Overture

Nowadays, open-access scientific articles are gaining their weight, however, wide range of society still do not read them, because it is difficult to read…

In this post, I would make the notes on the open-access scientific article “Citrus limon (Lemon) Phenomenon—A Review of the Chemistry, Pharmacological Properties, Applications in the Modern Pharmaceutical, Food, and Cosmetics Industries, and Biotechnological Studies” written by Polish scientists.

You may freely find the full article available on web (external link): original full article about lemons

Open access article are given for a wide range of audience, so there is a great way to switch from nonsenses on yellow pages to valuable sources of information!

Chew the information by yourself, give it a try, take the power!

Lemon (Citrus limon) peel

What is known about it?

Biologically active compounds, found in lemon peel:

group of compounds	some examples
flavonoids	neohesperidin, naringin and hesperidin, eriocitrin
limonoids	limonin
phenolic acids	dihydroferulic acid
carboxylic acids	citric acid, galacturonic acid, homocitric acid, isocitric acid
coumarins	citropten, scopoletin
furanocoumarins	bergamottin
amino acids	L-alanine, L-arginine, L-asparagine, L-aspartic acid, dimethylglycine, glutamic acid, L-phenylalanine, DL-proline, L-tryptophan, L-tyrosine, L-valine
carbohydrates	fructose, glucose, sucrose,
vitamins and theirs metabolites	choline, pantothenic acid, vitamin C
macroelements	calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium

Biological activity of lemon peel raw materials

• Anti-Allergic Effect
  • aqueous extracts of lemon peels potentially suppressed inflammation like anti-inflammatory drugs
• Antidiabetic Effect
  • reduction in blood glucose, reduction in wound healing time, and an increase in tissue growth rate, collagen synthesis, and protein and hydroxyproline levels

Lemon peel in food industry

• Rich in pectin
  • used as a gelling agent, including the production of jams and jellies, and as thickener, texturizer, emulsifier and stabilizer in dairy products
• Enhances the flavor of liqueurs
  • e.g., “limoncello”, the traditional liqueur of Sicily

Lemon peel in cosmetology

• peel
  • masking, skin conditioning
• peel wax
  • skin conditioning
• peel extract
  • emollient, skin conditioning, skin protecting, tonic
• peel oil
  • masking, perfuming, skin conditioning
• peel powder
  • absorbent, viscosity controlling
• peel water
  • skin conditioning

Due to jellifying properties of lemon peel, its pectin is used in pharmaceutical,
dental and cosmetic formulations

The question about pesticides

It is obvious that for the maximum beneficial effect of lemon peel in food or cosmetics the product should be free of pesticides. However, scientific literature also shows that hundreds of pesticides are available (not at once, of course:)) to use in the conventional farming and the lemons are not an exclusion.

How to deal with pesticides in lemons and what we know about it?

This would be a task for the upcoming week and hope to answer the question “How to deal with pesticides in lemon peel?” next week, on October 16, 2020, in Fridays rubrics Al’chemist on Fridays.

Stay tuned!

The conclusions drawn and the assessment of the health benefits/risks are restricted to information appearing in the scientific literature.

References:

1. KOBA, K., et al. Antibacterial Activities of the Buds Essential Oil of Syzygium Aromaticum (L.) Merr. & Perry from Togo. Journal of Biologically Active Products from Nature, 2011, vol. 1, no. 1. pp. 42-51.
2. How Drinking Grapefruit Juice Could Increase Your Cervical Mucus by Lindsay Meisel, 2017, online source: https://www.avawomen.com/avaworld/grapefruit-juice-cervical-mucus/
3. How to Increase Your Fertility by Janet Stephens, book’s online source: https://books.google.pl/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hXrgDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=grapefruit+juice+fertility+cervical+mucus&ots=h-9d6b_M9k&sig=TjAHHTFK7GS9lKCLxW-OKhDQnbA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=grapefruit%20juice%20fertility%20cervical%20mucus&f=false

1. Klimek-Szczykutowicz, M., Szopa, A., & Ekiert, H. (2020). Citrus limon (lemon) Phenomenon—A review of the chemistry, pharmacological properties, applications in the modern pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries, and biotechnological studies. Plants, 9(1), 119, available online (external link): full text of the articles