Antioxidant Lycopene in the Prevention of Acute Pancreatitis.

By Kyle J. Norton

Pancreatitis is a condition associated with the inflammation of the pancreas.

Most cases of pancreatitis are involved in the abnormal activation of digestive enzymes in the small intestine that attacks the pancreas.

According to the statistics, in the Western world, the incidence of chronic pancreatitis rate is 5-12/100,000.

Epidemiologically, the chronic condition is found mostly in patients between the ages of 30 and 40 and more common in men than women.

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammation that starts rapidly and lasts for a short time. The condition can be mild or severe. In mild cases, most patients are recovered quickly if the cause is found.

In severe cases, acute pancreatitis can be life threatening. The condition has been found to induce bleeding into the gland, serious tissue damage, infection, and cyst formation. 

In some patients, the condition also can cause damage to vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and kidney

Most common symptoms of acute pancreatitis are upper abdominal pain, swollen and tender abdomen, nausea and vomiting, fever, and increased heart rate.

If you have some of the aforementioned symptoms that persistently with no signs of healing. Please check with your doctor to rule out the possibility of acute pancreatitis.

The exact causes of acute pancreatitis are unknown. Most common factors associated with the prevalent risk of acute pancreatitis are gallstones or heavy alcohol use.

Dr. Parimal Chowdhury, the lead scientist wrote, "Use of alcohol is a worldwide habit regardless of socio-economic background. Heavy alcohol consumption is a potential risk factor for induction of pancreatitis".

And, "The current review cites the updated literature on the alcohol metabolism, its effects on gastrointestinal and pancreatic function and in causing pancreatic injury, genetic predisposition of alcohol-induced pancreatitis".

Other risk factors found in patients with acute pancreatitis are long-term use of some medications such as Azathioprine, Thiazide, and Valproic acid, autoimmune disease, infections, trauma, metabolic disorders, and surgery.

Lycopene is a phytochemical found in tomato in the class of carotenoid, a natural pigment with no vitamin A activity found abundantly in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons, and papayas,

Tomatoes provide about 80% of the lycopene in the world diet. In plants, lycopene protects the host against excessive photodamage and perform various functions in photosynthesis.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of pancreatic disease, researchers examined the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of lycopene on severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in both in vivo and in vitro models.

According to the tested differentiation, lycopene administration protected against SAP by decreasing the levels of serum amylase and C-reactive protein associated with the inflammatory pancreas.

Lycopene also inhibited the overexpression of pro-inflammatory proteins such as The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α.

Free radicals overexpression such as lipid peroxidase and antioxidant enzymes production such as myeloperoxidase and superoxide dismutase associated with oxidative stress was also modulated by the injection of lycopene against acinar cells in pancreas against cells apoptosis.

In other words, lycopene protected the pancreas against the onset of acute pancreatitis in a simulated SAP model in a rat acinar cell line by inhibiting ROS.induction.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "Lycopene exerts protective effects against SAP in rats that may be related to its anti-inflammatory property through inhibiting the expression of damage-associated molecular patterns, and anti-oxidative property".

Taken altogether, lycopene found in tomato may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of acute pancreatitis, pending on the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of lycopene in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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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) Suppression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha level by lycopene is comparable to methylprednisolone in acute pancreatitis by El-Ashmawy NE1, Khedr NF2, El-Bahrawy HA3, Hamada OB. (PubMed)
(2) Lycopene protects pancreatic acinar cells against severe acute pancreatitis by abating the oxidative stress through JNK pathway by Lv JC1, Wang G, Pan SH, Bai XW, Sun B. (PubMed)
(3) Pathophysiology of alcoholic pancreatitis: An overview by Parimal Chowdhury and Priya Gupta. (PMC)