Lemon Grass oil น้ำมันหอมระเหยตะไคร้ เป็นสมุนไพรชนิดหนึ่งที่มีกลิ่นหอม มีถิ่นกำเนิดในประเทศอินเดีย เป็นพืชที่สามารถปลูกได้ตลอดทั้งปีมีคุณสมบัติในการฆ่าเชื้อจุลินทรีย์และแบคทีเรีย ช่วยป้องกันการระบาดของเชื้อโรคและทั้งแก้ไขด้วย ช่วยกระตุ้นการทำงานของระบบต่างๆในร่างกาย ช่วยบำรุ่งร่างกาย ช่วยทำให้ร่างกายกระชุ่มกระชวยขึ้น ระงับกลิ่นเหงื่อไคล โดยเฉพาะผู้ที่มีเหงื่อออกมากบริเวณเท้า น้ำมันตะไคร้ช่วยรักษาสมดุลย์ของน้ำมันบริเวณเท้าและขจัดกลิ่นอับบริเวณเท้าให้หมดไปได้ บรรเทาอาการปวดศรีษะ กลิ่นของน้ำมันตะไคร้ยังใช้ขับไล่แมลงได้ดี เช่น แมลงวันและยุง ช่วยกำจัดเห็บและหมัดให้หมดไปจากสุนัขหรือแมวได้
What is Lemongrass Essential Oil?
Besides being a delicious citrusy seasoning in Thai cooking, most of us would never guess that this delicious thready grass holds so much healing power inside its fibrous stalks.
Surprisingly, lemongrass essential oil is used as aromatherapy to relieve muscle pain, externally to kill bacteria, ward off insects, and reduce body aches, and internally to help your digestive system. It can also be used for flavoring tea and soups, and it adds fragrance to cosmetics, soaps, and homemade deodorizers.
Lemongrass is an herb that belongs to the grass family of Poaceae. Lemongrass oil has a light and fresh lemony smell with earthy undertones. It is stimulating, relaxing, soothing, and balancing.
The compounds that make up lemongrass essential oil are known to have anti-fungal, insecticidal, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Lemongrass may prevent the growth of some bacteria and yeast and it has antioxidant properties.(1) It contains substances that are used to alleviate muscle pain, reduce fever, and to stimulate uterus and menstrual flow.
Lemongrass is also known by Cymbopogon; it is a genus of about 55 species of grasses. Lemongrass grows in dense clumps that can grow 6 feet in height and 4 feet in width. It is native to warm and tropical regions, such as India, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. It is used as a medicinal herb in India and it is common in Asian cuisine. In African and South American countries, it is popularly used for making tea.
Lemongrass Essential Oil Benefits
Lemongrass essential oil is a source of essential vitamins such as vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, folate and vitamin C. It also provides essential minerals such as magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, copper, potassium, calcium, zinc and iron.
Some of the most common lemongrass essential oil benefits are:
Relieves headaches
Reduces stomach aches
Alleviates abdominal and muscle pain
Kills germs
Acts as an astringent
Reduces fever
Boosts energy
Eases digestive tract spasms
Studies show that a particular essential oil may provide a solid defense against various cancers. This essential oil, which contains high levels of an aromatic terpene known as linalool, has been utilized throughout history in the treatment of various health conditions. What’s even more exciting is that some of the latest science suggests that it’s at least as effective as chemotherapy in targeting cancer cells – without the harmful toxic effects of chemotherapy.
Long prized for its aroma-therapeutic qualities, lemongrass is loaded with key nutrient compounds that present powerful antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer potential. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology & Research outlines the dozens of unique phytoconstituents present in lemongrass, including a diverse array of terpenes, ketones, esters, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds.
The Long List of Health Benefits of Lemongrass Essential Oil
The paper also highlights the many scientifically-confirmed benefits of lemongrass, including its ability to destroy harmful pathogens, promote healthy stools, inhibit damaging fungi, reduce inflammation, protect against DNA damage, guard against malaria, neutralize damaging free radicals, balance cholesterol levels, modulate healthy sleep patterns, and so much more.
“Studies indicate that Cymbopogon citratus (a variety of lemongrass) possesses various pharmacological activities such as anti-amoebic, antibacterial, antidiarrheal, antifilarial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties,” reported the authors. “Various other effects such as antimalarial, antimutagenicity, antimycobacterial, antioxidants, hypoglycemic, and neurobehavioral have also been studied.”
Lemongrass Fights More than a Dozen Different Types of Cancers
But where lemongrass really seems to shine, particularly in light of the growing cancer epidemic, is in its ability to destroy cancer cells. A 2009 study published in the journal Chemico-Biological Interactions revealed that lemongrass essential oil is effective in targeting at least 12 different human cancer cell lines. Animal trials show that direct injection of lemongrass essential oil inhibits cancer tumors in a dose-dependent way, meaning the higher the dose of the oil, the better the outcome.
When administered at a dosage of 200 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) concentration, lemongrass essential oil was shown to inhibit both ascitic (in the fluid of the abdominal cavity) and solid tumors of Ehrlich Ascites (a type of tumor cell line) by 97.34 percent and 57.83 percent, respectively. For Sarcoma-180 tumor cells, the same dosage resulted in ascitic and solid tumor inhibition of 94.07 percent and 36.97 percent, respectively.
