Supplement analysis backed by scientific evidence · PT

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Limited evidenceJoints & skin

Calendula

Marigold flower extract with a modest evidence base for topical wound and skin care. Taken orally as a capsule or tea it has essentially no supporting trials.

Evidence last reviewed: August 2026

What the science says

  • Topical wound healing Limited evidence

    A systematic review of Calendula officinalis extract for wound healing found positive signals across a mixed set of animal and human studies but concluded the human evidence was of low quality, with small samples and heterogeneous preparations. It could not recommend calendula as a standard treatment.

  • Skin irritation and dermatitis Limited evidence

    A double-blind randomized controlled trial compared an emollient cream with and without 1% supercritical CO2 calendula extract in contact dermatitis. It is one of the few properly controlled trials, and it tested a topical cream, not an oral supplement.

  • Oral supplementation Limited evidence

    No randomized trial of oral calendula for skin, joints or inflammation is indexed in PubMed. The internal use claims are traditional rather than tested.

Dosage & safety

Studied doseTopical preparations use 2–10% calendula extract in a cream or ointment applied 2–3 times daily. No oral dose has been validated; label doses are typically 300–500 mg of extract.
SafetyTopical use is well tolerated, though calendula is in the daisy family and can cause allergic contact dermatitis in people sensitive to ragweed, chrysanthemum or arnica. Oral use is discouraged in pregnancy because of traditional reports of uterine stimulation. It may add to the effect of sedatives.

Scientific references

Where to buy

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