Lemongrass for headache and migraine relief
One of the most common medicinal uses of lemongrass traditionally has been for headache relief.
Now it’s been proven to be at least as effective as aspirin – only safer. A five year study of plants used in traditional medicine recently reported in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine that lemongrass shows similar activity to aspirin in treating headaches and migraines.
Lemongrass as digestive aid
Drinking lemongrass tea or eating foods prepared with the herb promotes digestion and provides relief from flatulence. It also helps the body eliminate toxic substances including cleansing of the kidney, pancreas, liver and bladder.
Lemongrass has natural antimicrobial properties, helping the body fight off bacterial, fungal and viral infections. As an antipyretic, lemongrass helps reduce fevers from colds and flu. That’s how lemongrass also became known as fever grass.
Lemongrass fights cancer?
New research has found even more impressive benefits from the plant. Perhaps most exciting to date is a report from researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel who discovered during in vitro testing that the compound citral found in lemongrass actually causes cancer cells to self destruct – without harming healthy cells – at a concentration equivalent to a cup of lemongrass tea.
The results have been promising enough that even many conventional doctors now recommend cancer patients drink several mugs of hot lemongrass tea on days they receive radiation and chemotherapy treatments.