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

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Food Therapy: Garlic - The Whole Food Medicine for Antiplatelet Aggregation

Antiplatelet activity is the effect in decreased platelet aggregation and inhibited thrombus formation.

According to the Ochanomizu University, sulfur-containing compounds in garlic not only inhibited arachidonic acid metabolism but also suppressed aggregation in association with the function of the platelet plasma membrane.

In vitro, garlic mechanisms of action may be comparable to that of the clinically used drug clopidogrel, as the herb exerts antiaggregatory effects. Garlic extracts are acting by inhibition of the ADP pathway, an important physiological agonist of normal hemostasis and thrombosis.

Dr. MacDonald JA lead of researcher said, " The ability of an aromatic disulfide to inhibit platelet aggregation can be enhanced by appending an electron-withdrawing group to the aromatic ring. The results presented establish that the aromatic thiosulfonate is a very effective inhibitor of platelet aggregation"

Beside the sulfur compound, Ajoene, (E,Z)-4,5,9-trithiadodeca-1,6,11-triene 9-oxide, isolated from alcoholic extracts of garlic reversibly inhibited platelet aggregation through platelet deposition on severely damaged vessel wall but not affected platelet adhesion.

In fact, in the comparsion of the effect of the Garlic Pill with Plavix on Platelet Aggregation and Bleeding Time, groups treated with 1200 or 2400 mg garlic inhibited platelet aggregation substantially, through increased time of bleeding.

The use of garlic supplement should be taken with care for patients who are taking Anticoagulant as garlic may increase risk of bleeding. Also, patients with ulcer should consult with their doctors.

Monday 10 July 2017

Herbal Therapy: Chamomile, The best Whole herb Medicine in Expression of Sedative Activities

Sedation is a form of medicine in induced calm and sleep.

The herbal medicine is also known as camomile, common name of many species daisy-like plants in the family Asteraceae, 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.

In support of the sedative effect, chamomile cream also is found to reduce episiotomy pain sedately in primiparous women, according to a triple blind clinical trial performed on 114 eligible women at Ommolbanin Hospital in Mashhad, Iran in 2014.

Dr. McKay DL said, " Chamomile has moderate antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, and significant antiplatelet activity Animal model studies indicate potent antiinflammatory action, some antimutagenic and cholesterol-lowering activities, as well as antispasmotic and anxiolytic effects" and "(Unfortunately) However, human studies are limited, and clinical trials examining the purported sedative properties of chamomile tea are absent."

In fact, in the investigated hypnotic activities of chamomile and passiflora extracts using sleep-disturbed model rats, researcher at the Okayama University insisted, chamomile extract at a dose of 300 mg/kg exerted significantly decrease sleep latency.
The study also suggested, chamomile extract is a herb having benzodiazepine-like hypnotic activity.

Taking altogether, Chamomile may be helpful to aid calm and sleep through its sedative effects, but intake of correct amount should only be given by qualified herbalist

Food Therapy: Cruciferous Vegetables, the Best Natural Whole Food Medicine for Reduced risk and Treatment of Cancers

Cruciferous vegetables are the group of vegetables belonging to the family Brassicaceae, including cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok choy, broccoli etc.

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells growing and multiplying disordered and uncontrollable way in our body, have become progressively worse and damaged other healthy tissues, sometimes spreads to other organs in the body via lymph or blood and results may be in death.

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C), according to Dr. Aggarwal BB and Dr. Ichikawa H., also inhibited DNA-carcinogen abducted formation, and suppressed free-radical production, stimulated 2-hydroxylation of estradiol in reduced cell proliferative and estrogenic activity and formation of blood vessels involved cancer cell survival.

Furthermore, indole-3-carbinol and its derivatives in the other studes not only expressed the anti cancer effects through gene formation, inhibited free radicals production, ... but also interfered with cancer cell cycle division phase to induce apoptosis.

Other chemical compounds found in cruciferous vegetables, showed to possess potent antitumor and chemopreventive activity including sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate and Allyl nitrile (3-butenenitrile).

Taking together, there is no doubt, cruciferous vegetables have exhibited anti cancer activities, through many aspects. In take of cruciferous vegetables regularly is associated to reduced risk and treatment various types of cancer.

Sunday 9 July 2017

Food Therapy: Garlic - The Whole Food Medicine for Reduced Risk and Treatment of Hyperlipidemia

Kyle J. Norton, Master of Nutrients
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, 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 Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.

"Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food", using foods as medication has been a dream of many scholars and scientists over past many centuries. In order to achieve this efficacy, consumption of whole food medicine must be accompanied with moderated exercise, change of diet and life style.
Various studies insisted that garlic is function well in reduced blood cholesterol accumulation.

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species in the onion genus, belonging to family Amaryllidaceae, native to central Asia. It has been used popularly in traditional and Chinese medicine in treating common cold and flu to the Plague, blood pressure cholesterol levels, natural antibiotic, etc.

In the total of forty 10-month-old, male Wistar rats received intraperitoneal (IP) injection of CsA (25 mg/kg) for 28 days, group received garlic (tablets, 400 mg/d) demonstrated reduced LDL levels compared with controls.

Also in patient with Nephrotic syndrome (NS), characterized by proteinuria, oxidative stress and endogenous hyperlipidemia, 2% garlic diet treatment diminished significantly total-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, but not HDL-cholesterol, through the attenuation of the rise of lipoperoxidation.

Dr. Bragg DA and Dr. Walling A said," The evidence to support use of integrative medicine is limited (to treatment of metabolic symdrome), but the strongest evidence of benefit is for garlic (Allium sativum)".

Furthermore, the Wistar male rats randomly divided into 4 diet groups with garlic supplementation study, also support the effect of garlic in treatment of hyperlipidemia, as group treated with 200 mg raw garlic/kg body weight, demonstrated the protective effects on HDL in rats with high LDL intake.

In fact, patients with high blood cholesterol may want to add a portion of garlic into their daily diet

but patients with presence of ulcer should only take garlic or garlic supplement with permission of herbalist.

Herbal Therapy: Cat's claw, The best Whole Herb Medicine for Treatment of Breast Cancer

Kyle J. Norton, Master of Nutrients
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, 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 Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.

Whole food(herbal medicine), linking health benefits in prevention, management and treatment of diseases has placed an important role in human history over many centuries. The finding of whole food medication by renowned scientists all over world to replace the single ingredient of Western medicine with little or no side effect has been difficult due to no commercial benefit and patent right to producers.

Cat's claw found in the tropical jungles of South and Central America, is a genus Uncaria, belonging to the family Rubiaceae, used in traditional medicine over two thousand years as a tonic, contraceptive, anti-inflammatory and infectious agent, and to treat diarrhea, rheumatic disorders, acne, diabetes, cancer and diseases of the urinary tract, etc..

The chemical constituents of Cat's claw include, ajmalicine, akuammigine, campesterol, catechin, carboxyl alkyl esters, chlorogenic acid, cinchonain, corynantheine, corynoxeine, daucosterol, epicatechin, harman, hirsuteine, hirsutine, iso-pteropodine, etc.

Breast cancer (malignant breast neoplasm) is a cancer that starts in the tissues of the breast either from the inner lining of milk ducts (Ductal carcinoma) or the lobules (Lobular carcinoma) that supply the ducts with milk.
There is also rare cases that breast cancer starts in other areas of the breast. In 2010, over 250,000 new cases of breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. alone and the risk of getting invasive breast cancer during life time of a women is 1/8.

Recent study of prevention in experimental diabetes suggested that Uncaria tomentosa (Willd.) may be effective in reduced risk and treatment of breast cancer.

Hydroalcoholic extract of U. tomentosa is found to associate with reduction of accelerated tumor progression through many biological aspects.
Stusy of C57BL/6 male mice injected with MLDS (40 mg/kg) and orally treated with UT at 10-400mg/kg during 21 days, showed a higher number of intact islets and a significant inhibition of destructive insulitis, and significant protection against the loss of insulin-secreting presented β-cells.

The plant also expressed high level of modulation of the immune system. Immunomodulatory properties of medicinal plant showed to mitigate breast cancer cell growth, through immune cell types participate in the process especially cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, and cytokines.
In MT-3 and MCF7 cell lines, U. tomentosa also exhibited antiproliferative, cytotoxic, cytostatic and anti-inflammatory activity as well as mutagenic and antimutagenic properties.

Dr. Baraya YS, the lead author said,"Curcuma longa were reported to hold strong potential in breast cancer treatment in various parts of the world. Interestingly, research findings have shown that these plants possess bioactive immunomodulators as their main constituents producing the anticancer effects".

Furthermore, in vitro, immunomodulatory effects of an Uncaria tomentosa hydroalcoholic extract exhibited anti breast cancer effect by increased the production of cytokines related with anti-tumoral response at concentrations of 500-1000 μg/mL.

In a randomized clinical trial of treatment for breast caner, Uncaria tomentosa (Ut) not only reduced the adverse effects of chemotherapy but also enhanced immunological parameters, antioxidant enzymes, and attenuated oxidative stress cause of cellular DNA damage.

The herbal plant, Cat's claw has shown it effects in treatment of breast cancer through many aspects, but the use of the plant must be only given by herbalists, as the quality and quantity may be difference due to geography, time of harvest and where the plant was grown.

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Sources
(1) Uncaria tomentosa extract alters the catabolism of adenine nucleotides and expression of ecto-5'-nucleotidase/CD73 and P2X7 and A1 receptors in the MDA-MB-231 cell line. by Santos KF1, Gutierres JM2, Pillat MM3, Rissi VB4, Santos Araújo MD5, Bertol G6, Gonçalves PB4, Schetinger MR2, Morsch VM7(PubMed)
(2) The Immunomodulatory Potential of Selected Bioactive Plant-Based Compounds in Breast Cancer: A Review by Baraya YS1, Wong KK2, Yaacob NS3(PubMed).
(3) [Immunomodulation of Uncaria tomentosa over dendritic cells, il-12 and profile TH1/TH2/TH17 in breast cancer].[Article in Spanish]by Núñez C1, Lozada-Requena I1, Ysmodes T1, Zegarra D1, Saldaña F1, Aguilar J1.(PubMed)
(4) Uncaria tomentosa-Adjuvant Treatment for Breast Cancer: Clinical Trial by Santos Araújo Mdo C1, Farias IL, Gutierres J, Dalmora SL, Flores N, Farias J, de Cruz I, Chiesa J, Morsch VM, Chitolina Schetinger MR.(PubMed)
(5) Cytotoxic effect of the pentacyclic oxindole alkaloid mitraphylline isolated from Uncaria tomentosa bark on human Ewing's sarcoma and breast cancer cell lines by García Giménez D1, García Prado E, Sáenz Rodríguez T, Fernández Arche A, De la Puerta R.(PubMed)
(6) The antiproliferative effects of Uncaria tomentosa extracts and fractions on the growth of breast cancer cell line by Riva L1, Coradini D, Di Fronzo G, De Feo V, De Tommasi N, De Simone F, Pizza C.(PubMed)

Saturday 8 July 2017

Food Therapy: Cruciferous Vegetable, the Best Detoxified Natural Whole Food

According to the University of Pittsburgh, the phytpchemical phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) reduced level of benzene by 24.6% (P = 0.002), and acrolein by 15.1%, but had no effect on crotonaldehyde, in the study of 82 cigarette smokers.

Detoxification is the process of removing toxic or harmful substances from our body.

Cruciferous vegetables are the group of vegetables belonging to the family Brassicaceae, including cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok-choy, broccoli etc.

A randomized phase II clinical trial with a crossover design conducted to evaluate the effect of 2-phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), against toxin in cigarette smokers, suggested that 2-Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) treated mice showed a reduced metabolic activation of NNK by 7.7%.
NNK is a tobacco carcinogen, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone found to induce lung cancer.

In support of the detoxified effect of cruciferous vegetables against body toxins, isothiocyanates from cruciferous vegetables showed to promoted Nrf2, a protein in regulated the expression of antioxidant proteins in protected cells against oxidative damage, induced production of cytoprotection by detoxification mechanisms, and excretion of both harmful substances and toxic metals.

Furthermore, in Hepa1c1c7 murine hepatoma cells study of the induction of detoxification enzymes by benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) and its synthetic N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) conjugate (NAC-BITC), Dr. Hwang ES said, "BITC and NAC-BITC inhibited Hepa1c1c7 cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. Cell growth was 4.5~57.2% lower in Hepa1c1c7 cells treated with 0.1~10 μM BITC than in control-treated Hepa1c1c7 cells."

Taking together, there is no doubt that cruciferous vegetables having a strong effect in reduced the accumulation of toxic chemicals in the body, particular in cigarette smokers. But further larger sample size and multiple studies are necessary to confirm its viability.

Food Therapy: Cabbage Leaf, the Best Natural Whole Food in Treating Breast Engorgement

Cruciferous vegetables are the group of vegetables belonging to the family Brassicaceae, including cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok choy, broccoli etc.

Breast engorgement is a condition of painful breasts caused by overfull of milk, leading to breast swollen in affect of baby feeding and inducing premature weaning, cracked nipples, mastitis. and breast abscess.

According to the joint study lead by the Eulji University Daejeon, of primiparous women after cesarean birth, cabbage compression early breast care (CCEBC) is more effective in relieving breast pain and breast hardness compared group treated with early breast care (EBC) and general nursing breast care (GNBC) alone.

In the review of 4 studies: one RCT and two quasi-randomised studies and one quasi-experimental study, Dr. Boi B, the lead author of the study wrote, " Overall results showed that cabbage leaf treatment used on women with breast engorgement did reduce pain, the hardness of the engorged breasts and increased the duration of breast feeding" and " Cabbage leaf may be useful in the treatment of breast engorgement".

Furthermore, in the comparison of cabbage leaves vs hot and cold compresses, the College of Nursing in AIIMS, New Delhi.suggested that both treatments are effective in decreasing breast engorgement and pain in post-natal mothers.

In support of the above, a double-blind experiment with 21 participants received a cream containing cabbage leaf extract, and 18 received placebo cream, both groups experience of equal pain relief. Mothers perceived that both creams to be effective in relieving discomfort.

Although cabbage leaves may have a potency for treatment of breast engorgement, some researchers believe, feeding the baby still be best application on relieving pain and decreasing tissue hardness.