The Herb and Plant Inhibits Mucus Accumulation That Cause Acute and Chronic Cough, Scientists Show

Kyle J. Norton

Fennel may have a potential and positive effect in reduced cough through its expectorant activity, some scientists suggested.

The results of the study were conducted by numbers of institutes, including the Kaunas University of Medicine and published on online literature
is a natural and infrequent reaction of body to clear the throat caused by excessive mucus or foreign irritants.The aim of these function are to make the airway free for air inhaling and expelling.

Acute coughing normally caused by hay fever and the common cold is healed itself within 3 weeks. Chronic coughing are a condition that last longer than 3 weeks.

As of today, researchers do not know the exact causes of chronic coughing. However, researchers suggested, the condition may be resutlted of postnasal drip, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD),... and chronic bronchitis. And cigarette smoking is considered as a main culprit.  

Long term use of an ACE inhibitor, a pharmaceutical drug used primarily for the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure are also associated to the risk of a chronic cough.

Dr. Terasaki G, the lead author at the University of Washington, said, " Cough hypersensitivity syndrome is a new area of research and has been hypothesized to be the underlying factor in many cases of a chronic cough, regardless of the inciting factor" and " More clinical research is needed to further elucidate the cough reflex pathway and the factors involved in modulating its sensitivity, which may eventually lead to new antitussive therapeutics"(5).

Expectorant is a medicine with a function to promote the secretion of sputum of the air passages for treatment of coughs.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a plant species of the genus, belongings to Apiaceae (Umbelliferae), native to the Mediterranean.

The herb or food has been used in traditional and herbal medicine as warming, carminative, antispasmodic, antidepressant agent and to stimulate the appetite, ease indigestion, soothe coughing, reduce intestinal spasms, to regulate the menstrual cycle and relieve PMS,...

In the comparison of the effect of some herbal agents in velocity of mucus secretion isolated from ciliated epithelium of the frog oesophagus, researchers found that application fo fructus foeniculi (fennel) exerts a stronger effect than  fructus anisi (anise). Herba plantaginis (plantain), flores verbasci (torch weed), and radix liquiritiae (liquorice) but lessers than the application of Folia farfarae (coltsfoot).

These protective effect in the further analysis was found to attribute to mucous layers in the hypopharynx and spasmolytic, secretolytic and bactericide effects found in fennel.

Furthermore, in the experiment to confirm the efficacy of some herbal medicine for treatment of throat clearing used since ancient times, researchers conducted a study to evaluate the bronchial mucus secretion stimulating and antispasmodic, antimicrobial, antiphlogistic and stimulating effect on the ciliated epithelium of two new formulations of throat clearing herbal tea.

The first formulation consists of liquorice roots, sweet fennel and thyme, and the second one consists of pine gemmae, thyme and elder flowers.

At the end of the experiment, researchers showed that both formulas exerted a significant activity against in inhibited mucus secretion in tested subjects without inducing intolerant adverse effects.

However, loss of the efficacy was found in use of formulas after 2 years of expiration, and the purity of the mixtures may also be decreased due to loss on drying, total ash, microbial contamination, contamination with radionuclides, heavy metals, pesticides and foreign matter.

These result suggested that although herbal medicine may be effective in exhibited mucus secretion for treatment of a cough, appliers should also be beware of the contamination caused by several aspects.

Moreover, in the investigation to a water extract of a mixture of eight herbs (chamomile, saffron, anise, fennel, caraway, licorice, cardomom and black seed) tested for its inhibitory effect on histamine released in initiated cough from rat peritoneal mast cells stimulated either by compound 48/80 or be IgE/anti-IgE, researchers at the Helwan University indicated that in compared to flavonoid quercetin, the extract demonstrated inhibited histamine released from chemically- and immunologically-induced cells by 81% and 85%, respectively.

Intake of the water extract of tested subjects also displayed a significantly and clinically expectorant expectancy in improvements of sleep discomfort, cough frequency and cough intensity.

The application also increased percentages of FEV1/FVC in patients suffering from allergic asthma in compared to placebo tea participants.

Where The FEV1/FVC ratio, also called Tiffeneau-Pinelli index, is a calculated ratio used in the diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive lung disease, according to Wikipedia

FEV1: Volume that has been exhaled at the end of the first second of a forced expiration

VC: Vital capacity: the volume of air breathed out after the deepest inhalation
RV/TLC%: Residual volume expressed as percent of TLC

FEFmax: The maximum instantaneous flow achieved during a FVC maneuver

VL: Actual volume of the lung including the volume of the conducting airway

FRC: Functional residual capacity: the volume in the lungs at the end-expiratory position

TLC: Total lung capacity: the volume in the lungs at maximal inflation, the sum of VC and RV

Taken together, fennel used alone or combination with other herbal medicine may be used to get rid of mucus, improve quality of life and treat asthma.

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Loose Weight

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Home page http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca

Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrients, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.


Sources
(1) [Effect of various phytotherapeutic expectorants on mucociliary transport].[Article in German] by Müller-Limmroth W, Fröhlich HH.(PubMed)
(2) The effect of a herbal water-extract on histamine release from mast cells and on allergic asthma by Haggag EG1, Abou-Moustafa MA, Boucher W, Theoharides TC.(PubMed)
(3) [Use of herbal medicine in German children - prevalence, indications and motivation].[Article in German]by Hümer M1, Scheller G, Kapellen T, Gebauer C, Schmidt H, Kiess W.(PubMed)
(4) FEV1/FVC ratio(Wikipedia)
(5) Evaluation and treatment of chronic cough by Terasaki G 1 , Paauw DS(PubMed)