Chamomile Mouthwash and Mouth Sores From Cancer Treatment

Table of Contents

1. What Oral Mucositis Is
2. How Common It Is and Why It Matters
3. Why Chamomile Was Tried
4. What the Animal Studies Found
5. The Large 1996 Placebo-Controlled Trial Found No Difference
6. The Later Single-Herb Trials
7. Trials of Mixtures That Contain Chamomile
8. Reviews and Network Meta-Analyses
9. What the MASCC/ISOO Guideline Says
10. Allergy and Interaction Facts
11. What Is Still Unknown
12. Key Research Papers
13. Connections
14. Featured Videos

What Oral Mucositis Is

The lining of the mouth renews itself quickly, and fast-dividing cells are exactly the kind that chemotherapy drugs and radiation damage. When the lining cannot replace itself fast enough, it thins, turns red, and breaks down into open sores. Those sores are oral mucositis. The older word for the same thing, still used in many trials, is stomatitis.

It is not the same as an ordinary canker sore. A canker sore is a single small ulcer that comes and goes on its own (the site's Canker Sores page covers those). Mucositis from cancer treatment usually affects large areas of the cheeks, tongue, gums and throat at once. It follows the treatment schedule, appearing after chemotherapy doses or during a course of radiation and healing once the treatment pauses or ends.

Three settings produce most of it:

• Chemotherapy, especially drugs such as 5-fluorouracil, which the 1996 chamomile trial was built around, and methotrexate.
• Radiation to the head and neck, where the mouth sits inside the radiation field week after week.
• Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (a bone-marrow or stem-cell transplant), where very high doses of chemotherapy, sometimes with whole-body radiation, are given before the transplant.

Trials grade mucositis on scales such as the World Health Organization oral toxicity scale or the National Cancer Institute's toxicity criteria. In plain terms, grade 1 is soreness and redness, grade 2 means ulcers but the person can still eat solid food, grade 3 means only liquids are possible, and grade 4 means the person cannot eat or drink by mouth at all. Many of the trials below report results by these grades.

How Common It Is and Why It Matters

A 2007 review of the clinical and economic effects of mucositis states that nearly all patients with head and neck cancer who are treated with radiotherapy develop some degree of mucositis, as do the majority of patients who receive high-dose chemotherapy with a stem-cell transplant. The 1996 chamomile trial was set up because stomatitis had been found to be a major dose-limiting side effect of bolus 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy, even when patients were already sucking ice chips to protect the mouth.

The same 2007 review lists why it matters beyond the pain itself:

• The pain is often severe enough to need opioid painkillers.
• Speaking and swallowing can become difficult or impossible, which leads to dehydration, weight loss and the need for feeding support.
• Open sores raise the risk of infection.
• Unplanned dose reductions or breaks in treatment because of severe mucositis may weaken how well the cancer treatment works.
• Costs rise with severity, through more hospital stays, more opioid use and more fluids and nutritional support.

That is the reason a cheap, gentle rinse attracts interest. If a mouthwash could prevent even part of the damage, people could keep eating and stay on schedule with their cancer treatment.

Why Chamomile Was Tried

Chamomile tea used as a gargle or mouth rinse for sore mouths, gum inflammation and ulcers is a long-standing practice in European folk and herbal tradition. The 1996 trial was started because preliminary data had suggested a chamomile mouthwash might ease 5-fluorouracil mouth sores. A 2006 systematic review of mouthwashes used to prevent chemotherapy mouth sores lists chamomile mouthwash among the rinses that were commonly recommended in practice at the time, alongside chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine and salt or salt-and-soda solutions. That review notes that the effectiveness of these rinses was unclear. Its pooled data did not find a benefit for chlorhexidine compared with sterile water or saline, and its abstract reports no result for chamomile.

The interest rests on what is in the flower. The compounds most often credited are alpha-bisabolol and chamazulene from the essential oil and the flavonoid apigenin; these are described on the main Chamomile page. Practitioners describe chamomile rinses as soothing, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing. The idea behind using them for mucositis is that if inflammation in the mouth lining could be damped, the breakdown into ulcers might be smaller or shorter.

What the Animal Studies Found

The best-known laboratory work comes from one Brazilian research group using hamsters, the standard animal model for chemotherapy mouth sores. In these experiments, hamsters were injected with 5-fluorouracil and the inside of the cheek was lightly scratched to bring on mucositis. Treatment then began.

• Healing in hamsters (2011). 105 hamsters were split into three groups of 35: no treatment, a commercial chamomile extract applied to the mouth, and a steroid (betamethasone) elixir. In hamsters, the chamomile group showed only mild mucositis throughout the experiment and had a 12-fold greater chance of scoring zero (no mucositis) than the untreated group. Under the microscope, the chamomile group showed less mucositis than both the untreated and steroid groups, and the steroid group had the more severe clinical picture. One finding cut the other way: the hamsters with mucositis that received chamomile or the steroid weighed significantly less than the untreated group. The authors wrote that well-designed human studies were needed to confirm the result.
• Inflammation signals in hamsters (2013). A follow-up with 36 hamsters measured two signals that drive inflammation, interleukin-1 beta and tumour necrosis factor alpha, in the cheek tissue. Both rose in every group as mucositis developed. On day 10, when the sores were at their worst, the hamsters given the chamomile extract had lower scores for both signals.

These studies show that chamomile can calm this kind of injury in hamsters. They do not show what happens in people, who receive different drugs, at different doses, over weeks rather than days, and who rinse and spit rather than having an extract applied to a scratched cheek.

The Large 1996 Placebo-Controlled Trial Found No Difference

The biggest and most rigorous chamomile mucositis trial is still the one published in 1996 by a North American oncology research group. It was a phase III, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, meaning neither the patients nor the staff knew who was getting the real rinse, and the comparison was a look-alike rinse without chamomile.

• Who: patients starting their first cycle of chemotherapy based on 5-fluorouracil. There were 164 evaluable patients, randomized equally to the two groups.
• What every patient got: oral cryotherapy, meaning ice held in the mouth for 30 minutes with each dose of 5-fluorouracil.
• What the trial gave on top: a chamomile mouthwash or a placebo mouthwash, three times a day for 14 days.
• How it was measured: stomatitis scores recorded both by health-care staff and by the patients themselves.

Result: the authors reported "no suggestion of any stomatitis difference" between the two groups. There was also no sign of side effects from the chamomile rinse. A subgroup analysis showed unexpected differences between men and women, which the authors stated could not be explained by anything other than chance. Their conclusion was that the data did not support the idea that chamomile could reduce 5-fluorouracil mouth sores.

This trial matters more than its age suggests. It is more than twice the size of any later single-herb chamomile trial, it used a true placebo, and it was blinded. Two points limit how far it reaches. Every patient was already using ice cooling, so the trial tested whether chamomile adds anything on top of cooling, not whether chamomile works on its own. And it studied one kind of chemotherapy; it says nothing directly about head and neck radiation or stem-cell transplants.

The Later Single-Herb Trials

Since 1996 the trials that tested chamomile alone have been small, and most did not use a placebo. They are listed here in the order they were published.

• Stem-cell transplant, Brazil (2015). A randomized phase II trial in 40 adults having a donor stem-cell transplant. Three groups got routine care plus a mouthwash made with liquid chamomile extract at 0.5%, 1% or 2%; a fourth group got routine care alone. The 1% group had less mucositis, milder mucositis and shorter mucositis than the routine-care group. No moderate or severe side effects were found. With about ten people per group, the finding that only the middle strength worked is fragile.
• Chamomile ice during 5-fluorouracil, Brazil (2016). A randomized pilot study in 38 patients receiving 5-fluorouracil with leucovorin compared ice made from plain water (18 patients) with ice made from chamomile tea (20 patients), each swished around the mouth for at least 30 minutes during chemotherapy. Mucositis developed in 50% of the water-ice group and 30% of the chamomile-ice group. No one in the chamomile group developed grade 2 or worse. Mouth pain scores were higher in the water-ice group at every check (p = 0.02 on day 8, p = 0.09 on day 15, p = 0.14 on day 22). On day 8, 16% of the water-ice group and none of the chamomile group had ulcers (p = 0.10). No toxicity from chamomile was found. This is the only trial that, like the 1996 trial, combined chamomile with cooling, and it found the opposite direction of result, but with fewer than a quarter as many patients.
• Chamomile mouth gel, Egypt (2022, published online 2020). A single-blind randomized trial in 45 chemotherapy patients split into three groups of 15: the usual symptom treatment (an antifungal gel, a numbing medicine and an anti-inflammatory spray), a 3% chamomile oral gel alone, or both together. Most patients in all groups developed mucositis. Grade 3 mucositis appeared only in the usual-treatment group (6.7%); neither chamomile group went beyond grade 2. Average pain scores did not differ significantly between groups, although pain rose more over time within the usual-treatment group.
• Chamomile tea rinse, Morocco (2025). A prospective cohort study, not a randomized trial, in 72 patients starting chemotherapy. One group used a standardized chamomile infusion as a mouthwash three times a day; the other used no mouthwash. On day 21, mucositis was present in 5.4% of the chamomile group and 26.5% of the comparison group (p = 0.016), and there were no grade 3 or worse cases in the chamomile group. After adjusting for other factors, chamomile use remained linked to lower odds of mucositis (adjusted odds ratio 0.184). Because patients were not randomly assigned, other differences between the groups could explain part of the gap; the authors themselves call for randomized trials.

A 2005 case report adds one patient outside cancer care: a person with rheumatoid arthritis whose mouth sores from methotrexate cleared after chamomile mouthwashes. A single case cannot show whether the rinse or time did the healing.

Trials of Mixtures That Contain Chamomile

Some trials tested chamomile only as one ingredient of a blend. Their results cannot be credited to chamomile alone, but they belong in the record, and they point in different directions.

• Chamomile with peppermint, stem-cell transplant, Iran (2016). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 60 patients (27 on the herbal rinse, 33 on placebo), starting one week before the transplant, three times a day for at least 30 seconds. The herbal group had shorter mucositis, lower maximum and average daily grades, less pain (p = 0.009), less dryness and less trouble swallowing. They also needed fewer extra medicines, fewer opioid painkillers (p = 0.047) and less intravenous feeding (p = 0.02), and when they did need it, for a shorter time.
• Four natural agents during head and neck chemoradiation, Italy (2017). A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase III trial of a mixture of propolis, aloe vera, calendula and chamomile. 107 patients were randomized and 104 could be assessed. Overall, 61 patients reached grade 3 mucositis, with no difference between the mixture and placebo (p = 0.65). What did predict severe mucositis was the amount of mouth lining receiving a high weekly radiation dose, and the site of the tumour. The authors concluded that the selected natural agents do not prevent mucositis. This is the second-largest blinded placebo trial involving chamomile, and like the 1996 trial it was null.
• A four-herb rinse during head and neck radiation, Iran (2023). A double-blind randomized trial in 67 patients compared a zinc sulfate rinse, a polyherbal rinse containing chamomile, peppermint oil, aloe vera and honey, a chlorhexidine rinse, and a placebo for six weeks. Both the zinc rinse and the herbal rinse significantly lowered mucositis scores and pain from weeks 2 to 7 compared with chlorhexidine or placebo; chlorhexidine did not beat placebo.

Reviews and Network Meta-Analyses

Because the individual trials are small, several groups have pooled them. A network meta-analysis is a method that compares many treatments at once, including pairs that were never tested head to head, by linking them through shared comparisons such as placebo. It can rank treatments, but the ranking is only as good as the small trials feeding it.

• Ten mouthwashes, 2020. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of 36 randomized trials with 2,594 patients looked at "intolerable" mucositis (the severe grades). Honey, chamomile, curcumin and benzydamine (an anti-inflammatory rinse) all did better than placebo. For chamomile the odds ratio was 0.09, but the 95% confidence interval ran from 0.01 to 0.52, a very wide range that reflects how few chamomile patients were in the network. Only honey was shown to beat chlorhexidine, sucralfate and povidone-iodine directly; other comparisons between rinses showed no significant difference. By ranking probability, the authors placed chamomile, honey, curcumin and benzydamine as possibly the most advantageous.
• Natural products, 2024. A network meta-analysis of 36 randomized trials with 2,083 patients found that honey reduced the overall rate of mucositis compared with standard care (relative risk 0.80) and reduced moderate-to-severe mucositis compared with placebo (relative risk 0.48). Propolis, chamomile and the plantain Plantago major also significantly reduced how often mucositis occurred. For pain, only honey and Plantago major showed a significant reduction; the abstract does not list chamomile among the products that reduced pain.
• Thirteen mouthwashes, 2025. A network meta-analysis of 36 randomized trials, which added Chinese-language studies, ranked 13 mouthwashes for preventing mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation. From best to worst the order was aloe vera juice, Chinese herbal medicine, a traditional Chinese powder (Bing Peng San), honey, a Lactobacillus probiotic, chamomile, riboflavin, a "rehabilitation solution", benzydamine, turmeric, aluminum sulfide, povidone-iodine and chlorhexidine. Chamomile came sixth. The authors state that the leading result for aloe vera still needs confirmation in larger randomized trials.
• Chamomile alone, 2022. A systematic review found six randomized trials of topical chamomile with 492 patients in total. Chamomile was effective for preventing or treating mucositis in four of the six, at concentrations from 1% to 2.5% and from once to four times a day. The reviewers noted gaps: the trials did not report the minimum age of patients, the mouth sites involved or the chemotherapy used.
• Medicinal plants, 2021. A systematic review that selected 24 of 893 articles on plants for treatment-related mucositis described chamomile as showing promising results, with less severe sores, fewer sores and less pain.
• Chamomile and cancer complications, 2023. A systematic review of 18 studies with 1,099 cancer patients, 15 of them randomized, found that chamomile in several forms reduced oral mucositis among other complications. The studies were too different to combine statistically. This review is summarized on the Skin Healing page.
• Children with cancer, 2025. A systematic review of 20 randomized trials with 1,430 children and young people included chamomile among the rinses studied. It singled out honey-based treatments as showing promising outcomes and described the evidence overall as limited, with small and varied trials, blinding problems and inconsistent reporting. The abstract gives no separate result for chamomile.

Read together, the pooled analyses lean favourable to chamomile, but they draw on the same small pool of trials, and the confidence interval in the 2020 analysis shows how little data sits behind the chamomile estimate.

What the MASCC/ISOO Guideline Says

The main international guidelines for mucositis come from the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer and the International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO). Their 2020 update covered evidence from 1,197 publications. For each treatment in each setting, the panel could issue a recommendation, a suggestion, or state that no guideline was possible because the evidence was not strong enough.

Herbal products were handled in a separate systematic review within that update, covering honey, herbal compounds, saliva stimulants, probiotics and other agents. It reviewed 49 new papers merged with 9 from the previous update. Its findings, as stated in the abstract:

• A new suggestion in favour of honey, used both on the mouth and swallowed, to prevent mucositis in people with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy.
• A new suggestion against chewing gum for preventing mucositis in children having chemotherapy.
• No guideline was possible for the other interventions reviewed. The authors wrote that numerous natural products and herbal remedies have been studied and that more research is needed.

The abstract does not name chamomile individually, so this page does not state the panel's exact wording on it. What the abstract does show is that, of the herbal and natural agents in that review, only honey received a guideline in favour. The site's Manuka Honey for Digestive Health and Sore Throat page covers honey further.

Allergy and Interaction Facts

Across the mucositis trials above, chamomile rinses were reported as well tolerated. The 1996 trial found no sign of toxicity, the 2015 transplant trial found no moderate or severe side effects, and the 2016 ice trial found no toxicity related to chamomile. The safety questions that do exist come from outside these trials.

• Daisy-family allergy. Chamomile belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy or Compositae) family, along with ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds and echinacea. People with contact allergy to plants in this family usually react on patch testing to a group of plant chemicals called sesquiterpene lactones. Allergic reactions to chamomile, including rare severe ones after contact with the mouth, are described on the main Chamomile page together with the European Medicines Agency's listing of daisy-family allergy as a contraindication. A 2020 Swedish double-blind study gave capsules of freeze-dried German chamomile tea or placebo to people with and without this allergy; none had a flare-up of healed patch-test reactions, and the authors found no evidence of a whole-body allergic skin reaction from swallowing it. That study tested swallowed tea in skin-allergic volunteers, not rinses on an ulcerated mouth.
• Warfarin. A 2006 case report describes a 70-year-old woman taking the blood thinner warfarin who was admitted to hospital with multiple internal bleeds after using chamomile tea and a chamomile body lotion for cold symptoms. The authors noted a theoretical risk because the herb is thought to contain coumarin-type compounds. A 2023 randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial in 12 healthy volunteers who were not taking warfarin found that seven days of chamomile tea (nine tea bags a day) or chamomile extract capsules did not change clotting test results (prothrombin time, the international normalized ratio and related tests). That small trial does not answer what happens in people already on warfarin, and the case report remains the reported interaction.
• Urgent signs. Mouth sores that come with fever, inability to swallow fluids, or bleeding that does not stop are signs that cancer units treat as urgent, because during chemotherapy or a transplant they can mean dehydration or an infection while the immune system is suppressed.

Decisions about adding any rinse or herb during cancer treatment belong with the treating oncology team, who know the drugs, platelet counts and infection risks involved.

What Is Still Unknown

• Whether the positive small trials hold up at scale. The two largest blinded, placebo-controlled trials involving chamomile, the 1996 trial with 164 patients and the 2017 mixture trial with 104, were both null. The positive single-herb studies had between 38 and 72 patients, none used a placebo, and the largest was not randomized.
• Which preparation. The trials used a liquid extract at 0.5% to 2%, a 3% gel, a tea infusion, chamomile frozen into ice, and blends with peppermint or other herbs. No trial compared these forms with each other in a large group.
• Which setting. Among the trials described here, the positive single-herb results come from stem-cell transplant and chemotherapy groups. For head and neck radiation, the trials here tested chamomile only inside mixtures, with one null and one positive result.
• Whether it adds anything to cooling. The 1996 trial, which added chamomile to ice cooling, found nothing; the 2016 pilot, which froze chamomile into the ice, found less mucositis than plain ice. Only a larger trial could settle which is closer to the truth.
• The guideline status. Unless larger trials are published, the MASCC/ISOO review position, in which no guideline was possible for herbal agents other than honey, reflects where the evidence stands.

Key Research Papers

1. Fidler P, Loprinzi CL, O'Fallon JR, Leitch JM, Lee JK, Hayes DL, et al. Prospective evaluation of a chamomile mouthwash for prevention of 5-FU-induced oral mucositis. Cancer. 1996;77(3):522-5. PubMed PMID: 8630960
2. Braga FT, Santos AC, Bueno PC, Silveira RC, Santos CB, Bastos JK, et al. Use of Chamomilla recutita in the Prevention and Treatment of Oral Mucositis in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Randomized, Controlled, Phase II Clinical Trial. Cancer Nurs. 2015;38(4):322-9. PubMed PMID: 25232958
3. Dos Reis PE, Ciol MA, de Melo NS, Figueiredo PT, Leite AF, Manzi Nde M. Chamomile infusion cryotherapy to prevent oral mucositis induced by chemotherapy: a pilot study. Support Care Cancer. 2016;24(10):4393-8. PubMed PMID: 27189615
4. Elhadad MA, El-Negoumy E, Taalab MR, Ibrahim RS, Elsaka RO. The effect of topical chamomile in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis: A randomized clinical trial. Oral Dis. 2022;28(1):164-172. PubMed PMID: 33290635
5. Benmoussa I, Rokki S, Hassoune S, Kably R, Alaoui AM, Sahraoui S, et al. Chamomile mouthwash for prevention of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis: A prospective cohort study in a pharmacist-led supportive care setting. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2025 (online ahead of print):10781552251401860. PubMed PMID: 41334853
6. Mazokopakis EE, Vrentzos GE, Papadakis JA, Babalis DE, Ganotakis ES. Wild chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) mouthwashes in methotrexate-induced oral mucositis. Phytomedicine. 2005;12(1-2):25-7. PubMed PMID: 15693704
7. Tavakoli Ardakani M, Ghassemi S, Mehdizadeh M, Mojab F, Salamzadeh J, Ghassemi S, et al. Evaluating the effect of Matricaria recutita and Mentha piperita herbal mouthwash on management of oral mucositis in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial. Complement Ther Med. 2016;29:29-34. PubMed PMID: 27912953
8. Marucci L, Farneti A, Di Ridolfi P, Pinnaro P, Pellini R, Giannarelli D, et al. Double-blind randomized phase III study comparing a mixture of natural agents versus placebo in the prevention of acute mucositis during chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Head Neck. 2017;39(9):1761-1769. PubMed PMID: 28560780
9. Sahebnasagh M, Aksi V, Eslami F, Lashkardoost H, Kasaian J, Golmohammadzadeh S, et al. Prevention of radiotherapy-related oral mucositis with zinc and polyherbal mouthwash: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Eur J Med Res. 2023;28(1):109. PubMed PMID: 36864527
10. Pavesi VC, Lopez TC, Martins MA, Sant'Ana Filho M, Bussadori SK, Fernandes KP, et al. Healing action of topical chamomile on 5-fluoracil induced oral mucositis in hamster. Support Care Cancer. 2011;19(5):639-46. PubMed PMID: 20424869
11. Curra M, Martins MA, Lauxen IS, Pellicioli AC, Sant'Ana Filho M, Pavesi VC, et al. Effect of topical chamomile on immunohistochemical levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in 5-fluorouracil-induced oral mucositis in hamsters. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2013;71(2):293-9. PubMed PMID: 23096219
12. Potting CM, Uitterhoeve R, Op Reimer WS, Van Achterberg T. The effectiveness of commonly used mouthwashes for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis: a systematic review. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2006;15(5):431-9. PubMed PMID: 17177899
13. Zhang X, Sun D, Qin N, Liu M, Zhang J, Li X. Comparative prevention potential of 10 mouthwashes on intolerable oral mucositis in cancer patients: A Bayesian network analysis. Oral Oncol. 2020;107:104751. PubMed PMID: 32388411
14. Lee CC, Chen YW, Kang YN, Chen JH, Chen C, Lu CY, et al. Efficacy of natural products in preventing oral mucositis resulting from cancer therapies: A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2024;199:104373. PubMed PMID: 38710295
15. Zhang Z, Song J, Li L, Yuan L. The effect of different mouthwashes to prevent oral mucositis in patients with radiotherapy and chemotherapy: a network meta-analysis. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2025;25(1):227. PubMed PMID: 40611101
16. de Lima Dantas JB, Freire TFC, Sanches ACB, Julião ELD, Medrado ARAP, Martins GB. Action of Matricaria recutita (chamomile) in the management of radiochemotherapy oral mucositis: A systematic review. Phytother Res. 2022;36(3):1115-1125. PubMed PMID: 35129844
17. Eubank PLC, Abreu LG, Violante IP, Volpato LER. Medicinal plants used for the treatment of mucositis induced by oncotherapy: a systematic review. Support Care Cancer. 2021;29(11):6981-6993. PubMed PMID: 33988743
18. Maleki M, Mardani A, Manouchehri M, Ashghali Farahani M, Vaismoradi M, Glarcher M. Effect of Chamomile on the Complications of Cancer: A Systematic Review. Integr Cancer Ther. 2023;22:15347354231164600. PubMed PMID: 37052390
19. Horhat RM, Alexandru A, Ivan CS, Varga NI, Suba MI, Ciurariu E, et al. Nutritional and Supplemental Interventions for Prevention and Treatment of Oral Mucositis in Pediatric Oncology. Nutrients. 2025;17(22):3521. PubMed PMID: 41305573
20. Elad S, Cheng KKF, Lalla RV, Yarom N, Hong C, Logan RM, et al. MASCC/ISOO clinical practice guidelines for the management of mucositis secondary to cancer therapy. Cancer. 2020;126(19):4423-4431. PubMed PMID: 32786044
21. Yarom N, Hovan A, Bossi P, Ariyawardana A, Jensen SB, Gobbo M, et al. Systematic review of natural and miscellaneous agents, for the management of oral mucositis in cancer patients and clinical practice guidelines - part 2: honey, herbal compounds, saliva stimulants, probiotics, and miscellaneous agents. Support Care Cancer. 2020;28(5):2457-2472. PubMed PMID: 32056010
22. Murphy BA. Clinical and economic consequences of mucositis induced by chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. J Support Oncol. 2007;5(9 Suppl 4):13-21. PubMed PMID: 18046994
23. Segal R, Pilote L. Warfarin interaction with Matricaria chamomilla. CMAJ. 2006;174(9):1281-2. PubMed PMID: 16636327
24. Schwartz JA, Romeiser JL, Kimura R, Senzel L, Galanakis D, Halper D, et al. Effect of chamomile intake on blood coagulation tests in healthy volunteers: a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. Perioper Med (Lond). 2023;12(1):51. PubMed PMID: 37730613
25. Lundh K, Gruvberger B, Persson L, Hindsén M, Zimerson E, Svensson Å, et al. Oral provocation of patients allergic to sesquiterpene lactones with German chamomile tea to demonstrate possible systemic allergic dermatitis. Contact Dermatitis. 2020;83(1):8-18. PubMed PMID: 32087031

PubMed Topic Searches

1. PubMed: chamomile and mucositis
2. PubMed: Matricaria and mucositis
3. PubMed: chamomile and stomatitis
4. PubMed: MASCC/ISOO mucositis guidelines

Connections

• Chamomile — Benefits Deep Dive — the hub for the chamomile benefit articles
• Chamomile — the main topic page, compounds and safety
• Chamomile for Skin Healing — the eczema, wound and radiation-skin research
• Manuka Honey for Digestive Health and Sore Throat — honey, the one natural agent with a MASCC/ISOO suggestion
• Calendula for Oral and Throat Health — another daisy-family mouth rinse
• Aloe Vera for Oral and Dental Health — the rinse ranked first in the 2025 network meta-analysis
• Myrrh for Oral Health — a resin used in traditional mouth rinses
• Canker Sores (Aphthous Ulcers) — ordinary mouth ulcers, a different condition
• Ginger for Nausea Relief — another chemotherapy side effect studied with an herb

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