Abstract

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF ANXIOLYTIC EFFECTS OF PURE LEMON JUICE VERSUS RECONSTITUTED LEMON DRINK

Sana Sarfaraz*, Tanveer Bano, Ayesha Sabir, Iqra Qureshi, Saba Jawed, Rabia Amir

ABSTRACT

Background: Anxiety is one of the most common complain suffered by majority of population in response to stress, apprehension and various other environmental factors. It is behavioral mechanism to cope with difficult situations. In past few years use of anxiolytic drugs have increased a lot however herbal remedy is safer, cheaper and easily available, so nowadays there is more focus on screening nutrients used in everyday life. Objective: The current study is based on evaluating the anxiolytic effects of pure lemon juice and lemon drink reconstituted from powdered forms available in market. Methodology: The present study has been conducted on albino mice of either sex weighing between 18-24gm. The mice were equally divided into 4 groups (control, Standard, pure lemon juice and reconstituted lemon drink). Head dip method was used for evaluating the anxiety. Result: Our study revealed pure lemon juice had marked anxiolytic activity (24 head dips) in comparison to control (50 head dips) and standard drug lorazepam (22 head dips) where as reconstituted lemon drink had mild anxiolytic effect (32 head dips). Conclusion: From above study we can conclude that lemon possesses essential oils and flavanoids due to which anxiolytic effect is observed. As non-pharmacological therapy lemon juice can be incorporated in diet of people who suffer from anxiety. Since it is a drink commonly used in every day life it will not have any harmful effects and will be better than allopathic anxiolytic drugs which have number of adverse effects associated with them.

Keywords: Anxiolytic, lemon juice, reconstituted drink, Herbal.