Potion or Poison? Lemon balm

Abstract

SUMMARY MESSAGE: Evidence to date supports mild relaxant and cognitive enhancing actions by lemon balm in healthy persons, and results from one small trial suggest similar effects in Alzheimer’s patients. However, further studies involving much larger numbers of patients are needed. Evidence is less convincing for its efficacy in digestive conditions or herpes simplex. As with all herbal medicines, different lemon balm products vary in their pharmaceutical quality, and the implications of this for dosage, efficacy and safety should be considered.