Lemongrass

↑About Lemongrass

Lemongrass, sometimes written lemon grass is a genus (Cymbopogon sp.) of species of grass used as an herb. Native to India, lemongrass is widely grown throughout south and southeast Asia, the middle east, and central America. Lemongrass has a strong aroma resembling lemon.

Lemongrass has an aroma closely resembling that of lemons, as well as other lemon-scented herbs such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, and lemon myrtle. Although none of these plants are closely related to lemongrass, they contain many of the same chemical constituents, including citral, citronellol and geraniol.

As a dried herb, lemongrass is a common ingredient in herbal teas and is also sometimes blended with true teas. It can be blended with green or black tea to produce a lemony aroma without adding the sourness resulting from adding lemon juice. As a fresh herb, it is also used in cooking, especially in Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian cuisine.

Health Benefits & Medicinal Uses

There is significant evidence pointing to anti-cancer, antiviral, and antifungal activity of the essential oil of lemongrass. There is also some evidence of analgesic (pain-relieving) effects. However, as with many herbal teas, human studies of the health effects of lemongrass are sparse. It remains uncertain the degree to which these benefits carry through to tea drinkers.

A mixture of chemicals, called citral, found in lemongrass as well as lemon balm, lemon verbena, and also lemon and other citrus fruit, was found to induce cell death in cancer cells, leading people to consume lemongrass tea as a treatment for cancer.[1] In vitro experiments have found the essential oil of lemongrass was shown to have strong antiviral activity, both against human viruses[2] and plant viruses such as tobacco mosaic virus.[3] In vitro studies have also found significant antifungal activity.[4]


One study on rats found an infusion of lemongrass leaves to have analgesic (pain-killing) properties due to the chemical myrcene; this chemical was found to act by a mechanism different from that of aspirin-like drugs.[5]

As many of the active ingredients in lemongrass are shared in common among other lemon-scented herbs, it is likely that the health benefits of lemongrass overlap somewhat with these other herbs.

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