Herbal Chamomile, the Best Hepato-protective Herbal Remedy, Scientists Say

By Kyle J. Norton

Chamomile processed bioactive compounds may have a profound and potential effect on protecting the liver against the onset of liver disease, according to studies.

Liver diseases are a class of condition associated with the abnormal function of the liver due to liver damage or injury.

Hepatoprotection, on the other hand, is an ability to inhibit all causable agents that manifest the liver damage such as free radicals and toxins including ethanol, acetaminophen, and carbon tetrachloride.

Symptoms of liver disease include jaundice, abdominal pain, and swelling, itchy skin dark urine color pale stool color, or bloody stool. If you are experiencing some of the above symptoms, please check with your doctor to rule out the possibility.

According to the statistic, cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases are common disease-related causes of death in the U.S. Approximately 31,000 people in the U.S. die each year and over 3.5 million people in the U.S. are chronically hepatitis C virus carriers.

The causes of liver disease are debatable. However certain risk factors such as the increase of age, genetic proposition or acquired genetic change, excessive alcohol drinking, autoimmune disease long-term exposure to toxins and viral infections are found to exacerbate the onset of liver disease.

Although there are many factors associated with liver disease, some researchers suggested that obesity is the most prevalent risk factor which causes nonalcoholic liver disease in the Western world.

Dr. Elisa Fabbrini and colleagues in the concern of the widespread of nonalcoholic liver disease in obese population wrote, "Obesity is associated with an increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Steatosis, the hallmark feature of NAFLD, occurs when the rate of hepatic fatty acid uptake from plasma and de novo fatty acid synthesis is greater than the rate of fatty acid oxidation and export (as triglyceride within VLDL)".

And, "It is likely that abnormalities in fatty acid metabolism, in conjunction with adipose tissue, hepatic, and systemic inflammation, are key factors involved in the development of insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and other cardiometabolic risk factors associated with NAFLD".

The results strongly indicated the correlation between obesity and the risk of NAFLD.

Chamomile is also known as camomile, the common name of many species daisy-like plants in the family Asteraceae. The herb has been used in traditional medicine as antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory constituents and to treat menstrual cramps and sleep disorders, reduce cramping and spastic pain in the bowels, relieve excessive gas and bloating in the intestine, etc.

On finding a potential liver protective effect of chamomile, researchers examined the effects of polyphenols isolated from the herbal medicine on increased sphingolipid turnover in the liver which has been found to associate with an elevation of free radical production and state of chronic inflammation at old age.

In the animal model, injection of [14C]palmitate-pre-labeled sphingomyelin (SM) and ceramide were used to study the sphingolipids turnover. Before application of chamomile, the ceramide levels were higher in the liver and hepatocytes of 24- and 27-28-month-old animals compared to that of 3-month-old Wistar rats.

The administration of flavonoids to old rats decreased the elevated neutral and acid SMases activities and ceramide mass.

However, additional flavonoids showed no effect both the lipid content in the liver of adult animals and ceramide conversion to the sphingosine or SM.

The results suggested chamomile exerts the liver protective effects by playing a key role in the flavonoid-induced decrease of ceramide levels in the liver of old rats, without alternating the lipid contents of the liver.

Additional examination of the ceramide generation in the early event in the apoptotic response to liver oxidative stress, researchers team showed that before injection of flavonoids isolated from chamomile, CCl4 administration to the rats enlarged ceramide mass as well as neutral sphingomyelinase (SMase) activity.

Injection of the isolated compounds affect the sphingolipid metabolism and reduce the elevated ceramide level in the aged liver in rats treated by CCl14.

In the depth analysis, researchers found flavonoid administration to the rats normalizes the elevated ceramide content in the damaged liver via neutral SMase inhibition and ceramidase activation.

Dr. Babenko NA and colleagues wrote in the final report, " Flavonoids normalized activities of key enzymes of sphingolipid turnover (neutral SMase and ceramidase) and ceramide contents in the damaged liver and liver cells, and stabilized the hepatocyte membranes".

Taken altogether, herbal chamomile may be considered a functional remedy for the protection of liver caused by the increased sphingolipid turnover in the aging population, pending to larger sample size and multi-centers human study.

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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 online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blog, 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) Effects of Chamomilla recutita flavonoids on age-related liver sphingolipid turnover in rats.
Babenko NA1, Shakhova EG.(PubMed)
(2) Effects of flavonoids on sphingolipid turnover in the toxin-damaged liver and liver cells by Babenko NA1, Shakhova EG.(PubMed)
(3) Obesity and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Biochemical, Metabolic and Clinical Implications by Elisa Fabbrini,1,2 Shelby Sullivan,1 and Samuel Klein. (PMC)