Herbal Butterbur, the Natural Anti High Blood Cholesterol Remedy, Scientists Say

By Kyle J. Norton

Herbal Butterbur may have a potential and positive effect on reducing the levels of blood cholesterol with no side effects, some scientists suggested.

Cholesterol is a waxy substance needed for our body to build cell walls, make hormones and vitamin D, and create bile salts that help you digest fat.

However, too much cholesterol can be dangerous because cholesterol cannot dissolve in your blood.

The special particle called lipoprotein moves this waxy, soft substance from place to place, leading to cholesterol accumulation in the arterial wall that disrupt the risk oxygenic blood transportation to the heart, a major cause of cardiovascular disease.

There are 2 types of cholesterol. The high-density lipoprotein which returns the blood cholesterol to the liver for future use and the low-density lipoprotein which processes a number of aforementioned functions.

The healthy ratio that maximizes the body functions is 4 (low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol) to 1 (high-density lipoprotein or good cholesterol. Any numbers less than 4 are considered healthy.

Some researchers suggested although there are many risk factors associated with the onset of high blood cholesterol, an unhealthy diet is one major and accumulated risk of the syndrome.

Dr. Robert L. Rosenthal in the study "Effectiveness of altering serum cholesterol levels without drugs" wrote, "Drug therapy with statins and other agents can result in dramatic lipid-lowering effects. Despite the wealth of data supporting the beneficial effects of pharmacologic therapy on cardiovascular risk, patients often express a desire to accomplish similar goals with diet alone".

And, "... a variety of dietary strategies designed to lower lipid levels, including the American Heart Association diet, the Ornish diet, the Mediterranean diet, exercise, phytosterols, fiber, soy products, and fish oil".

These results strongly suggested you can lower your blood cholesterol by following a healthy diet and moderate exercise without using drugs.

Butterbur, found in wet, marshy, damp land, including wetland, riverside, forest, etc., is a creeping underground plant, genus Petasites of 15 -20 species, belonging to the family Asteraceae, native to Northern Hemisphere.

The herbal medicine has been used in herbal medicine used as a pain reliever in the digestive system, including stomach, bile ducts,, and duodenum, etc.

The chemical constituents of Butterbur include Petioles, petasitene and pethybrene, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-6''-O-acetylglucoside, and rutin, caffeic acid, alkaloids, S-petasin, and iso-S-petasin, etc.

On finding a natural ingredient for the treatment of high blood cholesterol, researchers at the Chungnam National University, Gyeongsan examined the effect of the butanol fraction from the methanol extract of butterbur (Petasites japonicus Max.) (BMP) on the plasma lipid profile and oxidative damage of liver in mice challenged with monosodium l-glutamate (MSG).

The study included ICR mice (6-8 weeks old, male) fed with BMP (0.1% or 0.3%) for 1 week, and on day 7,  MSG (4 mg/g) administered intraperitoneally.

Before application of BMP, administration of MSG showed a significant decrease of antioxidant biomarkers such as total glutathione level and antioxidant enzyme activities such as glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and quinone reductase (NQO1) and increase of the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

After the injection of BMP supplementation, treated mice markedly enhanced the hepatic antioxidant enzyme activities.

Furthermore, BMP supplementation decreased total cholesterol, atherogenic index, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, compared to the MSG-treated group.

Dr. Park CH the lead author in the hear team wrote, "Based on these results, it was proposed that BMP improve the plasma lipid profiles and decrease the oxidative stress by up-regulating the hepatic antioxidant enzymes in mice challenged with MSG.".

Additonally, the review of the anti-obesity effect of an extract of Petasites japonicus (a culinary vegetable from Eastern Asia) (PJET) on a murine adipocyte cell line (3T3-L1) and on diet-induced obesity-prone mice, researchers showed PJET lowered the body weight gain and visceral fat tissue accumulation and ameliorated the plasma cholesterol concentration. 

Furthermore, PJET significantly attenuated three adipogenic transcription factors, which play a crucial Role in adipogenic induction associated with adipocyte differentiation and cholesterol homeostasis and genes involved higher levels of total cholesterol.

These results indicated herbal  Butterbur inhibited levels of bad cholesterol through many mechanisms, including genes expression, transcription factors, and levels of antioxidants

Taken altogether, herbal Butterbur processed a number of bioactive compounds may be considered a function remedy for the prevention and treatment of high blood cholesterol with no side effect, pending to the large sample size and multi-center human study.

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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.
References
(1) Butterbur (Petasites japonicus Max.) extract improves lipid profiles and antioxidant activities in monosodium L-glutamate-challenged mice by Park CH, Kim MY, Sok DE, Kim JH, Lee JH, Kim MR.(PubMed)
(2) Suppression of murine preadipocyte differentiation and reduction of visceral fat accumulation by a Petasites japonicus ethanol extract in mice fed a high-fat diet by Watanabe T, Hata K, Hiwatashi K, Hori K, Suzuki N, Itoh H.(PubMed)