Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Chinese Herbs– Da Jiao or Hong Jiao (Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae)

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Chinese Herbs– Da Jiao or Hong Jiao (Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae)

Da Jiao also known as black jujube. The sweet and warm herb has been used in TCM to treat
improves cAMP(cyclic adenosine mono phosphate) and strength of muscles, calms the central nervous system, inhibits histamine, IgE, and 5-HT, cell mutation and cancer cells, etc., as it tonifies the Middle Burnner, strengthens Qi; Nourishes Blood, calms the Mind, regulates the nature of other herbs, etc., by enhancing the functions of stomach , spleen channels.

Ingredients

1. Betulinic acid

2. Oleanolic acid
3. Maslinic acid
4. Malic acid

5. Tartaric acid,

6. Catechin

7. Oleic acid

8. Linoleic acid

9. Palmitic acid

10. Stearic acid

11. Myristic acid

12. Sitosterol

13. Stigmasterol

14. desmasterol

15. Catechol
16. Tannin

17. cAMP and cGMP

18. Etc.

Health Benefits

1. Inflammatory irritant action

In the investigation of Chinese jujube (also known as Chinese date),a fruit of Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (Rhamnaceae) used as antidote in traditional Chinese formula, Shi Zao Decoction, to relieve the drastic inflammatory irritant nature of Euphorbia species, found that the results show that 7 compounds of them are likely to be active compounds concerning to their pronounced inhibitory action on the activated inflammatory cells. These effects might be helpful to attenuate the irritant action of Euphorbiaceae plants and protect the gastrointestinal tissue from potent inflammatory injury, which should be beneficial to some diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease, according to “Bioactive components in the fruits of Ziziphus jujuba Mill. against the inflammatory irritant action of Euphorbia plants” by Yu L, Jiang BP, Luo D, Shen XC, Guo S, Duan JA, Tang YP.(1)

2. Antioxidants

In the study intends to develop an appropriate analytical method for isolation of polysaccharides from Z. jujuba fruits and evaluate their antioxidant activity, found that the galacturonic acid content in polysaccharide fractions followed the order: ZJPa3>ZJPa2>ZJPa1>ZJPN are more effective in scavenging superoxide anions than hydroxyl radicals, while acidic polysaccharides showed a more pronounced effect in chelating ferrous ion, according to “Structural characterization of polysaccharides from Zizyphus jujuba and evaluation of antioxidant activity” by Chang SC, Hsu BY, Chen BH.(2)

3. Hypnotic effect
In the investigation of the hypnotic effect of jujubosides, one of the major components (saponin) of Semen Ziziphi Spinosae, in both day and night period, found that the hypnotic effect of jujubosides on normal rats may be influenced by circadian rhythm and the serotonergic system may involve in the hypnotic effect of jujubosides. Jujubosides may be good source of lead compounds for novel hypnotics, according to “Hypnotic effect of jujubosides from Semen Ziziphi Spinosae” byCao JX, Zhang QY, Cui SY, Cui XY, Zhang J, Zhang YH, Bai YJ, Zhao YY.(3) 4. Anti-cancer activity
In the investigation of the anti-cancer activity of Zizyphus jujuba Mill and its underlining mechanisms of action in human hepatoma cells (HepG2), found that the extract of Z. jujuba decreased the viability of the cells. Further extraction of the initial Z. jujuba extract with organic solvents revealed that the chloroform fraction (CHCl(3)-F) was the most effective. Interestingly, the CHCl(3)-F induced not only apoptosis but also G1 arrest at a low concentration (100 mug/ml) and G2/M arrest at a higher concentration (200 mug/ml) by cell cycle assay, according to “Mechanism of the anti-cancer activity of Zizyphus jujuba in HepG2 cells” by Huang X, Kojima-Yuasa A, Norikura T, Kennedy DO, Hasuma T, Matsui-Yuasa I.(4)

5. Anti-complement activity
In the determination of the anti-complement activity of triterpenes of eleven triterpenoides were isolated from the fruits of the Zizyphus jujuba MILL: ceanothane-type triterpenes, colubrinic acid (1), zizyberenalic acid (11); lupane-type triterpenes: alphitolic acid (2), 3-O-cis-p-coumaroyl alphitolic acid (3), 3-O-trans-p-coumaroyl alphitolic acid (4), betulinic acid (7), betulonic acid (9); and oleanane-type triterpenes: 3-O-cis-p-coumaroyl maslinic acid (5), 3-O-trans-p-coumaroyl maslinic acid (6), oleanolic acid (8), oleanonic acid (10), found that the oleanane-structure plays an important role in inhibiting the hemolytic activity of human serum against erythrocytes, according to “Anti-complementary Activity of Triterpenoides from Fruits of Zizyphus jujuba” by LEE S-M, PARK J-G, LEE Y-H, LEE C-G, MIN B-S, KIM J-H, LEE H-K (5)

6. Etc.