Lavender oil (Silexan 80 mg)
A standardised lavender oil capsule with more anxiety trials than any other supplement. Nearly all of them were paid for by the company that makes it.
At a glance
| Our verdict | The best-studied supplement for anxiety, but the trials are maker-funded and the product is not confirmed on the Canadian market. |
| Sold for | Anxiety |
| How sure the evidence is | Moderate to Low |
| Cost a month | About $30 to $40 |
Written for adults in Canada. It explains the evidence; it is not advice for you personally. Last reviewed 20 October 2026.
Supplement Check
Is it right for you?
Anxiety has many causes, and a high score needs a doctor's assessment before any supplement. Your check reads your anxiety score, your medicines and what else you take, and tells you where lavender oil fits, if at all. Our Supplement Check looks at:
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- A high anxiety score (GAD-7 of 10 or more) without a diagnosis
- Every medicine you take
Coming soon. The Supplement Check and the Online Health Assessment open once our safety testing is complete.
$59 when it opens, paid once. Adults 18 and over, anywhere in Canada. While the service is new, Dr. French reads every report himself, and your report arrives within 3 working days. More about the Supplement Check
What it is
Silexan (WS 1265) is a standardised lavender oil taken by mouth as a capsule. Only this standardised product has trial data: ordinary lavender oil, aromatherapy oils and other lavender capsules are not the same thing and should not be used in its place. We have not confirmed that Silexan is sold in Canada; check that any product has a Canadian licence (NPN).
How it acts
It blocks voltage-gated calcium channels in nerve cells, which may calm over-active nerve signalling. Unlike benzodiazepine sedatives, it does not act on the benzodiazepine receptor. This is mechanism; the trials are the evidence.
What it is used for, and what the evidence says
Trials were in people with anxiety below the threshold for a disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, and mixed anxiety and depression.
| Use | What the trials found | How sure we are |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety disorders | In a pooled analysis of the placebo-controlled trials, 34% more people had their anxiety score fall by half or more than on placebo (rate ratio 1.34), and the result was consistent across trials. [1] But nearly all the trials were funded by the maker, which lowers our confidence. | Moderate to Low |
| Ordinary lavender oil, aromatherapy, other lavender products | No trials in our review. The Silexan results do not apply to them. | No evidence (no trial) |
How sure we are: High means further research is very unlikely to change the answer; Moderate, it might; Low, it may well change; Very low, we are very unsure. These follow the GRADE method that guideline panels use.
Benefits
- Anxiety: more people improve than on placebo (rate ratio 1.34), moderate to low certainty. [1]
- No dependence and no sedation were seen in the trials.
Risks and side effects
- Burping, with a lavender taste.
- Gut upset.
- Product uncertainty. Only the standardised product has trial data, and its availability in Canada is not confirmed.
Interactions with medicines
No clinically important interactions were found in interaction studies, and no induction of the liver enzymes that clear medicines was reported. The only concern is added drowsiness, which is theoretical.
| Medicine | What can happen | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Sleeping pills, sedatives, benzodiazepines | Possible added drowsiness (theoretical) | Discuss with your doctor |
| Alcohol | Possible added drowsiness (theoretical) | Keep alcohol low |
Who should not take it
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: no data.
- A high anxiety score (GAD-7 of 10 or more) without a diagnosis: a screen is not a diagnosis, and a doctor's assessment comes first.
- Under 18: outside the Supplement Check.
Dose and timing
- 80 mg once a day, the dose in most trials; some trials used 160 mg.
- Only the standardised product (Silexan). Do not substitute another lavender oil.
- How to tell it is working: fill in the anxiety questionnaire (GAD-7) before you start and again at 6 to 8 weeks. If your score has not fallen, it is not working for you.
What we know about Canadians
In 2022, 5.2% of Canadians aged 15 and older had generalised anxiety disorder, double the 2.6% of 2012. [2] Counting any mood, anxiety or substance use disorder, it was 16 to 18%. [3, 2] In young women aged 15 to 24, generalised anxiety tripled over the decade. Fewer than half (48.8%) of people with a disorder spoke to a health professional about it in the past year. [2]
Most at risk: women 15 to 24, unemployed people, and people with substance use (half also have a mood or anxiety disorder). [3]
No Canadian data on lavender oil use in our review.
How sure are we: high. National survey (Mental Health and Access to Care Survey 2022, about 9,900 people) with a structured diagnostic interview.
An honest comparison: anxiety
Effects are in standard units where the trials report them that way (a common scale that lets different questionnaires be compared). Exercise trials cannot be blinded, which inflates their effects. Cost a month in Canadian dollars.
| Option | Effect | How sure we are | Cost a month (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender oil (Silexan) 80 mg | 34% more people had their anxiety score halved than on placebo (rate ratio 1.34); nearly all trials funded by the maker [1] | Moderate to Low | $30 to $40 |
| Ashwagandha | Pooled effect −1.55 standard units: far larger than talking therapy, and too large to be believable; liver injury reported [7] | Low (low, and harm) | $15 to $25 |
| Cognitive behavioural therapy (talking therapy) | About half a standard unit better than placebo on anxiety symptoms (g 0.56), across 41 placebo-controlled trials; large for generalised anxiety [4] | Moderate | Free provincial or online programmes where available; private psychologist about $200 a session |
| Exercise | A moderate fall in anxiety (median effect −0.42); trials could not be blinded [5] | Low | $0 to $21 |
| Mindfulness programme (8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction) | About half a standard unit on stress (g about 0.5); moderate on anxiety [6] | Low | $0 (apps, free courses) to $40–60 |
| SSRI or SNRI (escitalopram, sertraline, duloxetine) | About 2 to 3 points more than placebo on the doctor-rated anxiety scale (HAM-A) [8] | Moderate | $8 to $15 |
Read honestly: talking therapy has the strongest evidence and keeps working, and exercise costs little. Lavender oil has the best data of any supplement for anxiety, but most of it comes from the maker. Ashwagandha's large number is not believable, and it carries a liver risk.
Why we don't offer it yet
We don't offer it yet: we have not confirmed that the standardised product is sold in Canada.
A personal choice for adults with mild anxiety who want to try a supplement alongside talking therapy and exercise, not instead of them. Only the standardised product (Silexan, 80 mg once a day) has trial evidence, and we have not confirmed it is sold in Canada.
Not for pregnancy or breastfeeding, and not as a first step when an anxiety score is high: that needs a doctor's assessment.
The trials are consistent and the effect is real enough to count: more people improve than on placebo, without sedation or dependence. But nearly all the trials were funded by the company that makes it, so the certainty is moderate to low; talking therapy has stronger, independent evidence; and we cannot yet confirm the trial product is on the Canadian market. That makes it a reasonable choice for some people, not something we recommend.
Supplement Check
Before you buy it, get it checked
Anxiety has many causes, and a high score needs a doctor's assessment before any supplement. Your check reads your anxiety score, your medicines and what else you take, and tells you where lavender oil fits, if at all. Our Supplement Check looks at:
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- A high anxiety score (GAD-7 of 10 or more) without a diagnosis
- Every medicine you take
Coming soon. The Supplement Check and the Online Health Assessment open once our safety testing is complete.
$59 when it opens, paid once. Adults 18 and over, anywhere in Canada. While the service is new, Dr. French reads every report himself, and your report arrives within 3 working days. More about the Supplement Check
Disclosure of financial interest
White Pine Medical earns money from products bought through our Fullscript dispensary. Dr. French's Code of Ethics requires him to tell you this. You do not have to buy anything from us: every product is named by its ingredient and dose so you can buy it at any pharmacy, and the advice is the same wherever you buy it, or if you buy nothing.
References
- Dold M, Bartova L, Volz HP, Seifritz E, Möller HJ, Schläfke S, et al. Efficacy of Silexan in patients with anxiety disorders: a meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2023;273(7):1615-28.
- Statistics Canada. The Daily, 22 Sep 2023: Mental Health and Access to Care Survey, 2022. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230922/dq230922b-eng.htm
- Halladay J, Ji C, Georgiades K, Slade T, Chapman C, Sunderland M, et al. Co-occurring mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders in Canada 2022: prevalence, patterns, correlates, and changes over time. Psychiatry Res. 2026;365:117370.
- Carpenter JK, Andrews LA, Witcraft SM, Powers MB, Smits JAJ, Hofmann SG. Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and related disorders: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Depress Anxiety. 2018;35(6):502-14.
- Singh B, Olds T, Curtis R, Dumuid D, Virgara R, Watson A, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(18):1203-9.
- Khoury B, Sharma M, Rush SE, Fournier C. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: a meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res. 2015;78(6):519-28.
- Akhgarjand C, Asoudeh F, Bagheri A, Kalantar Z, Vahabi Z, Shab-Bidar S, et al. Does ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytother Res. 2022;36(11):4115-24.
- Slee A, Nazareth I, Bondaronek P, Liu Y, Cheng Z, Freemantle N. Pharmacological treatments for generalised anxiety disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet. 2019;393(10173):768-77.
Costs marked as estimates are typical Canadian retail or pharmacy prices, before any drug plan. Certainty grades are ours unless the review gave its own.