The medical use and medicinal potential of selected Limau (Citrus SPP. and Triphasia SP.) as cure for diseases in selected Malay medical manuscripts

Malay medicine has historically been one of the most prominent fields of study documented by Malay physicians. The Malay medical literature covers the materia medica and treatment recommendations for numerous illnesses. Citrus fruits, also known as limau, are one of the ingredients that are frequently mentioned in the texts. They are grown all over the world and are used extensively for cooking as well as medicinal purposes. This study was conducted to discover the medical use of citrus fruits in six Malay medical manuscripts namely MSS 2999 Kitab Tib, Sari Segala Ubat, Tayyib al-Ihsan fi tibb al-Insan, Kitab Tib MSS 1292, Kitab Tib MSS 2515, and Khazinat al-Insan as well as to identify its medicinal potential based on existing scientific studies. Data were tabulated according to the species of limau, sources of data, and diseases. The pharmacological properties of each limau were then identified via literature search in several databases namely PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar. As a result, there are 165 prescriptions involving varieties of limau, which are limau nipis (key lime), limau purut (kaffir lime), limau raya (pomelo), limau kerbau (citron) and limau kerisik (limeberry) found in these manuscripts. Overall, limau was mentioned in prescriptions for diseases related to ear, eye, gastrointestinal, hair, men’s health, musculoskeletal, nose, renal, respiratory, skin, teeth and women’s health, including common illnesses like headache and fever. Limau was reported to possess pharmacological properties such as antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antimelanogenic, and provides analgesic effects and is used as a treatment for typhoid fever.