Herbal Artichoke, the Best Antioxidants Functional Food, Researchers Reveal

By Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a herbal remedy processed significant antioxidant activity against the onset and progression of oxidative stress-related diseases, according to studies.

Oxidative stress-related conditions are the class of diseases associated with cellular damage, including alternation of cell DNA, and damage of lipid and protein.

The list of chronic diseases caused by cell oxidation is very long, including atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetics, rheumatoid arthritis, post-ischemic perfusion injury, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, stroke.

Most common causes of oxidative stress are overexpression of free radicals in the induction of a chain reaction.

Due to the unstable nature of free radicals with unpaired electrons in the outer ring, free radicals are ready to donate or intercept the electrons from other atoms, leading to a chain reaction which can not be stopped until the outring electron are either paired or inhibited by antioxidants.

Contrast to the general belief, the damage caused by free radicals are overly exaggerated, under normal condition, free radicals produced by the internal or external source are needed by our body on cellular responses and immune function.

However, overexpression of free radicals also known as oxidative stress can be a danger to our health.

Oxidative stress can be acute or chronic. Acute oxidative stress caused by suddenly burst of free radical due to stress or external sources, in most cases can be inhibited by increasing antioxidant enzymes by the lung.

Chronic oxidative stress is caused by the unbalanced ratio of free radicals and antioxidant enzymes produced by our body. The condition is either caused by oner expression of free radicals or depletion of antioxidants enzymes or both. 

There are many risk factors that cause oxidative stress. However, in the concerns of the prevalence of chronic diseases associated with the Western diet, some researchers suggested that the link of the oxidative diseases in the Western world may be resulted by the promotion of the Western diet over the past few decades.

Dr. Ildiko Erdelyi, the lead scientist said, "A Western-style diet (WD), defined by high-fat, low-calcium, and vitamin D content, is associated with increased risk of human colorectal cancer. Understanding molecular mechanisms altered by the WD is crucial to develop preventive and therapeutic strategies".

And, "consumption of a WD interferes with networks of related biological response pathways involving colonic lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and the immune response".

Artichoke is a perennial thistle of Cynara cardunculus species of the Cynara genus, belonging to the family Carduoideae native to Southern Europe around the Mediterranean.

The herbal plant has been used in traditional medicine for as a liver protective and detoxified agent, and to treat digestive disorders, abdominal pain gas and bloating, etc.

Scientists on finding a natural ingredient for the treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases examined the antioxidant activity of artichoke in the rat model.

Artichoke extracts showed good efficiency in the inhibition in vitro of LDL oxidation. Injection of artichoke extracts also increased the levels of antioxidant glutathione peroxidase against oxidative damage in the tested subjects compared to the control group.

Injection of artichoke extracts also inhibited the expression of a protein oxidation biomarker (2-Aminoadipic semialdehyde) compared to the control group.

In order to reveal more information of artichoke antioxidant activity, researchers examined the phenolic compound content and composition and the antioxidant activity of leaf parts [blades (SLB), petioles and midribs (SPM)] from various Greek artichoke genotypes. 

The leaf blades of most of the genotypes having a high content of flavonoids (mainly luteolin glycoside derivatives), which ranged between 49 and 78% of total phenolic compounds (TPC).

Petioles and midribs phenolic acids (mainly hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) were the main phenolic compounds, ranging between 64 and 76% of TPC, 

 The antioxidant activity of blades was significantly higher than that of petiole and midribs for all the genotypes according to the tested assays. 

The results of antioxidant differentiation suggested that artichoke leaves (blades, petioles, and midribs) show different bioactive compound profiles in stimulating the different levels of antioxidant properties.

Taken altogether, artichoke may be considered a functional remedy for the prevent and treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases through its antioxidant activity, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter 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) In vitro antioxidant activities of edible artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and effect on biomarkers of antioxidants in rats by Jiménez-Escrig A1, Dragsted LO, Daneshvar B, Pulido R, Saura-Calixto F. (PubMed)
(2) Leaf parts from Greek artichoke genotypes as a good source of bioactive compounds and antioxidants by Petropoulos SA1, Pereira C, Barros L, Ferreira ICFR. (PubMed)
(3) Western-Style Diets Induce Oxidative Stress and Dysregulate Immune Responses in the Colon in a Mouse Model of Sporadic Colon Cancer by Ildiko Erdelyi,4 Natasha Levenkova,5 Elaine Y. Lin,8 John T. Pinto,9 Martin Lipkin,4Fred W. Quimby,6 and Peter R. Holt. (PMC)