Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Popular #Herbs

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Popular #Herbs - Slippery elm (Ulmus rubra)

Slippery elm is a genus Ulmus, belonging to the family Ulmaceae, native to eastern North America. The herb has been used in traditional medicine to treat wounds, boils, ulcers, burns, skin inflammation, relieve coughs, sore throats, diarrhea, stomach problems, etc.

Health Benefits
1. Antioxidant and anti cancer effects
In the determination the antioxidant and anti cancer effects of Essiac, a tea prepared from a mixture of four herbs Arctium lappa, Rumex acetosella, Ulmus rubra and Rheum officinale,
found that Essiac inhibited hydroxyl radical-induced lipid peroxidation by up to 50% at the 50% tea preparation concentration. These data indicate that Essiac tea possesses potent antioxidant and DNA-protective activity, properties that are common to natural anti-cancer agents. This study may help to explain the mechanisms behind the reported anti-cancer effects of Essiac, according to "Essiac tea: scavenging of reactive oxygen species and effects on DNA damage" by Leonard SS, Keil D, Mehlman T, Proper S, Shi X, Harris GK.(1)

2. Breast cancer
In the investigation of the effect of Flor-Essence and Essiac (Resperin Canada Limited, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) a blend of at least four herbs (burdock root [Arctium lappa], Indian rhubarb [Rheum palmatum], sheep sorrel [Rumex acetosella], and the inner bark of slippery elm [Ulmus fulva or U. rubra]) agnaist breast cancer, found that Flor-Essence and Essiac herbal tonics at 1%, 2%, 4% and 8% stimulated cell proliferation relative to untreated controls in both estrogen receptor positive (MCF-7 and T47D) and estrogen receptor negative (MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436) cell lines. Exposure to the tonics also produced a dose-dependent increase in ER dependent luciferase activity in MCF-7 cells. A 10(-7) M concentration of ICI 182,780 inhibited the induction of ER dependent luciferase activity by Flor-Essence and Essiac, but did not affect cell proliferation, according to "Essiac and Flor-Essence herbal tonics stimulate the in vitro growth of human breast cancer cells" by Kulp KS, Montgomery JL, Nelson DO, Cutter B, Latham ER, Shattuck DL, Klotz DM, Bennett LM.(2)

3. Inflammatory bowel disease
In the investigation of herbal remedies used by patients for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease include slippery elm, fenugreek, devil's claw, found that all six herbal remedies have antioxidant effects. Fenugreek is not a superoxide scavenger, while Mexican yam did not inhibit radical generation by inflamed biopsies. Slippery elm, fenugreek, devil's claw, tormentil and wei tong ning merit formal evaluation as novel therapies in inflammatory bowel disease, according to "Antioxidant effects of herbal therapies used by patients with inflammatory bowel disease: an in vitro study" by Langmead L, Dawson C, Hawkins C, Banna N, Loo S, Rampton DS.(3)

4. Inflammatory conditions
In the evaluation fo Hybrid protocols combine one, two, or three pharmaceutical drugs with several nutritional or immune-based therapies, indicated that the goal is to obtain the benefits of protease inhibitors without viral resistance and side effects which include problems with fat metabolism and cholesterol levels. Natural treatments for inflammatory conditions are also described. Options include licorice root, ginger root, and slippery elm, accoridng to "Hybrid protocols plus natural treatments for inflammatory conditions" by

[No authors listed](4)

5. Prostate cancer
In the determination of Essiac is a popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that is utilized by many cancer patients in North America, reported that at low doses of Essiac, augmentation of proliferation of these T cells was demonstrated, but at higher doses Essiac was inhibitory to T-cell proliferation. The same doses of Essiac that stimulated spleen cells were inhibitory for LNCaP cell proliferation and concluded that Essiac preparations may be able to inhibit tumor cell growth while enhancing immune response to antigenic stimulation. This may be especially valuable in immune-suppressed individuals.according to "Inhibition of prostate cancer-cell proliferation by Essiac" by Ottenweller J, Putt K, Blumenthal EJ, Dhawale S, Dhawale SW.(5)

6. Diseases prevention
In the evaluation of the activity of Essiac's anti-oxidant, fibrinolytic, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, immune modulation, cell-specific cytotoxicity, and impact on cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzyme pathways. found that Essiac exhibited significant antioxidant activity in the ABTS assay. A 20-fold dilution of Essiac also exhibited significant immunomodulatory effects, specifically through stimulation of granulocyte phagocytosis, increases in CD8+ cell activation, and moderately inhibiting inflammatory pathways. Essiac exhibited significant cell-specific cytotoxicity towards ovarian epithelial carcinoma cells (A2780). Importantly, a 20-fold dilution of Essiac showed significant inhibition of several CYP450 enzymes, most notably CYP1A2 (37%) and CYP2C19 (24%). Essiac demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition of clot fibrinolysis., according to "In vitro analysis of the herbal compound Essiac" by Seely D, Kennedy DA, Myers SP, Cheras PA, Lin D, Li R, Cattley T, Brent PA, Mills E, Leonard BJ.(6)

7. Etc.