Has anyone ever heard of this ?
Sex with a Twist ... Lemons Provide Protection?
Thu Oct 10, 8:44 AM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian scientists believe they have rediscovered an effective use for lemon juice -- as a contraceptive and also a killer of the AIDS (news - web sites) virus.
Reproductive physiologist Roger Short, from the University of Melbourne's obstetrics department, said a few drops of lemon juice can be a cheap, easy-to-use solution to protect women from both HIV (news - web sites) and pregnancy.
The juice should be squeezed onto a piece of sponge or cotton wool and placed into the vagina before sex, he said.
"We can show in the lab that lemon juice is very effective in immobilizing human sperm and also very effective in killing HIV," Short told Australian Broadcasting Corp television in a science program to be shown later on Thursday.
He said lime juice, which has similar acid levels, can also be used, with both fruits often freely available in poor countries where contraception is hard to come by.
Short said laboratory tests found not only does lemon juice kill sperm, it also kills the AIDS virus itself.
Short said using lemon juice as a contraceptive was not a new idea but it had fallen by the wayside over the years.
The ancient douche-style contraceptive was encouraged by such luminaries as Casanova, renowned for his sexual prowess.
"This has been used for hundreds of years and we've just forgotten about it," said Short, who is planning to conduct some field trials in Thailand.
"About 300 years ago, Mediterranean women used lemon juice as their main method of contraception."
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