A media roundtable discussion organised by Journalists Against
AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria, was held in the Nigerian city of Abuja
last week to discuss the potential of lemons/limes as a microbicide
to defend against HIV infection.
Two of the experts who spoke at the roundtable were Professor
Solomon Sagay of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and Dr Chris Agboghoroma
of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the National
Hospital Abuja.
According to Sagay, studies conducted at Jos have shown that
use of lime juice as a contraceptive to prevent pregnancy, and
as disinfectant to prevent infections was rife among women in
parts of Nigeria.
Professor Sagay, who was part of the team that conducted the study
in Jos
in June 2004,
noted that many of the women who participated in the study believed
that use of lime juice and other products such as potash, alum,
lemon drinks offer them some protection against sexually transmitted
infections, including HIV.
But he noted that there was yet no evidence that these products
offer such protection.
Two separate studies recently conducted in the United States
in 2005, have however found evidence that use of concentrated
lime juice damages the vaginal walls and potentially put users
at an even higher risk of being infected with HIV.
However, Professor Sagay noted that the American research was
carried out using sexually-abstinent women.
"In Nigeria, use of lime juice is more common among women
who are highly sexually-active", he pointed out. "The
effects of varying concentrations of lime juice in sexually active
women, whose vaginas are exposed to seminal fluid and spermatozoa
(which are alkaline) still need to be evaluated," he said.
The Jos study, which was conducted by a team at the Jos University
Teaching Hospital, examined the use of lemon or lime juice douches
among sexually-active women. Findings from the study established
that lemon juice or lime douching is used extensively among female
sex workers and family planning clients (FPCs).
Of the 300 sexually active women interviewed, 167 confirmed using
vaginal lemon/lime douches. The lime juice was used either neat,
or diluted either before or after sex.
32 out of 167 (or 19%) of the women found the lime juice painful.
Over half of the women believed that it protected them from pregnancy
and or sexually transmitted infections, and they did not know
their HIV status. 86 percent of the women expressed willingness
to recommend the lime juice to other women and 71 per cent said
they would be willing to take part in a study to evaluate its
safety and effectiveness.
The 2nd phase of this study, which involves conducting a vaginal
examination (Copolscopy) of women who have been using lime juice
as a means of protection against sexually transmitted infections,
is currently being conducted at JUTH.
According to Professor Sagay, the study, which does not involve
the administration lime> juice in any form, seeks to clinically
assess the safety (or otherwise) an efficacy of lime juice in
this group of women.
Results of this study will
serve as a baseline for describing the safety/side effects of
lime juice as vaginal douche.
Dr Agboghoroma observed that anecdotal evidence pointed to the
fact that Nigerian women are using lime juice "for all sorts
of purposes and secretly recommending it to one another".
However, it is better to act on the side of caution regarding
its potential to protect against HIV, he said.
Both researchers emphasised the need to promote abstinence, and
use of condoms as the acceptable means of protection against sexual
transmission of HIV.
They also called on the Nigerian Government to invest greater
resources into research that would evaluate the potentials of
lime juice as a contraceptive and microbicide.
********Those involved in The Mary Magdalene Project have never
claimed that lemon or lime juice is a proven microbicide to defend
women against HIV infection
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