Lemongrass Essential Oil: Benefits, Uses and Chemistry
Lemongrass, popularly known as citronella grass is a member of the Poaceae family , the strong lemon fragrance, a predominant feature of this grass, and due to its ability to reduce fever, Lemongrass earned the name “fever grass” in some cultures that made “fever teas” from Lemongrass leaves. The plant is a tall (up to 1.8 m), rhizomatous, perennial grass. Leaves are strap-like up to 2.5 cm wide, 90 cm long, bright bluish-green and glabrous.
It belongs to the genus Cymbopogon constitutes of approximately 140 species that show widespread growth across the semi-temperate and tropical regions of Asian, American and African continents. Australia and Europe are home to only a few species of lemongrass. It is believed that news about the Lemongrass plant and its therapeutic essential oils began to spread quickly in 1905. A Sri Lankan researcher named J.F. Jovit acquired several “Kochin Sera” plants (Cymbopogon citrates) from South India and planted them at a farm in order to conduct research. Lemongrass would eventually be commercially cultivated in Florida and Haiti in 1947.
A Little Bit Chemistry
Lemongrass essential oil (LEO) consists mainly mainly terpenes, alcohols, ketones, aldehyde and esters. Phytochemicals include: citral a, citral b, nerol, limonene, linalool, geraniol, and many other chemicals.
Citral is well known for its distinct, acceptable, and lemon-like pleasant odor. It is a main component of citrus fruit's peel oil for example in orange peel. Citral has been used as natural ingredient and preservative in food and beverages for its passionate lemon aroma and flavor. Essential oils containing citral have shown antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiparasitic characteristics.
Its pleasant fragrance makes it suitable for skincare and oily hair products including soaps, creams, deodorants, shampoos, and perfume. Study by (Thien et al., 2021) proved that incorporation of LEO into two types of cosmetic products (shampoo and body wash) via direct mixing, rather than emulsion forming with base oils or emulsifiers, gave products better color stability. Furthermore, many research indicated that LEO is used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions.
Besides essential oil, because of its strong scent and low concentration of soluble phytochemicals lemongrass hydrosol becomes a great candidate ingredient to be used making the skincare products. Lemongrass hydrosol can be directly used as facial and hair spray, and used to make lotions, shampoos and creams.
Ways to Extract
To gain this lemony scent of LEO with its uplifting and refreshing, the most popular method for the extraction is steam distillation.
Another ways to extract lemongrass essential oil include solvent extraction and tincture.
Benefits of Lemongrass Oil and Hydrosol
Lemongrass essential oil and its hydrosol show a wide spectrum of biological activities, offers numerous health benefits, and strengthens immune system (physical and physiological), which are as follows:
1. Antimicrobial:
Lemongrass extracts exhibits antimicrobial potency against Streptococcus mutans and thus used to prevent tooth decay. Study by (Kemthong,2018) proved that oral spray formulations using an lemongrass oil showed significant inhibition results even at a high cell density of bacteria. It is used as mouth washes to treat plaque gingivitis to maintain inter dental hygiene pre-procedural rinsing for controlling infection and for maintaining the implant (Rajesvari , 2013).
2. Anti-depressant:
Depression is a growing problem of the modern world and use of indigenous medicines is welcome in its treatment. It was proved that of lemon grass essential oil has significant anti-depressant activity comparable to imipramine (Sujataet al., 2014). The Study done by (Darshpreetet al., 2020) demonstrated that lemongrass oil attenuated the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)-induced depression in mice, by reduction of oxidative–nitrosamine stress in the brain.
3. Easing pain:
The citral in lemongrass essential oil may help ease pain as it relieves inflammation. According to (Meenapriya and Jothi , 2017) study on people with rheumatoid arthritis, topical lemongrass oil decreased their arthritis pain. On average, pain levels were gradually reduced from 80 to 50 percent within 30 days.
4. Anti-inflammatory and antifungal:
Study by (Mohamed et al., 2014) indicated that lemongrass essential oil has a noteworthy potential for the development of drugs for the treatment of fungal infections and skin inflammation, and these proprieties attributed to the presence of compounds citral and geranial.
References:
Darshpreet K., Dinakar S., Amarjot K. G.and Thakur G. S., 2020. Antidepressant-like effect of essential oil of cymbopogon flexuosus ina chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression model in mice. Plant Archives. 20 (1): 3849-3854.
Kemthong ,M.,2018.Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemongrass Oil) Oral Sprays as Inhibitors of Mutans Streptococci Biofilm Formation.Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 12(12): ZC06-ZC12.
Meenapriya ,M. and Jothi , P., 2017. Effect of lemongrass oil on rheumatoid arthritis.Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research 9(2):237-239
Mohamed N., B., Mohamed A. F., Kameli , A. , 2014. Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil as a potent anti-inflammatory and antifungal drugs.Libyan Journal of Medicine 9(1):25431.
Rajesvari R, Lakshmi T. Lemon grass oil for improvement of oralhealth. Dental Hypotheses. 2013; 4: 115.
Shruti S.R. and Padma, T., 2015.Lemon Grass.Int. J. Pharm. Sci. Rev. Res., 35(2),162-167.
Sujata D., Manali M., Swapnil D., Pallavi A., Huma K., 2014.Evaluation of anti-depressant effect of lemon grass(Cymbopogon citratus) in albino mice. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology.3(4):656-660.
Suryawanshi1,M.A., Mane, V.B. and Kumbha, G.B. 2016.Methodology to extract essential oils from lemongrassleaves: solvent extraction approach.International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology.3(8):1775-1780.
Tran, Thien Hien, Tran, Thi Kim Ngan, Ngo, Thi Cam Quyen, Pham, Tri Nhut, Bach, Long Giang, Phan, Nguyen Quynh Anh and Le, Thi Hong Nhan. 2021. "Color and composition of beauty products formulated with lemongrass essential oil: Cosmetics formulation with lemongrass essential oil" Open Chemistry, 19(1): 820-829.
Yeter Y. and Emine, A., 2015. Comparative morphological and anatomical characteristics of the species known as lemongrass (limonotu): Melissa officinalis L., Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf, and Aloysia citriodora Palau. Journal of Pharmacy of Istanbul University 45(1):29-37.
