma's to help with pain and illness seems to be a very cost effective treatment with minimal side effects. I think it is weird that hospitals have put a warning out for lavender since it has been used for so long. I know there are lavender tea's available, do you think they would be just as helpful as eating a bite of lavender? It would be interesting to see this change and hopefully become a type of preventative medicine, wake up take your vitamins, have some lavender, drink an orange juice and you are good to go! Hopefully the study continues and lavender gets approved as a treatment option!
ReplyDeleteI think that sounds like a really promising experiment for helping deal with colitis. I am all for more natural treatments for illnesses before constant medication or surgery, but I am wondering if you, or whoever, thinks that lavender alone could be a cure for colitis? It sounds like a wonderful treatment, but I’m not sure it really gets at the underlying problem of what’s causing the GI inflammation, but more so for alleviating symptoms. So I hope that this experiment can progress to human trials and help people suffering from this disease, but I think there should continue to be research on what causes colitis. Is it a genetic predisposition, as we learned about, or a result of our bad diet choices creating havoc in our gut?
ReplyDelete