Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals

Sunday, 19 May 2019

HerbaLTurmeric Blocks the Onset of Oral Mucositis Caused By the Bacterial Infection

By Kyle J. Norton

Oral mucositis is considered a side effect in patients who undergo cancer treatment, particularly chemotherapy and radiation.

In cancer, oral mucositis is caused by the reduced function of the immune system to protect the infection of open sores in the mucosa.

However, poor oral or dental health, smoking or chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol, female gender, dehydration and patients who had previously cancer treatment, have kidney disease are some of the most common risk factors that cause the onset of oral mucositis.

Most common symptoms of oral mucositis are red, shiny, or swollen mouth and gums, sores in the mouth or on the gums or tongue, pain in the mouth or throat, mild burning, or pain when eating food.

Some patients may also experience symptoms of difficulty swallowing or talking, soft, whitish patches or pus in the mouth or on the tongue, particularly the increase of mucus or thicker saliva in the mouth.

Some researchers suggested the onset of oral mucositis in most cases are associated with people with a weakened immune system, including the use of chemotherapy.

Dr. Francesco Chiappelli wrote, "Mucositis is observed in a variety of immunosuppressed patients, but is most often consequential to cancer therapy. It appears as early as the third day of the intervention, and is usually established by Day 7 of treatment".

And, "The precise immune components involved in the etiology of mucositis are unclear, but evidence-based research (EBR) data has shown that applications of granulocyte–macrophage-colony stimulating factor prevent the onset of the exacerbation of oropharyngeal mucositis".

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and to treat flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the treatment of oral mucositis(OM), researchers evaluated the effects of turmeric and curcumin in the management of oral mucositis in cancer patients undergoing chemo and/or radiotherapy by searching the database of Cochrane Library, LILACS, LIVIVO, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science.

After a two-step selection process, four randomized and one nonrandomized clinical trials were included in the analysis in which 2 studies suggested that topical application of turmeric/curcumin as a gel or mouthwash showed a reduced grade of mucositis, pain, erythema intensity, and ulcerative area.

In other words, the topical application of turmeric or curcumin may be effective in controlling signs and symptoms of oral mucositis in tested patients.

Furthermore, according to the study of 72 golden Syrian hamsters induced mucositis (OM) by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for 4 days randomly allocated into four groups: control, placebo, chamomilla, and a mucoadhesive formulation containing curcuminoid (MFC)
* On day 5, all groups exhibited OM

* On day 8, both MFC and chamomilla groups exhibited better-wound healing compared to other groups.

* Moreover, also on day 8, the MFC group demonstrated inhibited protein associated with stimulating new blood vessel for the OM to grow and proinflammatory cytokines to facilitate symptoms of OM, compared to placebo and control group.

Collectively, Dr. Schmidt TR, the lead scientist wrote in the final report, "these findings suggest that MFC has a therapeutic effect on OM, accelerating wound healing through re-epithelization and anti-inflammatory action as modulation of angiogenesis and TGF-β1 expression".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of OM, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca

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) Effects of turmeric and curcumin on oral mucositis: A systematic review by Normando AGC1, de Menêses AG2, de Toledo IP1,3, Borges GÁ1, de Lima CL1, Dos Reis PED2, Guerra ENS. (PubMed).
(2) Mucoadhesive formulation containing Curcuma longa L. reduces oral mucositisinduced by 5-fluorouracil in hamsters by Schmidt TR1, Curra M1, Wagner VP1, Martins MAT1,2, de Oliveira AC3, Batista AC4, Valadares MC5, Marreto RN3, Martins MD. (PubMed)
(3) The Molecular Immunology of Mucositis: Implications for Evidence-Based Research in Alternative and Complementary Palliative Treatments by Francesco Chiappelli. (PMC)

Phytochemical Betanin Normalizes Your High Blood Pressure

By Kyle J. Norton

Hypertension is a medical condition caused by abnormally high pressure that presses against the wall of the arteries, affecting the heart function in pumping blood to the body.

Hypertension is a member of the cluster of metabolic syndrome that facilitates the risk of cardiovascular disease and types 2 diabetes

Epidemiologically, uncontrolled high blood pressure has been found to induce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Most patients with high blood pressure are asymptomatic. However, the long-term elevated force of the blood against your artery walls may result in symptoms of headache, dizziness, and shortness of breath, early signs of heart disease and stroke.

According to the statistics provided by the CDC, approximately 75 million American adults (32%) have high blood pressure. In other words, 1 in every 3 American adults is affected by high blood pressure.

Believe it or not, the actual numbers of high blood pressure are substantially higher if people with the stage of prehypertension are also taking into account.

Sadly, only half of the people with high blood pressure in the US are under control.

There are 2 types of hypertension, including primary hypertension that takes years to develop and secondary hypertension associated with other medical conditions, such as kidney and thyroid disease.

Out of many prevalent factors, some researchers suggested that the promotion of a high-fat diet over the past few decades may have a direct implication on the onset of hypertension in American adults.

Dr.Dixon W. Wilde, the lead scientist wrote, "Dietary fat contributes to the elevation of blood pressure and increases the risk of stroke and coronary artery disease".

And, "an elevation of plasma FAs may contribute to the development of hypertension via a process involving the elevation of Ca2+ current density and alteration of channel kinetics in the vascular smooth muscle membrane".

The results strongly suggested the high-fat diet induced elevated FAs associated with the alternation of vascular smooth muscle membrane in the initiation of hypertension.

Betanin is phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments of Betacyanins, belongings to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

On finding a potential ingredient for the treatment of hypertension, researchers examined the effect of betanin against a hypertensive animal model.

The study included animals divided into six main groups with each group containing 5 animals.

* Group I received the vehicle,

* Group II received dexamethasone injection (20 µg/kg/day, s.c.) for 14 days,

* Group III received an extract of Beta vulgaris (100 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 14 days,

* Group IV received an extract of Beta vulgaris (300 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 14 days,

* Group V received dexamethasone injection (20 ugs/kg/day, s.c.) and extract of Beta vulgaris (100 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 14 days and

* Group VI received dexamethasone (DEXA) injection (20 µg/kg/day, s.c.) and extract of Beta vulgaris (300 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 14 days.

At the end of the experiment after 14 days, the group treated with a combination of dexamethasone and beta vulgaris (100 and 300 mg/kg p.o. for 14 days) showed a significant decrease in heart rate compared to Dexamethasone group.

According to the tested assays, Dexamethasone treated group showed a significant elevation (p<0.05) in systolic blood pressure (SBP), vascular reactivity changes to Catecholamine, compared to the control group.

Injection of beta vulgaris extract (100, 300 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 14 days in dexamethasone administered rats significantly (p<0.05) demonstrated a significant reversal of such change.

Based on the finding, researchers wrote, "The methanolic-HCl extract of Beta vulgaris has antihypertensive activity in Dexamethasone models".

In other words, betanin detected by phytochemical analysis from beta vulgaris extract protected the heart function and blood vessels through its antihypertensive properties.

Taken altogether, betanin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of hypertension, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca

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) Antihypertensive activity of Beta vulgaris on dexamethasone-induced hypertension in rats by Dignesh Patel, Rupali A Patil, and Alkesh Patel. (Research Gate)
(2) High-Fat Diet Elevates Blood Pressure and Cerebrovascular Muscle Ca2+Current
Dixon W. Wilde, Kenneth D. Massey, Glenn K. Walker, Alan Vollmer, and Roger J. Grekin. (Hypertension)

The Cucumber' sCucurbitacin B (CuB) Neuroprotective Effects

By Kyle J. Norton

Neuroprotection is mechanisms and strategies associated with the protection of the brain functioning through the use of agents, including herbal medicines.

In other words, the neuroprotective effect is to protect the integrity of the viability of the neuron against nerve injury or degeneration that affects the central nervous system functioning.

Neurological disorders are diseases of the central nervous system including the brain, spine and the nerves that connect them. Most common diseases associated with neurological disorders in the elderly are dementia.

In the elderly, most common types of neurodegenerative diseases are
* Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking, and behavior severe enough to affect language communication, memory, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's gets worse over time, and it is fatal.

Over 1 million people in the US alone are currently afflicted by Alzheimer's disease because of degeneration of hippocampus and cerebral cortex of the brain where memory, language, and cognition are located.

* Absence of acetylcholine
If the nerves located in front of the brain perish causes the diminished quality of acetylcholine that affects language difficulty, memory loss, concentration problem, and reduced mobile skills.

* Dementia due to long-term alcohol abuse
Dementia is common in patients with alcoholism. Most classic is the Korsakoff's dementia that affects short term memory and often associated with memory losses.

* Multi-infarct dementia
Also known as vascular dementia, is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease in older adults caused by different mechanisms all resulting in vascular lesions in the brain.

5. Parkinson's disease
Parkinson disease (PD) is a disabling, progressive condition associated with the cognitive deficit due to the interruption of frontal-subcortical loops that facilitate cognition and that parallel the motor loop.

6. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
People who have eaten contaminated beef many years may be infected without even knowing it. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a quickly progressing and fatal disease that consists of dementia, muscle twitching, and spasm.

7. Subdural hematoma
It is the accumulation of blood beneath the outer covering of the brain that results from the rupture of a blood vessel. Subdural hemorrhages may cause an increase in intracranial pressure.. Acute subdural hematoma has a high mortality rate.

The cucumber plant is a species of Cucumis Sativus, belongings to the family Cucurbitaceae and native to Western Asia. It is a creeping vine with roots in the ground and grows up with the support of frames.

With an aim to find a natural compound which processes neuroprotective property, researchers investigated cucumber leaf extract against oxidative stress induced neuron dysfunction associated with diabetes mellitus.

The study included 30 adult male albino rats divided into 5 groups (n=6) including a normal control group and four diabetic groups.

Single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 60 mg/kg bw) induced diabetes rats also assigned into untreated diabetic control group compared to the other three other groups treated with cucumber leaf extract at the doses of 30, 60 and 120 mg/kg bw for 30 days.

According to brain evaluation, treated rat showed a significant effect in lowering the levels of blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin.

Proinflammatory expression and neurons oxidative stress in the brain is also decreased observed by the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin levels, and brain malondialdehyde content, respectively.

Furthermore, a protein associated with programming neuron death was inhibited by the injection of cucumber leaf extract compared to control.

The efficacy of cucumber leaf extract that exerts neurons protection was attributed to the increased production of plasma dopamine, melatonin in the promotion of brain activity accompanied by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels and antioxidants produced by the host.

In other words, cucumber leaf extract improved the brain function not only through its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties but also the promotion of energy supply to the brain cells.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "it can be concluded that the C. melo var. flexuosus leaf extract exerts a neuroprotective effect against oxidative damage associated with diabetes".

Taken altogether, cucumber leaf extract may be used as a neuroprotective supplement, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Sources
(1) Neuroprotective effect of Cucumis melo Var. flexuosus leaf extract on the brains of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes by Ibrahim DS. (PubMed)
(2) Dementia - Types of Dementia by Kyle J. Norton

Whole Food Tomato Suppresses the Onset of Pulmonary Diseases

By Kyle J. Norton

Pulmonary diseases are a class of disease associated with the lungs, including asthma, COPD, influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis, and lung cancer.

In other words, any diseases involved in breathing problems that reduce the function of the lung are pulmonary diseases.

Most common pulmonary diseases are

* Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the airway of the lung with recurring symptoms, such as wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The disease affects people of all ages, and mostly starts during childhood.

* Pneumothorax

Pneumothorax is a condition of collection of air within the pleural cavity, from either the outside or from the lung.

* Bronchitis

Bronchitis is a condition of an inflammation of the mucous membranes of the bronchi, the larger and medium-sized airways that carry airflow from the trachea into the lung parenchyma.

* COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

** Emphysema is a type of COPD with a long term and progressive condition that cause shortness of breath, depending to the stage of lung function associated with the damage of tissues of the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs.

** Chronic bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis is a chronic inflammation of the lung’s bronchi that cause the increased production of mucus in the lung associated with the difficulty of breathing.

*Lung cancer

Lung cancer a condition of the abnormal growth of the cells in the lung's tissue. Most common form of primary lung cancers are derived from epithelial cells

* Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a condition of the inflammation of the lung caused by bacteria, such as bacterial infection, Streptococcus pneumoniae or influenza viruses in most cases.

* Pulmonary edema

Pulmonary edema is a condition of fluid accumulation in the air spaces and parenchyma of the lungs that lead to difficulty of breathing and respiratory failure.

Tomato is red, edible fruit, genus Solanum, belonging to family Solanaceae, native to South America. Because of its health benefits, the tomato is grown worldwide for the commercial purpose
and often in the greenhouse.

With an aim to find a potential ingredient for the treatment of pulmonary disease, researchers examined the dietary supplementation of tomato juice, TJ protection against the developing lung injury caused by breathing hyperoxic gas.

Neonatal mice (C57BL6/J) breathed either 65% O2 (hyperoxia) or room air from birth until postnatal day 7 (P7d)selected to the study underwent necropsy at P7d or raised in room air until adulthood (P56d). A subset of both groups, drinking water was replaced with TJ (diluted 50:50 in water) from late gestation to necropsy.

In P7d, TJ injection increased pulmonary total antioxidants (TAC) and COL1α1 expression associated with pulmonary fibrosis and attenuated the hyperoxia-induced increase in production ROS without affecting the changes in lung structure.

Futhermore, in P56d, TJ increased TAC, decreased oxidative stress and reversed the hyperoxia-induced the increase in bronchiolar smooth muscle by ameliorating the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "TJ supplementation during and after neonatal exposure to hyperoxia protects the lung from some but not all aspects of hyperoxia-induced injury".

In other words, TJ protects the lung against injury by stimulating the expression of circulation of antioxidant concentration.

Taken altogether, tomatoes may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of pulmonary diseases, pending to 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.

Sources
(1) Impact of Dietary Tomato Juice on Changes in Pulmonary Oxidative Stress, Inflammation and Structure Induced by Neonatal Hyperoxia in Mice (Mus musculus) by Bouch S1, Harding R1, O'Reilly M1, Wood LG2, Sozo F. (PubMed)
(2) Tomatidine inhibits invasion of human lung adenocarcinoma cell A549 by reducing matrix metalloproteinases expression by Yan KH1, Lee LM, Yan SH, Huang HC, Li CC, Lin HT, Chen PS. (PubMed)

Saturday, 18 May 2019

Herbal Turmeric Enhances the Ratio of Human Gut Microbiota

By Kyle J. Norton

Gut microbiota is a community of microbes living in the gastrointestinal tract.
Believe it or not, there are over trillions of microorganisms, including at least 1000 different species of known bacteria with more than 3 million genes.

In a healthy individual, the ratio of good and bad microbes in the gut are balanced. However, people who are under constant stress or have a psychological condition such as anxiety, and depression, and long-term use of antibiotics may have a negative impact on the ratio.

In other words, emotional problems, use of antibiotics may alter the ratio of the microbes in the gut, leading to inflammation, oxidative stress, and blood sugar imbalances.

Dr. Ruth K. Dudek-Wicher, the lead scientists wrote, "Gut microbial imbalance (dysbiosis) has been linked to important human diseases and inflammation-related disorders".

And, "...the impact of different antibiotics causing such long-term consequences as decreased microbial diversity, modulation of the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio, Clostridium difficile overgrowth, and increased expansion of the opportunistic pathogens Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia spp., and Klebsiella spp.".

More precisely, imbalanced gut community microbes ratio can induce certain health problems including
* Decreasing the interaction with the immune function against inflammatory immune disorders.

* Increasing the risk of gastrointestinal diseases and non-gastrointestinal diseases caused by overexpression of bad bacteria.

* Reducing nutrient extraction from the diet, thus increasing the risk of obesity and obese complication.

* Failure to control brain insulin signaling and metabolite levels that can lead to bad neurobehaviors.

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

On finding a natural compound for the improvement of bacterial composition in the gut, researchers
examined the effects of curcumin in the gut microbiota in dysbiosis, a condition that links to many metabolic diseases.

According to the tested assays, curcumin and its derivatives exerted direct regulative effects on the gut microbiota by increasing the ratio of bacteria composition in the flavor of good bacterias.

Futhermore, in the testing the turmeric tablets in the gut microbiota determined by 16S rDNA sequencing, researchers divided.14 healthy human subjects into 3 groups with extract of piperine (Bioperine) (n = 6), curcumin with Bioperine tablets (n = 5), or placebo tablets (n = 3).

According to the bacterial analysis, turmeric-treated subjects displayed a modest 7% increase in observed species compared to control with an overall reduction in species by 15%.

Moreover, curcumin displayed an average increase of 69% in detected species, depending on the gut microbiota response to individual subjects.

More precisely, in "responsive" subjects curcumin increased in most Clostridium spp., Bacteroides spp., Citrobacter spp., Cronobacter spp., Enterobacter spp., Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Parabacteroides spp., and Pseudomonas spp. and reduced relative abundance of several Blautia spp. and most Ruminococcus spp.

In other words, curcumin improved the ratio of gut microbiota by stimulating the production of "good bacterial and reducing the levels of "bad" bacterias in the colon.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "All participants' microbiota displayed significant variation over time and individualized response to treatment. Among the responsive participants, both turmeric and curcumin altered the gut microbiota in a highly similar manner".

Taken altogether, turmeric may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of imbalanced ratio of gut microbiome composition, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca

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) Gut Microbiota as a Prospective Therapeutic Target for Curcumin: A Review of Mutual Influence by Zam W. (PubMed)
(2) Effects of Turmeric and Curcumin Dietary Supplementation on Human Gut Microbiota: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study by Peterson CT1, Vaughn AR2,3, Sharma V4, Chopra D1,5, Mills PJ1, Peterson SN4, Sivamani RK. (PubMed)
(3) The influence of antibiotics and dietary components on gut microbiota by Ruth K. Dudek-Wicher,

Adam Junka, and Marzenna Bartoszewicz. (PMC)

Whole Food Tomato Improves Glucose Tolerance in Diabetics in Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton

Glucose intolerance is a condition of the cluster of metabolic conditions associated with a higher than normal blood glucose levels.

Glucose tolerance is a test that examines how fast glucose is cleared from the blood.

Glucose intolerance is found in people with pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, the conditions of elevated blood glucose that is below the diabetes

* Impaired fasting glucose (IFG), a fasting blood glucose level that is above 6.0 mmol/L

* Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), a blood glucose level that is over 7.8 mmol/L 2 hours after consuming 75g of glucose.

Glucose intolerance has been found to induce the risk of insulin resistance and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Most common symptoms of IGT are feeling thirsty, being tired or lethargic, frequent urination, and itchiness around the genitals.,

Out of many prevalent factors associated with the risk of IGT, some researchers suggested that the promotion of high-fat diet over the past few decades may have a strong and negative impact on the rise of glucose intolerance.

Dr. April J. Stull, wrote, "Glucose intolerance is a global health concern that encompasses glucose metabolism abnormalities such as impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and type 2 diabetes (T2D)".

And "The progression from IGT to T2D can be prevented or delayed by modifying the lifestyles in high-risk individuals, and these health benefits are well documented in various ethnicities with prediabetes across the world".

Tomato is red, edible fruit, genus Solanum, belonging to family Solanaceae, native to South America. Because of its health benefits, the tomato is grown worldwide for the commercial purpose
and often in the greenhouse.

With an aim to find a phytochemical for the improvement of glucose tolerance, researchers examined the effects of dry tomato peel (DTP) on diabetes induced by a high-saturated-fat (HSF) diet in vivo.

The study included BALB/c male mice (n=40) (8 weeks old, weighing 22.2±1.0 g) randomly divided into four treatment groups (10 mice/group): (a) high-fat control diet (HF Ctrl), which contains sunflower oil as a sole source of fat; (b) HSF/high-cholesterol (HC) diet; (c) HSF/HC diet supplemented with 9% DTP and (d) HSF/HC diet supplemented with 17% DTP for 12 weeks.

According to the results of the tested assay, supplementation with DTP not only increased plasma lycopene concentration but also reduced the development of indicators of metabolic syndrome which was found non-DTP treated groups.

In other words, DTP supplementation demonstrated a beneficial effect on glucose tolerance through increasing insulin sensitivity in the tested subject.

Also, in high-fat diet (HF)-induced obese mice treated by tomato vinegar beverage (TVB), researchers found that TVB not only showed a significant anti-obesity activity by decreasing fatty acid β-oxidation and carnitine palmitoyltransferase activities in HF-fed mice but also improved glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia compared to control.

More precisely, TVB exerted anti-diabetic effect by TVB significantly increased glucokinase activity and decreased glucose-6-phosphatase activity in the liver, associated with the enhanced glucose metabolism in obese mice.

The findings strongly suggested that TVB inhibits glucose intolerance in obese mice through several mechanisms, including glucose metabolism.

Taken altogether, tomato processed a high amount of lycopene may be considered a dietary supplements for the improvement of glucose tolerance, pending to large 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.

Sources
(1) Effect of dry tomato peel supplementation on glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, and hepatic markers in mice fed high-saturated-fat/high-cholesterol diets by Zidani S1, Benakmoum A2, Ammouche A3, Benali Y4, Bouhadef A4, Abbeddou S. (PubMed)
(2) Anti-obesity and anti-insulin resistance effects of tomato vinegar beverage in diet-induced obese mice by Seo KI1, Lee J, Choi RY, Lee HI, Lee JH, Jeong YK, Kim MJ, Lee MK. (PubMed)
(3) Lifestyle Approaches and Glucose Intolerance by April J. Stull, PhD, RD. (PubMed)

Bromelain Protects the tissues On Chronic Wound Healing

By Kyle J. Norton

A chronic wound is a wound that does not heal within a predictable period of time.

It may be a result of the interruption of the stage of wound healing or damage of the blood vessels that have a function in providing necessary conditions to promote the closure of the wound as seen in a diabetic leg ulcer.

In other words, any wound that does not heal with 3 months is considered a chronic wound.

According to the statistics provided by the study "An Economic Evaluation of the Impact, Cost, and Medicare Policy Implications of Chronic Nonhealing Wounds", approximately, 2% of the population in developed countries suffer from chronic wounds.

Additionally, every year, more than 305 million cases of acute, traumatic and burn wounds are treated globally.

Believe it or not, chronic and acute wound affects more than nine times of people around the world compared to those living with cancer.

Some researchers suggested that pressure, trauma and/or lower extremity wounds, increased the bacterial load, interruption of the stage of wound healing including excessive proteases, degraded cell surface structures, and inappropriate treatment are considered the most potential causes of the conditions.

More precisely, if we can protect all stages of wound healing without interruption, the chronic wound can be preventable.

Bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme found in pineapples (Ananas comosus) has been used in traditional medicine as an inflammatory agent for the treatment of pains, strains, and muscle aches and pains and ease back pain and chronic joint pain, skin diseases, etc.

With an aim to find a natural compound for the treatment of the chronic wound, researchers examined the efficacy of bromelain-based enzymatic debridement of chronic wounds.

The study included 24 patients with chronic wounds of different aetiologies.

According to 2 consecutive single-arm studies assessing the enzymatic debridement efficacy in 2 medical centers, all wounds achieved an average of 68% ± 30% debridement in an average of 3.5 ± 2.8 enzymatic debridement 4-hour sessions.

17/24 patients showed the responding wounds (venous, diabetic, pressure, and post-traumatic aetiologies) of an average of 85% ± 12% debridement in 3.2 ± 2.5 applications, compared to 7/24 patients with no response.

There were no adverse effects reported by the patients. Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "These preliminary results indicate the potential safety and efficacy of bromelain-based enzymatic debridement in chronic wounds".

In vitro, according to the results of two soft tissue healing--fibroblasts and microvascular endothelial cells--were used as mono- and co-culture with bromelain, bromelain attenuated endothelial cell and fibroblast proliferation moderately.

The inhibition of cell proliferation was not associated with cell apoptosis but cell cycle arrest in the G0 phase.

In the comparable tested, bromelain did not reduce endothelial cell migration. whereas fibroblast migration was clearly slowed down.

In other words, bromelain displayed a significant decrease of myofibroblasts under both normoxic (from 19 to 12 %) and hypoxic conditions (from 22 to 15 %) coincident with higher levels of anti-inflammatory expression.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "Usage of bromelain as a therapeutic drug for chronic human wounds thus remains a very promising concept for the future".

Taken altogether, bromelain used alone or combined with other remedies may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of chronic wounds, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Sources
(1) Bromelain-based enzymatic debridement of chronic wounds: A preliminary report by Shoham Y1, Krieger Y1, Tamir E2, Silberstein E1, Bogdanov-Berezovsky A1, Haik J3, Rosenberg L. (PubMed)
(2) Bromelain down-regulates myofibroblast differentiation in an in vitro wound healing assay by Aichele K1, Bubel M, Deubel G, Pohlemann T, Oberringer M. (PubMed)