Drug & supplement interaction

Lemongrass + Simvastatin

Simvastatin brand name: Zocor.

Moderate Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated September 2026
The bottom line Moderate

Simvastatin falls into 2 drug categories that Lemongrass can interact with; the most serious is rated moderate. Theoretically, lemongrass might decrease the metabolism of CYP3A4 substrates.

Read the full interaction report
SeverityModerate
LikelihoodPossible
Interactions2
EvidenceD
What do Severity, Likelihood & Evidence mean?
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Interaction report

Lemongrass and Simvastatin

These two interact in 2 distinct ways. Each one is explained separately below.

Why Are There 2 Interactions?

Lemongrass interacts with whole categories of medication. Simvastatin falls into 2 of those categories, so it can interact with Lemongrass in 2 different ways. We’ve listed each one below — your overall risk is driven by the most serious of them (Moderate).

Moderate

CYTOCHROME P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) SUBSTRATES

1 of 2

Why this applies to Simvastatin

Simvastatin falls under CYTOCHROME P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) SUBSTRATES — the group Lemongrass interacts with.

Theoretically, lemongrass might decrease the metabolism of CYP3A4 substrates.
Animal research shows that lemongrass and its constituent citral inhibit CYP3A4.
Severity Moderate Likelihood Possible Evidence D

Interaction has been documented in animal or in lab research, or the interaction has been documented in humans but is limited to case reports or conflicting clinical research exists.

Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS
Dr. Brian Staiger explains PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist

Here's the basic idea: your body relies on an enzyme called CYP3A4 to break down and clear simvastatin. Lab and animal studies suggest lemongrass (and its lemony compound citral) may slow that enzyme down. If that happened in people, simvastatin could build up in your blood and hit harder than intended.

With statins, more drug in your system can mean a higher chance of muscle aches, weakness, or, rarely, more serious muscle breakdown, plus occasional liver irritation. That said, this is only a theoretical concern from test-tube and animal work, not proven in humans, and the cooking or tea amounts of lemongrass are unlikely to cause trouble. Concentrated supplements or the essential oil are a bigger question mark, so check with your pharmacist or doctor before combining them.

Contact Dr. Brian directly if you have additional questions on this interaction
References
  1. Li CC, Yu HF, Chang CH, Liu YT, Yao HT. Effects of lemongrass oil and citral on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes, oxidative stress, and acetaminophen toxicity in rats. J Food Drug Anal 2018;26(1):432-8. PubMed
Moderate

GLUCURONIDATED DRUGS

2 of 2

Simvastatin also falls under GLUCURONIDATED DRUGS.

Theoretically, lemongrass might increase the clearance and decrease the levels of glucuronidated drugs.
Animal research shows that lemongrass and its constituent citral induce uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (UGT), the major phase 2 enzyme that is responsible for glucuronidation.
Severity Moderate Likelihood Possible Evidence D

Interaction has been documented in animal or in lab research, or the interaction has been documented in humans but is limited to case reports or conflicting clinical research exists.

Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS
Dr. Brian Staiger explains PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist

Here's the gist for simvastatin and lemongrass. The concern on file is that lemongrass (and its lemony compound citral) might speed up a phase 2 process in your body called glucuronidation, which helps clear certain drugs. If that happened with simvastatin, your body could clear it a little faster, which in theory could make it slightly less effective at lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol.

The good news: this is only based on lab and animal studies, not human research, so it's largely theoretical. Everyday food and tea amounts of lemongrass are very unlikely to matter. If you're using concentrated lemongrass supplements or the essential oil regularly, just give your pharmacist or doctor a heads-up so they can keep an eye on your cholesterol numbers.

Contact Dr. Brian directly if you have additional questions on this interaction
References
  1. Li CC, Yu HF, Chang CH, Liu YT, Yao HT. Effects of lemongrass oil and citral on hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes, oxidative stress, and acetaminophen toxicity in rats. J Food Drug Anal 2018;26(1):432-8. PubMed

What These Ratings Mean

Every interaction above is graded three ways — here’s the key to each label.

Severity how clinically significant the interaction is
Major

Clinically significant. Avoid the combination, or use only under close professional supervision.

Moderate

Usually worth avoiding or managing — may need monitoring, a dose change, or timing apart.

Minor

Generally not serious. Be aware of it and mention it to your pharmacist.

Likelihood how strong the evidence is that the interaction actually happens in people
  • LikelyWell-controlled human studies have demonstrated the likely existence of this interaction.
  • ProbableInteraction has not been documented in well-controlled studies, however, the interaction has been demonstrated in some small human studies or in controlled animal studies in conjunction with multiple case reports.
  • PossibleInteraction has been documented in animal or in lab research, or the interaction has been documented in humans but is limited to case reports or conflicting clinical research exists.
  • UnlikelyInteraction has been demonstrated in animal or in lab research but has been shown not to occur in humans.
Evidence the quality of the studies behind the rating (graded A–D)
  • AHigh-quality meta-analysis (quantitative systematic review).
  • BCase-control study.
  • CConsensus.
  • DAnecdotal evidence.

These ratings are for information only. Never start, stop, or otherwise change your therapy before speaking with your provider.

Keep it in perspective

Lemongrass Also Interacts With Other Medications

Lemongrass has 707 moderate known drug interactions in our database — the Simvastatin one above is among them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 707 No known interaction 2,123 (incl. Simvastatin)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Lemongrass

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Lemongrass. Pick one to open its full report.

From our Q&A

Questions About Lemongrass or Simvastatin

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Lemongrass or Simvastatin, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Simvastatin

This page covers Lemongrass only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Simvastatin page lists 183 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Apple (major), Beer (major), Grapefruit (major) and Siberian Cocklebur (major).

By severity: 8 major · 139 moderate · 36 minor.

Open the Simvastatin interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Lemongrass as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 417 real supplement products containing Lemongrass, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Lemongrass. Your product may carry other ingredients that interact with Simvastatin too, on top of Lemongrass — and those would not show on this page. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Lemongrass and Simvastatin Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Lemongrass
Top half

#421 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Simvastatin
Top half

#1,267 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Supplement

About Lemongrass

What is Lemongrass?

Lemongrass
  • Digestive upset
  • Anxiety and stress
  • Antimicrobial/antifungal
  • Insect repellent
  • Flavoring in food and drinks

Lemongrass is a fragrant tropical grass widely used as a cooking herb, a tea, and an aromatherapy oil. It is generally considered safe in the small amounts used in food, but most of its claimed health benefits come from laboratory or animal studies rather than strong human research. Talk with your pharmacist or doctor before using concentrated supplements or the essential oil, especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Read the full Lemongrass monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Simvastatin

What Is Simvastatin Used For?

Brand name: Zocor

Simvastatin tablets are used alongside a cholesterol-lowering diet to treat high LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), high triglycerides, and certain inherited cholesterol disorders, including heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) in adults and children aged 10 and older, and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) in adults.

In adults who already have coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, or diabetes and are at high risk for heart events, simvastatin is also used to reduce the risk of death from heart disease, non-fatal heart attack, stroke, and the need for procedures to open blocked arteries. Zocor is one brand-name product containing simvastatin and carries these same indications.

See full Simvastatin drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Lemongrass

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Lemongrass — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
707Moderate
0Minor
2,122No known interaction
707 Moderate 2,122 No interaction
Moderate

707 interactions

Showing 60 of 707 moderate interactions — see all 707 on the Lemongrass page.

No interaction 2,122 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Lemongrass against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,122 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Lemongrass list.

See the full Lemongrass interactions page
See every supplement checked against Simvastatin, ranked by severity
Sources

Sources & How We Checked

Interaction details are evidence-graded and sourced from the Natural Medicines database. The medication overview comes from MedlinePlus.

Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists. See our data sources and editorial standards for how this information is built and checked.

Parts of this content are provided by the Therapeutic Research Center, LLC.

DISCLAIMER: Currently this does not check for drug-drug interactions. This is not an all-inclusive comprehensive list of potential interactions and is for informational purposes only. Not all interactions are known or well-reported in the scientific literature, and new interactions are continually being reported. Input is needed from a qualified healthcare provider including a pharmacist before starting any therapy. Application of clinical judgment is necessary.

© 2021 Therapeutic Research Center, LLC

Keep exploring
Lemongrass monograph › Uses, safety, and every drug interaction in one place Simvastatin supplement interactions › Every supplement checked against Simvastatin, ranked by severity Simvastatin drug information › The full plain-English guide to this medication Supplement interaction checker › Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z › Every drug we've checked against herbs & supplements Ask a pharmacist › Free, personal answer from our licensed team
Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Lemongrass and Simvastatin Together: Common Questions

Can you take Lemongrass with Simvastatin?
There is a moderate interaction, so it may be acceptable with monitoring or timing changes — but check with your pharmacist first. Read the full details on this page and confirm with your pharmacist before combining them.
Why are there 2 interactions listed for Lemongrass and Simvastatin?
Simvastatin belongs to more than one drug category, and Lemongrass interacts with each of those categories a little differently. We list every one so nothing is missed — your overall risk is driven by the most serious of them.
How serious is the Lemongrass and Simvastatin interaction?
We rate it Moderate. This combination may require monitoring, a dose adjustment, or separating the times you take each one. Consult your pharmacist before using them together.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Still Have a Question About Simvastatin and Lemongrass?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.