AHP Monographs – Lemon Balm Leaf; Lemon Balm Aerial Parts

Lemon Balm Leaf – Lemon Balm Aerial Parts
Monographs Without Borders

The Lemon Balm Leaf and Lemon Balm Aerial Parts Monograph and Therapeutic Compendium is the first of a series of publications planned in AHP’s Monographs Without Borders initiative. This was a joint effort of AHP and researchers at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashad, Iran with special contributions by Dr. Mary Hardy of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine, San Diego, CA. As with all AHP monographs, this was reviewed by a multidisciplinary cadre of experts representing traditional herbal medicine, botany, chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacology, and lemon balm cultivation and specifically included experts in Iran where lemon balm is considered a very important herbal drug.

Lemon balm is one of the most underutilized and perhaps underappreciated botanicals. It has been used for relieving anxiety, digestive upset, nervous conditions, spasms, sleeplessness, and headaches, among other uses, some of which have been forgotten or neglected, for several hundred years. Among these uses, its effects on relieving nervousness, anxiety, and the many conditions that follow these two, reigns supreme in the traditional literature. In modern investigations, its topical use for relieving herpes outbreaks is well-established in human clinical trials.

AHP’s Monographs Without Borders is meant to facilitate scientific cooperation with researchers in countries with whom the US may otherwise have challenging relationships, in this case with Iran. Far from being political, Monographs Without Borders is meant to highlight that the use and love of plant medicines can serve to unite us all as they have done historically through ancient trade routes and medical development. The team of researchers from Mashad University developed a comprehensive review of lemon balm in 2017 (Shakeri et al.). They generously allowed us to build upon what they began into the AHP-style monograph.
Development of the AHP Lemon Balm Monograph and Therapeutic Compendium was made possible by the generous contributions of:

EuroPharma USA, Green Bay, WI
Herb Pharm, Williams , OR
Joanna Miller, Bonny Doon, CA.
Natreon Inc., New Brunswick, NJ
Nature’s Way, Green Bay, WI
Planetary Herbals, Scotts Valley, CA.
Traditional Medicinals, Sebastopol, CA
Vitality Works, Albuquerque, NM