Práticas integrativas e complementares - os efeitos medicinais da Lavandula angustifolia

Abstract

Fitoterapics are natural medicines derived from essential oils obtained from plants. They have relevance because of they present less adverse effects and lower price compared to synthetic drugs. Among the wid range of these natural medicines, Lavandula angustifolia, a shrub plant with interesting cosmetic and therapeutic properties, was selected. Objective: To elucidate the therapeutic properties of Lavandula angustifolia. Methods: This is and Integrative Review of Literature study, which selected scientific publications in the Biblioteca Virtual da Saúde (BVS) and Medical Publisher (PUBMED) databases, using Lavandula as descriptor. This research indetified 652 articles for analysis, after applying exclusion criteria, such as: articles prior to 2014 and not related to the theme, 11 scientific papers were selected. Results: Lavandula angustifolia has demonstrated effective antioxidant, antifungal, antibiotic, healing, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, neural regenerative and neuroprotective action. However, it didn’t present therapeutic efficacy in Alzheimer’s cases. Conclusion: Due to the metioned benefits and whereas that it has advantages in terms of cost-benefit, it becomes a viable alternative for therapeutic purposes.