Fennel, the Natural Bronchodilator With No Side Effects

By Kyle J. Norton

Fennel may have a potential and positive effect in improving the function of the lung through its bronchodilatory activity, some scientists suggested.

Bronchodilation is a condition with an expansion of the bronchial air passages.

A bronchodilator is a medical substance, including medications and inhalers that dilate the bronchi and bronchioles by decreasing the constriction of the respiratory airway muscles and increasing airflow to the lungs.

Most common diseases associated with the use of bronchodilator are asthma, a common lung condition caused by inflammation of the airways and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung condition, caused by long-term smoking.

The conventional bronchodilator may be effective in treating the symptoms of the airway conditions, however, they can induce some side effects such as gastrointestinal discomforts, increase heart palpitation and beat, sleep problem and headache.

Dr. Gupta P, the lead author in the study "Potential adverse effects of bronchodilators in the treatment of airways obstruction in older people: recommendations for prescribing" wrote, "Cardiovascular disease is common in older people and beta-adrenoceptor agonists (beta-agonists) have inotropic and chronotropic effects that can increase arrhythmias and cardiomyopathy. They can also worsen or induce myocardial ischemia and cause electrolyte disturbances that contribute to arrhythmias" and "Long-term beta-agonist use can be associated with tolerance, poor disease control, sudden life-threatening exacerbations, and asthma-related deaths".

Therefore, if you currently use the medicine for treatment of airway problems, please make sure you have discussed these side effects with your doctor, particularly, if you intend to use them in a long-term basis.

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

The plant 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 study of fennel effect in airway expansion in an animal model, researchers found that ethanol extract and essential oil from F. vulgare exhibited bronchodilatory activity on contracted tracheal chains of guinea pig associated with the potassium channel opening effect.

Anethole, a major compound isolated from fennel bore a striking resemblance to the catecholamines epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine is found to process numbers of sympathomimetic activities in relaxing the airway smooth muscle, including the bronchodilatory effects.

Furthermore, in the demonstration of the relaxant effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts and an essential oil from Foeniculum vulgare, compared to negative controls (saline for aqueous extract and essential oil and ethanol for ethanol extract) and a positive control (diltiazem) using isolated tracheal chains of the guinea pig by 10 microM methacholine (group 1) and 60 mM KCl (group 2, n = 7 for each group), researchers found that
* In the group 1, experiments diltiazem, ethanol extract, and essential oil from Foeniculum vulgare showed a significant relaxant effect on the methacholine-induced contraction of tracheal chains compared to those of negative controls.


* The effect of the fennel ethanol extract was significantly greater than those of diltiazem.

* Compared to others application, the aqueous extract did not show any relaxant effect in group 1.

* In compared to group 1, The relaxant effects of ethanol extracts and essential oil obtained in the group 2 experiments were significantly lower.

These results confirmed that the bronchodilatory effects of ethanol extract and essential oil from Foeniculum vulgare.

However, in respect to the calcium channel, researchers found that the inhibitory effects of ethanol extracts and essential oil from Foeniculum vulgare are not contributing to their relaxant (bronchodilatory) effects on the tested guinea pig tracheal chains.  

More importantly, in the study to reaffirm that inhalation of nitric oxide (NO) either reduced pulmonary resistance after an induced bronchospasm or protected animals from bronchoconstriction, researchers at the Department of Radiobiology Kasturba Medical College conducted an experiment to evaluate whether NO inhalation (80 parts per million) influences basal bronchial tone or reverses methacholine-induced bronchospasm.

One week later, after methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction, researchers found that

*NO increased SGaw, a specific airway conductance (SGaw) as a measure of airway caliber in seven healthy men by 23% and albuterol inhaled after NO, or on a separate day, significantly increased SGaw as well.

* The bronchodilator effect of NO in men with methacholine-induced bronchospasm is much less than that reported in animals or that regularly observed in asthmatic patients after the inhalation of beta-sympathomimetic drugs.

Nitric oxide NO when used combined with the aqueous extract of Foeniculum vulgare not only exerts the similar effect in reducing the pulmonary resistance and improving airway expansion but also prevent the potential toxicity of NO and its oxidizing product nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Taken altogether, fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) may be considered a functional food and an adjunct therapy for treatment of airway inflammatory disease through its bronchodilatory effect

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, 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 Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Foeniculum vulgare Mill: A Review of Its Botany, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Contemporary Application, and Toxicology by Shamkant B. Badgujar,* Vainav V. Patel, and Atmaram H. Bandivdekar(PMC)
(2) Possible mechanism(s) for relaxant effects of Foeniculum vulgare on guinea pig tracheal chains by Boskabady MH1, Khatami A, Nazari A.(PubMed)
(3) Bronchodilator effect of inhaled nitric oxide in healthy men by Sanna A1, Kurtansky A, Veriter C, Stănescu D(PubMed)
(4) Evaluation of nitric oxide scavenging activity of certain spices in vitro: a preliminary study by Baliga MS1, Jagetia GC, Rao SK, Babu K.(PubMed)
(5) Potential adverse effects of bronchodilators in the treatment of airways obstruction in older people: recommendations for prescribing by Gupta P1, O'Mahony MS.(PubMed)