Griffith University researchers have found native lemon grass, used by Indigenous Australians as traditional medicine, has the potential to relieve headaches and migraines. The findings of the five-year study were reported in the most recent edition of the academic journal Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Research by Professor Lyn Griffiths, Dr Darren Grice and Dr Kelly Rogers has scientifically proven the lemon grass plant Cymbopogon ambiguus may be as good as aspirin when it comes to treating headaches.

Headaches and migraines cause abnormal activities in our bodies, such as altering our serotonin levels and interfering with the normal function of our blood platelets. Platelets clump together for wound repair, but they can also form life-threatening internal clots starving the brain of oxygen and causing strokes.

The researchers tested extracts of the plant on human blood platelets and one fraction showed strong biological activity caused by the compound eugenol in the native lemon grass plant. The compound showed similar activity to aspirin in that it inhibited platelets clumping together and the releasing serotonin. Serotonin regulates mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory, learning and has alterations in migraine.

Courtesy of Griffith University

More research on headaches

First Published March 2010

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