What Is Calendula Used for Today?
Experiments on rats and other animals suggest that calendula cream exerts wound-healing and anti-inflammatory effects, 2,3,4 but double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have not yet been reported. The best study on calendula so far was a controlled trial comparing calendula to the standard treatment trolamine for the prevention of skin irriation caused by radiation therapy . 6 Interestingly, the researchers used trolamine for comparison not because it has been proven effective but more as a kind of acceptable placebo (trolamine is not thought to do very much, even though it’s widely used). The study found calendula more effective than trolamine. However, because this was not a double-blind study, the results mean little; mere expectation of benefit is likely to cause patients and experimenters to perceive benefit. Creams made with calendula flower are a nearly ubiquitous item in the German medicine chest, used for everything from children’s scrapes to eczema , burns , and poorly heali
Experiments on rats and other animals suggest that calendula cream exerts wound-healing and anti-inflammatory effects,2,3,4 but double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have not yet been reported. The best study on calendula so far was a controlled trial comparing calendula to the standard treatment trolamine for the prevention of skin irriation caused by radiation therapy.6 Interestingly, the researchers used trolamine for comparison not because it has been proven effective but more as a kind of acceptable placebo (trolamine is not thought to do very much, even though it’s widely used). The study found calendula more effective than trolamine. However, because this was not a double-blind study, the results mean little; mere expectation of benefit is likely to cause patients and experimenters to perceive benefit. Creams made with calendula flower are a nearly ubiquitous item in the German medicine chest, used for everything from children’s scrapes to eczema, burns, and poorly healing wo
