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

Saturday, 17 August 2019

Healthy Legume Navy Bean Reduces the Risk and Onset of Cardiovascular Disease

By Kyle J. Norton

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases involved in the heart or blood vessels. In other words, CVD includes heart disease and stroke

Heart Disease is a medical condition associated with reduced function of the heart in pumping blood to the body through its blood vessels.

In the US, heart disease causes the death of approximately 610,000 Americans every year. More precisely 1 in every 4 deaths in the US is associated with heart disease.

Most cases of heart diseases are caused by high blood pressure that contributes to hardening of the arteries, and high levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) that causes the build-up of plaque in the arteries.

High levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) has been found epidemiologically, associated with an uncontrolled diet with high levels of saturated fat and trans fat, that lead to the formation of atherosclerosis lesions and eventually arterial blockage.

In other words, anything that serves to damage the inner lining of blood vessels and impedes the transportation of oxygen and nutrition to the heart is a risk of heart disease.

A stroke is caused by the interruption or reduction of blood supply to part of the brain that deprives brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients, leading to the death of brain cells.

According to the statistics, every year, more than 795,000 people in the US have a stroke, including the 610,000 cases of new strokes.

Believe it or not, 1 of 4 cases of stroke are in people who have had a previous stroke.

There are similar causes of stroke and heart diseases, but in stroke, the result is more severe. Any delay in rescuing will result in the death of the victim.

The small, white navy bean, also called pea bean or haricot, popular in both dry and green forms, is very popular in Britain and the US, native to Peru. The legume is now grown and consumed across the world, due to their numerous health benefits.

With an aim to find a potential ingredient for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, researchers examined the navy beans and rice bran effect on regulating blood lipids in adults and children.

The pilot, randomized-controlled, clinical trial included 38 children (10 ± 0.8 years old) with abnormal cholesterol who consumed a snack for 4 weeks containing either: no navy bean or rice bran (control); 17.5 g/day cooked navy bean powder; 15 g/day heat-stabilized rice bran; or 9 g/day navy beans and 8 g/day rice bran.

According to the analysis of the plasma metabolites extracted, navy bean and/or rice bran consumption influenced 71 plasma compounds compared to control (p ≤ 0.05), with lipids representing 46% of the total plasma metabolome.

In other words, navy bean intake causes significant changes of 18 plasma lipids compared to only 10 plasma lipids for the rice bran group and 48 lipids compared to only 40 in the rice bran group compared to baseline.

More precisely, the intake of navy bean had a positive impact on blood lipid metabolism in reducing CVD risk in children.

Additional differentiation of the navy bean anti hypercholesterol activity, researchers found that the efficacy of navy bean was attributed to the decrease of free fatty acids associated with metabolic diseases (palmitate and arachidonate) and increase of the relative abundance of endogenous anti-inflammatory lipids.

Based on the results, researchers said, " Findings from this pilot study support the need for investigating the effects of these foods for longer durations to reduce CVD risk".

Taken altogether, navy bean may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease caused by high blood cholesterol, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Sources
(1) Navy Bean and Rice Bran Intake Alters the Plasma Metabolome of Children at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease by Li KJ1, Borresen EC1, Jenkins-Puccetti N2, Luckasen G2, Ryan EP. (PubMed)
(2) Heart Diseases- Causes, Symptoms, Types, Preventions & Treatments by Kyle J. Norton
(3) Stroke -- The Causes by Kyle J. Norton

Turmeric Inhibits the Plaque Formation that Cause Gingivitis

By Kyle J. Norton

Gingivitis is a common and mild form of periodontal disease caused by inflammation of the gingiva, leading to symptoms of irritation, redness, and swelling of the gum that lines the base of the teeth.

Gingivitis dental plaques formed around the base of the teeth are sticky biofilm of bacteria associated with the interaction of the food intake and bacteria in the mouth. Over time, if untreated, the condition can lead to periodontitis and advanced periodontitis.

At this early stage, the bone and connective tissue that hold the teeth in place are not yet affected. The problems can be reversed by more frequent and proper brushing and flossing.

Most common cause of gingivitis is poor hygiene. Epidemiologically, risk factors induce the onset of gingivitis are smoking or chewing tobacco. diabetes and long-term use of certain medication including oral contraceptives, steroids, anticonvulsants, calcium channel blockers.

Some people under treatment of chemotherapy may also experience symptoms of gingivitis.

The Colgate Professional in the examined the symptoms advised that if you have experienced some of the symptoms that do not heal themselves in a short time, such as puffy or swollen, or tender, bleeding during brushing or flossing, teeth that look longer due to receded gum, gums that have separated or pulled away, from your teeth, creating a pocket, changes in the way your teeth fit together when you bite, pus coming from between your teeth and gums, and constant bad breath or a bad taste in your mouth, you may have gingivitis.

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 for the treatment of flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On finding a natural compound that benefits oral health against bacterial infection, researchers compared the efficacy of turmeric mouthwash and chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash in the prevention of gingivitis and plaque formation.

The study included a total of 100 randomly selected subjects with the age between 25 to 35 years having fair and poor gingival index scores and a score >1 for plaque index visited the Department of Periodontology at Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Dental College and Hospital.

According to the gingival index (GI) by Loe and followed by Turesky- Gilmore-Glickman modification of Quigley Hein plaque index (TQHPI) at 0, 14 and 21 days, researchers found that
* There is no significant difference in the mean gingival index (GI) in chlorhexidine mouthwash, compared to turmeric mouthwash

* Both types of mouthwash exerted a significant reduction in the total microbial counts.

* Chlorhexidine and turmeric mouthwash demonstrated a similar effect in the total microbial count.

* Statistically chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash showed significant reduction (p < 0.05) in mean plaque index (PI), compared to turmeric mouthwash.

Based on the findings, researchers concluded, "it can be concluded that chlorhexidine gluconate, as well as turmeric mouthwash, can be effectively used as an adjunct to mechanical plaque control methods in prevention of plaque and gingivitis" and "Chlorhexidine gluconate has been found to be more effective when the antiplaque property was considered".

In other words, turmeric is definitely a good mechanical plaque control, particularly, if the cost is taking into account.

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the plaque formation in orchestrating gingivitis, 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

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Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
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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) Comparative evaluation of turmeric and chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash in prevention of plaque formation and gingivitis: a clinical and microbiological study by Waghmare PF1, Chaudhari AU, Karhadkar VM, Jamkhande AS. (PubMed)
(2) What Are The Stages Of Gum Disease? by The Colgate Professional

Lycopene, Protects the Liver Cells Against the Risk of Hepatic Steatosis

By Kyle J. Norton

The liver is the largest internal organ that filters the blood from the digestive tract, before passing them to the rest of the body.

The liver also plays an essential role to produce cholesterol to build a strong cell wall, produce steroid hormones and vitamin D and aid the digestive function in food absorption and detoxify chemicals and metabolizes drugs.

Hepatic steatosis is a medical condition that reduces the function of the liver caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver.

In other words, if the intrahepatic fat of your liver is more than 5% of liver weight, you are considered to have hepatic steatosis. Epidemiologically, over time, untreated hepatic steatosis can lead to liver metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, and advanced forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Hepatic steatosis has been found to induce complications in patients with obesity, alcohol intoxication and/or hepatic disorders.

Most common risk factors associated with the onset of hepatic steatosis are insulin resistance or diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, rapid weight loss, using hepatotoxic medications total parenteral nutrition (TPN).

The increased flux of fatty acids to the liver, de novo lipogenesis, and/or reduced clearance through β-oxidation or very-low-density lipoprotein secretion are some mechanisms that cause the accumulation of intrahepatic fat.

Out of many prevalent factors involved in the onset of hepatic steatosis, some researchers suggested that the promotion of the Western diet over the past few decades in the Western world may have a strong and negative impact that accelerates the incidence onset.

Dr. Michael D. Roberts, the lead scientist said, "Six weeks of WD feeding caused hepatic steatosis development as evidenced by the 2.25-fold increase in liver triacylglycerol content,...in adult Brown Norway rats".

And, "sub-chronic WD feeding appears to increase hepatic steatosis development over a 6-week period but only induces select inflammation-related liver transcripts, mostly acute phase response genes".

Lycopene is a phytochemical 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 prevention of liver disease, researchers examined the effects of lycopene on hepatic steatosis in an animal model.

In a model of high-fat diet rats, lycopene not only showed significant effect against the development of steatohepatitis but also inhibited nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in the promotion of the early stage of liver cancer through its antioxidant activity.

In rats induced NAFLD by a hypercholesterolemic and high-fat diet, according to the tested analysis, after 7 weeks, there are clear differences in the classical antioxidant biomarkers and metabolic pattern associated with the inhibition of NAFLD between the diet and intake of lycopene from tomato juice.

Interestingly, tomato juice administration partially reverted the metabolic pattern from a high-fat diet to a normal diet in metabolites without exhibiting the redox state.

Taken altogether, lycopene found in tomato may be considered supplements for the improvement of liver metabolism against the risk liver disease, 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.

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) Lipid biomarkers and metabolic effects of lycopene from tomato juice on liver of rats with induced hepatic steatosis by Bernal C1, Martín-Pozuelo G, Lozano AB, Sevilla A, García-Alonso J, Canovas M, Periago MJ. (PubMed)
(2) Lycopene and apo-10'-lycopenoic acid have differential mechanisms of protection against hepatic steatosis in β-carotene-9',10'-oxygenase knockout male mice by Ip BC1, Liu C2, Lichtenstein AH3, von Lintig J4, Wang XD. (PubMed)
(3) Western diet-induced hepatic steatosis and alterations in the liver transcriptome in adult Brown Norway rats by Michael D. Roberts, C. Brooks Mobley, Ryan G. Toedebush, Alexander J. Heese, Conan Zhu,Anna E. Krieger, Clayton L. Cruthirds, Christopher M. Lockwood, John C. Hofheins,Charles E. Wiedmeyer, Heather J. Leidy, Frank W. Booth, and R. Scott Rector. (PMC)

Cranberry Protects the Integrity of Bladder Cells Against Bladder Cancer

By Kyle J. Norton

The bladder formed part of the secretory system is a muscular sac in the pelvis, just above and behind the pubic bone.

The bladder has 2 main functions that store the urine made in the kidneys and control urinary secretion.

Cancer is a group of chronic diseases characterized by cell growth disorderly that starts on the surface of the inner lining tissue of a specific tissue of a gland or organ.

Bladder cancer is the most common type of cancer that affects men twice as frequently as it affects women, Bladder cancer usually starts from the cells on the surface of inner tissue that the lines the bladder.

Bladder cancer depending on the origination of cancer beginning can be classified into

* Transitional cell carcinoma
In the early stage of bladder cancer, normal cells become cancerous in the innermost tissue layer of the bladder which can change shape and stretch without breaking apart. In other words, cancer in this stage is able to stretch when the bladder is full and shrink when the bladder is emptied.

More than 90 percent of bladder cancers begin in the transitional cells

* Squamous cell carcinoma
Cancer begins in squamous cells found in the tissues of the surface of the bladder, due to long-term infection or irritation. About 8 percent of people with bladder cancers begin squamous cells.

* Adenocarcinoma
Cancer originates from the glandular tissue of the bladder, including the surface layer of skin, glands and a variety of other tissue, due to long-term irritation and inflammation. Only 2 percent of people with the condition have a third bladder cancer type.

The exact causes of bladder cancer are unidentified. However, smoking has been associated with a significant factor that causes the onset of the disease.

Dr. Neal D Freedman, the lead scientist wrote, "Previous studies indicate that the population attributable risk of bladder cancer for tobacco smoking is 50–65% in men and 20–30% in women and that current cigarette smoking triples bladder cancer risk relative to never smoking".

And, "Over the last 30 years, incidence rates have remained stable in the United States (men: 123.8/100,000 person-years to 142.2/100,000 person-years; women: 32.5/100,000 person-years to 33.2/100,000 person-years)".

Cranberry is an evergreen dwarf shrub, genus Vaccinium, belongings to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern America and Southern Asia. Because of its health benefits, cranberry has been cultivated in some parts of the world for commercial profit and used in traditional and herbal medicine to treat wounds, urinary disorders, diarrhea, diabetes, stomach ailments, and liver problems.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of bladder cancer, researchers examined the anti-proliferative activities of cranberry derived flavonoids on human bladder tumor cell lines (RT4, SCABER, and SW-780) and non-tumorigenic immortalized human uroepithelial cells (SV-HUC).

According to the tested analysis,

* Quercetin 3-O-glucoside, isorhamnetin (3'-O-methyl quercetin), myricetin and quercetin found in cranberry showed strong concentration-dependent cell growth inhibitory activities in bladder cancer cells with IC50 values in a range of 8-92 μM compared to others.

* Isorhamnetin and myricetin had very low inhibitory activity against SV-HUC even at very high concentrations (>200 μM) compared to bladder cancer cells.

These results strongly suggested that isorhamnetin and myricetin inhibited bladder cancer cells without causing harm to the nearby healthy cells.

Furthermore, according to the results of SW-780 cells incubated with the aforementioned compounds, hyperoside, a member of 3-O-galactoside of quercetin undergoes relatively less metabolic biotransformation (methylation, glucuronidation and quinone formation) compared to quercetin 3-O-glucoside.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "isorhamnetin and quercetin 3-O-glucoside may be the active forms of quercetin in the prevention of bladder cancer".

Taken altogether, cranberry processed abundantly bioactive compounds may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of bladder cancer pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Sources
(1) Metabolism and growth inhibitory activity of cranberry derived flavonoids in bladder cancer cells by Prasain JK1, Rajbhandari R1, Keeton AB2, Piazza GA2, Barnes S. (PubMed)
(2) Cranberries and Cancer: An Update of Preclinical Studies Evaluating the CancerInhibitory Potential of Cranberry and Cranberry Derived Constituents by Weh KM1, Clarke J2,3,4, Kresty LA. (PubMed)
(3) Association between smoking and risk of bladder cancer among men and women by Neal D Freedman, PhD, MPH,1 Debra T Silverman, ScD, ScM,1 Albert R Hollenbeck, PhD,2Arthur Schatzkin, MD, DrPH,1 and Christian C Abnet, PhD, MPH. (PMC)

Friday, 16 August 2019

Turmeric Protects the Liver Against the Risk of Hepatic Steatosis in Obese

By Kyle J. Norton

The liver is the largest internal organ that not only plays an essential role to cleanse the blood coming from the digestive system before passing them to other parts of the body but secrets cholesterol to aid digestive function, produce steroid hormones and vitamin D and build strong cell walls.

Steatosis is a condition caused by abnormal retention of lipids within a cell or organ. Hepatic steatosis is a medical condition caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver.

In other words, if the fat of your liver is more than 5% of liver weight, you are considered to have hepatic steatosis. Over time, untreated hepatic steatosis can lead to advanced forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease which have been found to induce negatively the function of the liver, particularly. in patients with obesity-associated with alcohol intoxication and/or hepatic disorders.

There are several mechanisms involved in the accumulation of intrahepatic fat, including increased flux of fatty acids to the liver, increased de novo lipogenesis, and/or reduced clearance through β-oxidation or very-low-density lipoprotein secretion.

People who are obese, having the condition of insulin resistance or diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, rapid weight loss, using hepatotoxic medications total parenteral nutrition (TPN) are at the increased risk of hepatic steatosis.

Conventionally, there is no effective treatment of liver steatosis. However, treatment of liver steatosis in obese are focusing to reduce weight and symptoms and improve quality of life, totally depending on the severity of the disease.

Usually, weight loss through a combination of a healthy diet and exercise is also the first line of treatment. in patients with an advanced stage of liver fibrosis, (cirrhosis) liver transplantation may be an option.

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.

On finding a natural compound for the prevention of liver steatosis, researchers examined the alleviation effect of KBH-1, an herbal mixture of Saururus chinensis, Curcuma longa and Polygala tenuifolia in obesity-induced hepatic steatosis.

The experiment included HepG2 cells, primary neuronal cells and a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity rat model in vitro and in vivo.

According to the tested assays, KBH-1 not only suppressed the lipid deposition in HepG2 cells exposed to free fatty acids (FFA) but also significantly inhibited major factors in lipogenesis associated with the formation of fat and promoted major factors in lipolysis involved in breaking down of fats.

In high fat-induced obesity model, KBH-1 improved hepatic steatosis by alleviating the effects on lipogenic genes and kinases similarly to those in vitro.

Furthermore, KBH-1 significantly improved the leptin-mediated signals that regulate food intake, energy expenditure, metabolism,.. impaired by obesity or FFA in the obesity model.

Moreover, according to the HPLC analysis, onji-saponin B and curcumin found in the formula has also potently suppressed the level of triglycerides.

In other words, KBH-1 activated the expression of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) associated with the regulation of energy metabolism that stimulates glucose uptake and lipid oxidation to produce energy and suppressed the expression of PPARγ involved in hepatic steatosis... in obesity.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "These findings show the potential of KBH-1 as a functional food supplement or preventive agent in the treatment of obesity (.associated with hepatic steatosis)".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of hepatic steatosis in obese, 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) KBH-1, an herbal composition, improves hepatic steatosis and leptin resistance in high-fat diet-induced obese rats by Lee JH1, Lee JJ1, Cho WK1, Yim NH1, Kim HK2, Yun B2, Ma JY. (PubMed)
(2) The effects of herbal composition Gambigyeongsinhwan (4) on hepatic steatosisand inflammation in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats and HepG2 cells by Yoon S1, Kim J1, Lee H1, Lee H1, Lim J1, Yang H2, Shin SS3, Yoon M. (PubMed)

Whole Food Onion Anti-Parasitic, Bacterial and Fungal Activity

By Kyle J. Norton

Microbial infection is a disease caused by microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites.

Most healthy adults can be recovered quickly without using antibiotics.

However, if the immune system or antibiotics used cannot wipe off all the micro invader in a specific time, approximately 3 to 8 weeks, it will lead to the compromise, leading to chronic infection, such as asthma, airway inflammation, pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases.

Viruses are made up of a piece of genetic material, such as DNA or RNA enclosed in a coat of protein. Virtual infection is a result of a viral invasion that use components of invaded cells to multiply, leading to the damages or alternation of the DNA or RNA of the host cells.

Bacterias are single-cell organisms that cause infectious disease by multiplying after finding the specific tissue or organ. Pathogenic bacteria also challenges the immune system for survival.

Fungi are a class of living organism, including yeasts, molds, and mushrooms. fungal infections in most cases start in the lungs or on the skin. The disease has been found mostly in people with a weakened immune system and long-term use of antibiotics.

Parasites are living organisms that live and extract food in a host. Parasites are also completely dependent on the host for survivals, including lice, ringworms, pinworms, and scabies.

Believe it or not, over 70 percent of parasites are not visible to the human eye, such as the malarial parasite, However, some parasites such as worms can reach many meters in length.

According to the statistics provided by the CDC, infectious diseases cause over 15 million visits to physician offices and 3.7 million visits to the emergency department in the US every year.

The onion is a plant in the genus Allium, belonging to the family Alliaceae, a close relation of garlic. It is often called the "king of vegetables" because of its pungent taste and found in a large number of recipes and preparations spanning almost the totality of the world's cultures.

Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy, pungent, mild or sweet.

In Anti-Parasitic activity

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of infectious diseases, researchers examined the anti-parasitic activity of garlic and onion.

According to the tested analysis, the abundance of a number of sulfur secondary metabolites in garlic and one (zwiebelane) in the onion extract killed both types of parasites (On Trypanosoma brucei brucei and Leishmania tarentolae) efficiently.

Futhermore, both extracts also inhibited the Trypanosoma brucei trypanothione reductase irreversibly.

The combinations of garlic and onion with common trypanocidal and leishmanicidal drugs exerted a synergistic effect in 50% of all tested cases.

Moreover, by additional differentiation of the chemical compound in both extracts, researchers found that the efficacy of garlic and onion against the tested parasites may be related to the amount and the profile of sulfur-containing compounds through inhibiting certain materials in the parasitic cells.

In Bacterial and Fungal Activity

Additonally, in the comparison of the antimicrobial activities of onion (Allium cepa), garlic (Allium sativum), mint (Mentha spicata), thyme (Thymus vulgaris), oak (Quercus), aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller), and ginger (Zingiber officinale).

All extracts of these medicinal herbs in 80% methanol, 80% ethanol, 80% acetone, and 100% water demonstrated a significant effect against selected microbial strains, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Pasteurella multocida, and fungal strains, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizopus solani, and Alternaria alternata.

However, The extracts show better antimicrobial activity against bacterial strains as compared to fungal strains.

Taken altogether, onion may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by parasitic and microbial infection pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Sources
(1) Evaluation of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Some Common Herbs by Abdul Qadir M1, Shahzadi SK1, Bashir A2, Munir A2, Shahzad S. (PubMed)
(2) Tulbaghia violacea and Allium ursinum Extracts Exhibit Anti-Parasitic and Antimicrobial Activities by Krstin S1, Sobeh M2, Braun MS3, Wink M. (PubMed)

Healthy Food Onion Reduces the Risk of Head and Neck Cancer

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is a class of diseases associated with cells growth disorderly and uncontrollably in the tissue of a specific organ. Over time cancer can become progressively worse and damage other healthy tissues.

Head and neck cancer is a class of cancer including the mouth, nose, throat, larynx, sinuses, or salivary glands.

Most cases of head and neck cancer start in the cell of the inner lining of the affected tissue. Patients with head and neck cancer at the very early stage are asymptomatic due to the very small size of the tumor. However, at the later stage, the cancer cell can travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organ, leading to secondary metastasis.

The exact causes of head and neck cancer are not identified. However, researchers found that excessive alcohol intake, smoking, infected by the HPV virus, poor oral health, race, long-term exposure to wood dust are prevalent factors associated with an increased risk of head and neck cancer.

Dr. Shu-Chun Chuang in the investigation of the risk of diet on head and neck cancer (HNC) wrote, "An inverse association was observed for higher frequency intake of fruit (4th vs. 1st quartile OR=0.52, 95% CI=0.43–0.62, ptrend<0.01) and vegetables (OR=0.66, 95% CI=0.49–0.90, ptrend=0.01). Intake of red meat (OR=1.40, 95% CI=1.13–1.74, ptrend=0.13) and processed meat (OR=1.37, 95% CI=1.14–1.65, ptrend<0.01) were positively associated with HNC risk. Higher dietary pattern scores, reflecting high fruit/vegetable and low red meat intake, were associated with reduced HNC risk (per score increment OR=0.90, 95% CI=0.84–0.97)". wrote, "

In other words, a diet rich with fruits and vegetable and low red meat intake reduces the risk of HNC, whereas, a diet rich with red meat and processed meat is associated with a higher risk of the disease.

Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy, pungent, mild or sweet.

In the urgency to find a potential compound for the treatment of head and neck cancer, researchers investigated the potentially favorable role of garlic and onion within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium.

By analyzing the pooled individual-level data from eight case-control studies, including 4590 cases and 7082 controls, researchers found that at the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between garlic and onion intakes and HNC

* The ORs of 0.95 was associated with participants with no or low garlic use, and 0.74 for high garlic use participants.

* Increasing onion intake OR was 0.91 ( for >1 to ≤3 portions per week) and 0.83 ( for >3 portions per week) compared to <1 portion per week.

* Furthermore, higher onion intake showed a significant inverse association with laryngeal cancer risk (OR = 0.69; 95% CI 0.54-0.88).

In other words, the risk of head and neck cancer are decreased proportionally with the amount intake of onion daily and weekly, particularly in laryngeal cancer.

Based on the finding, researchers wrote, "The results of this pooled-analysis support a possible moderate inverse association between... onion intake and HNC risk".

Taken altogether, onion may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Sources
(1) Relation of allium vegetables intake with head and neck cancers: evidence from the INHANCE consortium by Galeone C1, Turati F1, Zhang ZF2, Guercio V3, Tavani A1, Serraino D4, Brennan P5, Fabianova E6, Lissowska J7, Mates D8, Rudnai P9, Shangina O10, Szeszenia-Dabrowska N11, Vaughan TL12, Kelsey K13, McClean M14, Levi F15, Hayes RB16, Purdue MP17, Bosetti C1, Brenner H18,19, Pelucchi C1, Lee YC20, Hashibe M21, Boffetta P22, La Vecchia C. (PubMed)
(2) Diet and the Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: A Pooled Analysis in the INHANCE Consortium by Shu-Chun Chuang,1,2 Mazda Jenab,2 Julia E. Heck,3 Cristina Bosetti,4 Renato Talamini,5Keitaro Matsuo,6 Xavier Castellsague,7 Silvia Franceschi,2 Rolando Herrero,8Deborah M. Winn,9 Carlo La Vecchia,4,10 Hal Morgenstern,11 Zuo-Feng Zhang,3 Fabio Levi,12Luigino Dal Maso,5 Karl Kelsey,13 Michael D. McClean,14 Thomas Vaughan,15Philip Lazarus,16 Joshua Muscat,16 Heribert Ramroth,17 Chu Chen,15 Stephen M. Schwartz,15Jose Eluf-Neto,18 Richard B. Hayes,19 Mark Purdue,9 Stefania Boccia,20,21 Gabriella Cadoni,22David Zaridze,23 Sergio Koifman,24 Maria Paula Curado,2 Wolfgang Ahrens,25Simone Benhamou,26 Elena Matos,27 Pagona Lagiou,28 Neonilla Szeszenia-Dabrowska,29Andrew F. Olshan,30 Leticia Fernandez,31 Ana Menezes,32 Antonio Agudo,33Alexander W. Daudt,34 Franco Merletti,35 Gary J. Macfarlane,36 Kristina Kjaerheim,37Dana Mates,38 Ivana Holcatova,39 Stimson Schantz,40 Guo-Pei Yu,40 Lorenzo Simonato,41Hermann Brenner,42 Heiko Mueller,42 David I. Conway,43 Peter Thomson,44Eleonora Fabianova,45 Ariana Znaor,46 Peter Rudnai,47 Claire M. Healy,48 Gilles Ferro,2Paul Brennan,2 Paolo Boffetta,49,50 and Mia Hashibe. (PMC)