Tanglad

Common name: Lemongrass

Scientific name: Cymbopogon flexuosus

Tanglad is a tufted and perennial herb widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics yeilds aromatic oil. It designates two different species, East Indian (Cymbopogon flexuosus) and West Indian (Cymbopogon citratus).[1] Leaves grow to a length of up to 1 meter, about 1to 1.5 centimeters wide, scabrous, flat, long-acuminate, and smooth. Panicles are 30 to 80 centimeters long, interrupted below; the branches and branchlets somewhat nodding. Perfect spikelets are linear-lanceolate, pointed, not awned, and about 6 millimeters long.[2] The inflorescence is a loose, nodding panicle, about 60 cm long and reddish to russet in colour. The pedicels (stalks of the spikelets) are tinged with purple.[12]

Active Constituents:

• Their leaves contain up to 1.5% (d.wt) essential oils with a typical lemon-like aroma, consisting mainly of citral (a mixture of the isomeric acyclic monoterpene aldehydes geranial and neral).[5]
• Distillation of fresh plant yeilds lemongrass oil, verbena oil, or Indian molissa oil.[2]
• Main constituents of oil are citral about 75%- 85%.[3]
• Other constituents in oil are myrcene(0.46%), methyl heptanene(1.50%), geraniol(5%), citronellal(0.37%), limonene(2.42%), linalool (1.34%), geraniol(5%), citronellol, nerol(2.20%).[3]
• Leaves and roots have yielded alkaloids, saponin, a-sitosterol, terpenes, alcohol, ketone, flavonoids, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and sugars.[2]
• Plant yields flavonoids and phenolic compounds--luteolin, isoorientin 2'-O-rhamnoside, quercetin, kaempferol, and apiginin.[2]

Traditional Uses:

• The culms (stems) of lemon grass are widely used in teas and other beverages, herbal medicines, and to flavour southeast Asian cuisine, particularly fish stews and sauces.
• The oil, mixed with equal amounts of coconut oil, is used as a liniment for back pains, rheumatic complains, neuralgia, sprains and other painful afflictions.[2]
• In Brazil, it is used to induced sleep.[6]
• In Caribbean, it is called fever grass due to its controlling fever effect.[6]
• In India, used to treat ringworm.[6]
• Roots of the plant used as diuretic.[2]
• It also has insect-repelling properties, so is worth including in homemade bugbanes.[6]
• It does contain a mild sedative and shows a power against fungal infections, such as athletes foot and ringworm, when taken as a tea or applied in compress.
• This grass is usually used in the form of infusion, four ounces of grass to one pint of boiling water. It is an excellent stomachic to children; of much use in typhoid fevers; given with black pepper it is useful in disordered menstruation and in the congestive and neuralgic forms of dysmenorrhoea. It is carminative and tonic to the intestinal mucous membrane, useful in vomiting and diarrhoea.[4]

Pharmacological Activity:

• Smooth Muscle, Lemongrass oil had a strong spasmolytic effect on electrically stimulated smooth muscle of a guinea-pig in vitro (A2; Lis-Balchin et al., 1996a).[7]
• Uterus, there was a decrease in the spontaneous contraction in the rat when lemongrass oil and its main component were applied in vitro (A3; A4; Lis-Balchin and Hart, 1997b).[7]
• Antibacterial Activity: The study have shown antibacterial activity, comparable to penicillin. Related values: There was a strong action against 18/25 different bacterial species and 20/20 Listeria monocytogenes varieties (Al; Lis-Balchin and Deans 1997).[7]
• Anti-fungal Activity: Various studies has shown acivity against C. albicans, C. pseudotropicalis, Mycrosporum gypseum and A. niger. Related values (A1) (% inhibition): Aspergillus niger 90%, Fusarium culmorum 69%. Rectified lemongrass oil was effective against 5/5 fungi (Maruzella, 1960). Lemongrass oil was effective against tinea pedis and dundruff (Asre 1994).[7]
• Gastroprotective: Study evaluated C. citratus leaves essential oil for gastroprotection against injuries caused by necrotizing agents (absolute alcohol and aspirin) in rodents. Results showed EOCC reduces gastric damage induced by ethanol, in part, through mechanisms involving endogenous prostaglandins.
• Antioxidant / Hepatoprotective: Study evaluated the effect of C. citratus against carbon tetrachloride- mediated hepatic oxidative damage in rats. Results showed a hepatoprotective effect attributed to its antioxidant and free radical scavenging property.[2]
• Lowers cholesterol: researchers at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine at theUniversity of Wisconsin gave men with high level of blood cholesterol 140 mg of lemongrass oil daily for nine days. Thirty-six percent of the men had a ten percent drop in serumm cholesterol.[8]
• Mosquito repellent: Study on the mosquito repellency properties of volatile oils derived from lemongrass (C citratus), citronella grass (cymbopobon nadus) and May chang (Litsea cubeba) against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefascitus showed no significant difference on repellency.[2]
• Anti-inflammatory: Lemon grass oil applied to the joints will relieve the pain felt in arthritic joint conditions. It is a symptomatic treatment, that is it takes the pain out of the joint but does not do anything to attack the underlying condition.
• Peripheral analgesic: The peripheral analgesic effect of myrcene was confirmed by testing a standard commercial preparation on the hyperalgesia induced by prostaglandin in the rat paw test and upon the contortions induced by intraperitoneal injections of iloprost in mice. In contrast to the central analgesic effect of morphine, myrcene did not cause tolerance on repeated injection in rats.[9]
• Neurobehavioral Effects: Study of myrcene in rats suggests anxiolytic activity. Study on essential oil produced marked CNS depression in mice, similar to chlorpromazine effect. Also it increase sleepness time, similar to thiopental effect.[2]
• Anti-tumoral: Studied showed a-myrcene posseses antimutagenic activity in mammary cells. Plant compounds, a-limonene and geraniol showed inhibition of liver and intestinal mucous membrane cancer in mice. Study in Thailand showed inhibition of colorectal neoplasia in mice. Inhibitory effects on early phase hepatocarcinogenesis in rats after initiation with diethylnitrosamine.[2]

Toxicity:

• A herbal tea (called an abafado in Brazil) prepared from the dried leaves of lemongrass was administered tohealthy volunteers. Following a single dose or 2 weeks of daily oral administration, the abafado produced no changes in serum glucose, urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides, lipids, total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, LDH and CPK. Urine analysis (proteins, glucose, ketones, bilirubins, occult blood and urobilinogen) as well as EEG and EKG showed no abnormalities. There were slight elevations of direct bilirubin and of amylase in some of the volunteers, but without any clinical manifestation. These results taken together indicate that lemongrass as used in Brazilian folk medicine is not toxic for humans. The eventual hypnotic effect of lemongrass was investigated in 50 volunteers who ingested samples of lemongrass and a placebo under double-blind conditions. The parameters (i.e. sleep induction, sleep quality, dream recall and rewakening) did not show any effect of lemon-grass as compared to the placebo. Eighteen subjects with high scores of trait-anxiety were submitted to an anxiety-inducing test following taking lemon-grass or placebo under double-blind conditions. Their anxiety levels were similar, indicating that the abafado of the plant does not have anxiolytic properties. It is concluded that lemongrass, one of the most popular Brazilian herbal medicines, used for its alleged CNS-depressant effects, is atoxic but lacks hypnotic or anxiolytic properties.[10]
• The essential oil should not be taken internally by children, women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, or people with liver or kidney disease. There are reports of the following cases: burning sensation(s), skin irritation, discomfort, rash, and lowered blood glucose.[11]

References:

1. Anil Kumar, 2010, Medicinal Plants, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=QiAu1c8YGbQC&pg=PA354&dq=lemongrass+medicinal+use&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BqbPU8PoOJbcoASj9oC4AQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lemongrass%20medicinal%20use&f=false,
2. http://stuartxchange.com/Tanglad.html
3. Baby P. Skaria, P.P. Joy, S. Mathew, et al., 2007, Aromatic Plant, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=e68EbGOCayAC&pg=PA95&dq=lemongrass&hl=en&sa=X&ei=crTPU9PsKsjeoASLxIKgCg&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lemongrass&f=falses
4. By Dr. Douglas Schar, 2010, http://doctorschar.com/archives/lemon-grass-cymbopogon-citrullus/
5. Efrain Lewinsohn, Nativ Dudai, Yaakov Tadmor, Irena Katzir, Uzi Ravid, Eli Putievsky and Daniel M. Joel, 1998, “Histochemical Localization of Citral Accumulation in Lemongrass Leaves (Cymbopogon citratus(DC.) Stapf., Poaceae).”, Annals of Botany Company, http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/81/1/35.short
6. By Karan Davis Cutler, Kathleen Fisher, Suzanne DeJohn, National Gardening Association, 2010, Herb Gardening for Dummies, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=NGRyVqNN03EC&pg=PA301&dq=traditional+use+of+lemongrass&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kmHQU82kOMLFigLs4YHoCw&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=traditional%20use%20of%20lemongrass&f=false
7. By Maria Lis-Balchin, 2006, Aromatherapy Science: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=rGQps9fQX1YC&pg=PA235&dq=traditional+use+of+lemongrass&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kmHQU82kOMLFigLs4YHoCw&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=traditional%20use%20of%20lemongrass&f=false
8. By Earl Mindell, 1998, Earl Mindell's Soy Miracle, http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=jEHi85d-BgUC&pg=PA104&dq=traditional+use+of+lemongrass&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kmHQU82kOMLFigLs4YHoCw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=traditional%20use%20of%20lemongrass&f=false
9. Berenice B. Lorenzettia, Gloria E.P. Souzab, Silvio J. Sartic, David S. Filhoc, Sergio H. Ferriera, 1991, “Myrcene mimics the peripheral analgesic activity of lemongrass tea.”, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/037887419190187I
10. Joserobeto Leite, Maria De Lourdes V. Seabra, Eliana Maluf, Katia Assolant, Deborah Suchecki, Sergio Tufik, Sergio Klepacz, 2002, “Pharmacology of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf). III. Assessment of eventual toxic, hypnotic and anxiolytic effects on humans,” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0378874186900747
11. Lemongrass uses, health benefits and side-effects, http://www.medicalhealthguide.com/herb/lemongrass.htm   
12. http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/cymbopogon-citratus-lemon-grass            

Compiled by: Ma. Lee C. Pasaporte