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

Sunday 31 March 2019

Herbal Turmeric Protects the Bone Cells Integrity Against Osteoporosis

By Kyle J. Norton

Osteoporosis is a medical condition characterized by the loss of bone density.

In other words, the bone disease is a result of overexpression of bone loss due to bone resorption compared to bone made by the body, leading to risk bone fracture and breaking.

In a severe case, bones of patients with osteoporosis may become so weak, they can break from a fall or even from sneezing or minor bumps.

Microscopy, healthy bone processed a high density (fewer spaces and small holes in the honeycomb) compared to low density ( large spaces and holes in a honeycomb) in the patients with osteoporosis.

In the US, due to the widespread osteoporosis in the elderly, the disease has become a concern of the scientist community. Believe it or not, according to the statistics, osteoporosis is responsible for two million broken bones and $19 billion in related costs every year.

As the condition continues to worsen, by 2025, osteoporosis will be responsible for approximately three million fractures and $25.3 billion in costs annually.

According to the statistics, in Canada, osteoporosis affects approximately 1.4 million Canadians, mainly in the postmenopausal women and the elderly.

Additionally, 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 8 men over the age of 50 years, with 1 in 4 men and women are having evidence of a vertebral fracture.

Out of many risk factors associated with the onset of osteoporosis, some researchers suggested that the disease may be correlated to the promotion of Western diet over the past few decades.

Dr. Seon-Joo Park, the lead scientist wrote, "(In the comparison of ) "Three major dietary patterns,... using factor analysis based on baseline intake data: traditional (high intake of rice, kimchi, and vegetables), dairy (high intake of milk, dairy products, and green tea), and western (high intake of sugar, fat, and bread).".

And, "..., western dietary pattern (p-trend = 0.043 in radius) demonstrated a higher risk of osteoporosis incidence than those in the lowest quintile".

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 treatment of osteoporosis, researchers evaluated the efficacy, in term of changes in bone density, and safety of an oral formulation based on turmeric phytosome (Meriva®), in subjects suffering from low bone density.

The study included a total of 57 otherwise healthy subjects with low bone density who freely decided to follow either standard management (SM) to control low bone density (control group=28) or SM associated with a curcumin-based oral supplementation (supplement group=29).

Meriva®-supplemented group remarkably improved in the bone density of the heel measured by the Sahara densitometer accompanied by a significant decrease of ultrasounds transmission values at week 12 (-18.4%) and at week 24 (-21.0%), compared with baseline.

Furthermore, Meriva®-supplemented group also improved the bone densities of small finger and upper jaw with no adverse effects.

Based on the results researchers said, "This preliminary study suggests that a curcumin-based supplementation in combination with an appropriate lifestyle could be beneficial in the prevention and management of osteopenia".

In order to know more information about turmeric anti-osteoporosis activity, researchers examined the effects of curcumin on oxidative stress-induced osteoblast apoptosis.

The study included an osteoblastic cell line (Saos-2) exposed to various concentrations of H2O2 with or without curcumin treatment.

Injection of curcumin protected the viability of Saos-2 cells against the exposure to H2O2 and attenuated H2O2-induced apoptosis.

Furthermore, curcumin also improved the cellular function by preserving the mitochondrial redox potential, decreasing the mitochondrial oxidative status, through its antioxidants activity.

Moreover, curcumin treatment markedly increased levels of phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt) and phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) that have been found to induced bone loss in low levels.

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

Intake of curcumin 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 a curcumin-based supplementation in asymptomatic subjects with low bone density: a preliminary 24-week supplement study by Riva A1, Togni S, Giacomelli L, Franceschi F, Eggenhoffner R, Feragalli B, Belcaro G, Cacchio M, Shu H, Dugall M. (PubMed)
(2) Attenuation of Oxidative Stress-Induced Osteoblast Apoptosis by Curcumin is Associated with Preservation of Mitochondrial Functions and Increased Akt-GSK3β Signaling by Dai P, Mao Y, Sun X, Li X, Muhammad I, Gu W, Zhang D, Zhou Y, Ni Z, Ma J, Huang S. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary Patterns and Osteoporosis Risk in Postmenopausal Korean Women by Seon-Joo Park, Seong-Eun Joo, Haesook Min, Jae Kyung Park, Yeonjung Kim, Sung Soo Kim, and Younjhin Ahn. (PMC)

Whole Food Tomato Protects the Lung Against Pulmonary Oxidative Stress

By Kyle J. Norton

Pulmonary oxidative stress is a condition of oxidative stress in the lung.

The lung is a breathing organ containing a pair of spongy, air-filled organs located on either side of the chest (thorax) by taking oxygen to the blood vessels then passing them to all parts of our body.

Furthermore, the lung also exhales the waste product called carbon dioxide, through breathing.

Oxidative stress is a result of an imbalance of the levels of free radical compared to the antioxidant enzymes in the body.

Oxidative stress is either expressed by overexpression of free radicals or reduced levels of antioxidants or both.

Free radical can be everywhere in the environment such as the air we breathe, the foods we eat. they can also be produced by cells metabolism in the body.

Believe it or not, free radicals in moderate amount are necessary for our body to function, including NO for muscle relaxation.

Epidemiologically, oxidative stress has been found to induce lipid and protein oxidation and cell DNA damage.

According to the free radical theory, aging posits caused by the accumulation of damage inflicted by reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with varies chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetics, rheumatoid arthritis, post-ischemic perfusion injury, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, stroke.

In the lung, oxidative stress also was shown to elevate the risk of the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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 natural and potential whole food for the treatment of diseases associated with pulmonary oxidative stress, researchers investigated the dietary supplementation with a known source of antioxidants (tomato juice, TJ) in the protection of the lung from injury caused by breathing hyperoxic gas.

The study included the examination of the results from the selected neonatal mice (C57BL6/J) breathed either 65% O2 (hyperoxia) or room air from birth until postnatal day 7 (P7d).

At P56d, TJ protects the lung cell integrity and viability by increasing the levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC), decreasing oxidative stress and reversing the hyperoxia-induced increase in bronchiolar smooth muscle.

Furthermore, injection of TJ alone also decreased the protein involved in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

In hyperoxia, TJ increased TNF-α expression and did not alter the hyperoxia-induced increase in leukocyte number.

In other words, TJ protects the lung against the oxidative stress by inhibiting and exhibiting certain protein associated with the proinflammation without increasing the production of immune white blood cells via its pulmonary antioxidants.

Based on these results, Dr. Bouch S, the lead scientist 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 to reveal additional information about tomato anti pulmonary oxidative stress effect, researchers examined bioactive compound lycopene extracted from tomatoes in pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in an animal model.

The study included 60 Sprague-Dawley rats induced pulmonary fibrosis (PF) by BLM randomly divided into 3 groups of 20 rats each for a normal control group (group C), BLM-treated group (group M), and lycopene + BLM-treated group (group L).

Additionally, the rats in groups M and L were subjected to intratracheal instillation of BLM to induce PF; group C served as a sham control (intratracheal instillation of normal saline). Lycopene diluted with olive oil was administered at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight once a day in group L after BLM instillation, and groups C and M were treated with the same amounts of olive oil.

The lung coefficients in group L treated with lycopene were reduced (day 14, P < .01) as well as the extents of alveolitis (day 7 and 14, P < .05) and PF (day 14 and 28, P < .05) compared with group M.

Lycopene treated group also showed significantly reduced levels of proteins associated with the immune systematic response against the acute phase of infection.

Furthermore, lycopene levels of oxidative stress markers in the lung observed by the decreased levels of malonyldialdehyde plasma.

In other words, lycopene protected the lung of the tested rat by reducing oxidative stress via the stimulation of the production of antioxidant enzymes.

Taken altogether, tomatoes processed a high amount of bioactive compound lycopene may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with pulmonary oxidative stress, 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) Lycopene from tomatoes partially alleviates the bleomycin-induced experimental pulmonary fibrosis in rats by Zhou C1, Han W, Zhang P, Cai M, Wei D, Zhang C. (PubMed)

Tualang Honey Protects the Neuron Integrity Against Memory Deficits

By Kyle J. Norton

Memory deficit is a condition that affects the memory in contribution to significantly impact daily functioning.

Memory is an accumulated of experience that binds together thoughts and impressions overtimes.

Although there are numbers of disease associated with memory loss. Dementia, a class of neurodegenerative disease have been found to process the gradual loss of memory in the elderly due to the death of specific neurons.

Memory deficits can be acute. Short-term memory is an action that allows you to remember things temporarily, such as reading a book, going to shopping with a list in your mind.

Loss of short-term memory can be devastating. People with the condition can remember the content in a task that you have prepared to discuss with your colleagues.

In other words, people with a weak working memory can’t remember what they wanted to say.

In chronic memory deficits or long-term memory loss, patients have trouble recalling information when they are needed. Aging has been found to be one of the major risk factor which weakens long-term memory.

Chronic memory loss caused by stress, nutrients deficiency, depression, and medication can be reversible. However, loss of neurons in the brain is one of the irreversible chronic memory deficits found in a large population in the elderly, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Honey, the rich golden liquid is the miraculous product made by bees using nectar from flowers.

The liquid is considered one of the healthy food for replacing the use of white sugar and artificial sweetener by many people.

Researchers on finding a natural ingredient for the treatment of memory deficits investigated the potential protective effects of Tualang honey supplementation orally injection of 200 mg/kg body weight for 28 days on memory performance in aged rats exposed to noise stress.

Rats the stress group included in the study were subjected to loud noise, 100 dB(A), 4 hours daily for 14 days.

Before Tualang honey administrating, rats subjected to noise stress exhibited levels of significantly lower memory performance and higher oxidative stress observed by the elevated stress markers and reduced antioxidant enzymes activities compared to the nonstressed rats.

Tualang honey supplementation improved memory performance, decrease oxidative stress levels, increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentration by inhibiting neurotoxicity and enhancing neuronal proliferation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus.

Dr.Azman KF, the lead scientist, based on the findings suggested, "Tualang honey protects against memory decline due to stress exposure and/or aging via enhancement of mPFC and hippocampal morphology possibly secondary to reduction in brain oxidative stress,..".

In order to reveal more information about Tualang honey memory protective effects, researchers investigated the effects of Tualang honey supplement administered with the goal of preventing or attenuating the occurrence of stress-related behaviors in male rats subjected to noise stress, similar to that of aforementioned study.

48 adult male rats selected to the study were randomly divided into the following four groups: i) nonstressed with the vehicle, ii) nonstressed with Tualang honey, iii) stressed with the vehicle, and iv) stressed with honey. The supplement was given once daily via oral gavage at 0.2 g/kg body weight.

According to the assays, rats subjected to noise stress expressed higher levels of depressive-like behavior and lower memory functions compared to the unexposed control rats.

Tualang honey supplementation regimen successfully counteracted the effects of noise stress. The forced swimming test, climbing and swimming times showed a significant increase and immobility times showed a significant decrease in tested rats after treatment.

Tualang honey also inhibited the cognitive function intensely affected by noise stress.

Taken altogether, Tualang honey may be considered anti memory deficits functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of memory deficits with no side effects, pending to the confirmation of large sample size and multicenter human study.

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.

References
(1) Tualang Honey Attenuates Noise Stress-Induced Memory Deficits in Aged Rats by Azman KF1, Zakaria R1, Abdul Aziz CB1, Othman Z. (PubMed)
(2) Tualang honey improves memory performance and decreases depressive-like behavior in rats exposed to loud noise stress by Azman KF1, Zakaria R, AbdAziz C, Othman Z, Al-Rahbi B. (PubMed)

Herbal Ginger, the Anti-Virulence Functional Remedy

By Kyle J. Norton

Virulence activities are actions in which a pathogen infects or damages a host.

The virulence factors have been found epidemiologically to provide the best environment for the bacteria to invade, cause disease, and evade host defenses.

There are types of virulence factors associated with the initiation of bacterial infection, including

* The adherence factors, where the pathogenic bacteria colonize mucosal sites by using pili (fimbriae) to adhere to the host cells.

* The invasion factors: the bacterium to invade host cells through penetrating into host cell membranes or stimulating their own endocytosis or macro-pinocytosis into host cells.

* The capsules: many bacteria are surrounded by capsules that protect them from the hard environment.

* The endotoxins are toxins on Gram-negative bacteria that cause fever, changes in blood pressure, inflammation, lethal shock, and many other toxic events.

* The exotoxins: where the bacteria inject poison to host cells and cause tissue damage.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or ginger root, the second superfood used for thousands of years by mankind, is the genus Zingiber, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to Tamil.

The root has been used in traditional and Chinese medicine for the treatment of dyspepsia, gastroparesis, constipation, edema, difficult urination, colic, etc.

Researchers on finding a bioactive compound for the treatment of infection associated with virulence examined the effects of 6-Gingerol and 6-Shogaol against Candida albicans.

6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, and 6-shogaol effectively inhibited biofilm formation.

6-shogaol at 10 μg/ml significantly reduced C. albicans biofilm formation but had no effect on planktonic cell growth.

Also, 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol inhibited hyphal growth in embedded colonies and free-living planktonic cells and prevented cell aggregation.

Furthermore, 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol reduced C. albicans virulence in a nematode infection model without causing toxicity at the tested concentrations.

These results suggested that the antibiofilm and antivirulence activities of the ginger components, 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol, were attributed to the inhibition of the proteins associated with a multidrug
resistance gene and a cytolytic peptide toxin from Candida albicans.

In order to reveal more information about the ginger effects antibiofilm activity, researchers examined the antimicrobial, antiadhesive and antibiofilm potential of fresh and cooked ginger water extracts (FGE and CGE, respectively).

Compared to CGE, FGE displayed high potential anti-adhesive and antibiofilm in vitro.

20 mg DTSS /mL of FGE led to reducing the adhesive of bacterial cells to HEp-2 cells by about 50%.

The results showed that ginger water extract processed the desired anti-adhesive and antibiofilm potential against the food-related pathogens.

Taken altogether, ginger processed a high amount of bioactive compound may be considered a functional remedy for the inhibition of biofilm activities, without inducing any side effects.

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 ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Antibiofilm and Anti-Adhesive Effects of Ginger against Some Food-Related Pathogens by Ghada M. Khiralla. (Journal of Food Research and Technology)
(2) Antibiofilm and Antivirulence Activities of 6-Gingerol and 6-Shogaol Against Candida albicans Due to Hyphal Inhibition by Jin-Hyung Lee,1,† Yong-Guy Kim,1,† Pilju Choi,2 Jungyeob Ham,2 Jae Gyu Park,3,* andJintae Lee. (PMC)
(3) Chapter 7Bacterial Pathogenesis by Johnny W. Peterson. (NCBI)

Honey, the Best for the Treatment of Acute and Chronic Infection

By Kyle J. Norton

Infection can be acute or chronic. In the acute phase of infection, after receiving the messages from the central nervous system related to the danger of microbial infection, the immune macrophages in the first line of defense stimulates the production of blood palette to the cover the wound and pro-inflammatory cytokines to the site of the infection to kill off pathogens which try to enter the body.

However, overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the acute phase of infection has also killed off or damage to the nearby healthy cells, leading to the formation of scars.

In most cases in a healthy individual, depending on the size of the wound, the immune system can easily eradicate all foreign invaders and the wound is recovered within days and weeks.

Symptoms of the acute infection include gastrointestinal discomforts, such as congestion vomiting or nausea, and diarrhea, short term joint or muscle pain, fever, headache, skin rash and cough, Some patients with acute infection also experience symptoms of swollen lymph nodes, an indication of the body is fighting infection.

In chronic infection, the symptoms are most vague or no specific symptoms, including bronchitis and asthma, persistent low-grade chronic joint and muscle pain, or swelling and the alternations between diarrhea and constipation, bloating, or heartburn, In other words, the symptoms are totally depended on the location of the low-grade inflammation.

Unfortunately, in people with a weakened immune system such as the elderly, the immune system can not destroy all microbial pathogens in the set period of times, leading to low-grade inflammation, a major cause of several chronic illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Honey, the rich golden liquid is the miraculous product made by bees using nectar from flowers.

The liquid is considered one of the healthy food for replacing the use of white sugar and artificial sweetener by many people.

With an aim to find a natural compound for the treatment of chronic infection, researchers examined the result of a chronic wound infection treated by the use of hydrogel loaded with an extract from manuka honey.

Bacterial isolated from patients with infected wounds at Alexandria Main University Hospital (Alexandria, Egypt) were exposed to hydrogel sheets composed of chitosan and gelatin and loaded with a new formula from manuka honey.

According to the tested assays, Manuka honey formula exerted a strong the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis.

Based on the findings, researchers suggested, "A hydrogel sheet composed of chitosan and gelatin loaded with a new formula extracted from manuka honey can be used as a dressing for chronically infected wounds".

In order to reveal more information about Manuka honey for the treatment of chronic infection, investigated the effect of the honey incorporated into cryogel scaffolds, utilizing its properties in a sustained release fashion to assist in the overall healing process.

According to the tested assays, a 5% MH silk fibroin cryogel has the potential to inhibit bacterial growth while still maintaining adequate porosity, mechanical properties, and cell infiltration.

In other words, such a scaffold would have used in a number of applications, including bone regeneration without interruption by the bacterial infection.

Taken altogether, Manuka honey may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic infection with no side effects, pending to the confirmation of a large sample size and multicenter human study.

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.

References
(1) Hydrogel film loaded with new formula from manuka honey for treatment of chronic wound infections by Abd El-Malek FF1, Yousef AS2, El-Assar SA. (PubMed)
(2) A preliminary in vitro evaluation of the bioactive potential of cryogel scaffolds incorporated with Manuka honey for the treatment of chronic bone infections by Hixon KR1, Lu T1, Carletta MN1, McBride-Gagyi SH2, Janowiak BE3, Sell SA. (PubMed)

Herbal Artichoke Inhibits the Parameters Associated with the Onset of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in Vivo and Human Study

By Kyle J. Norton

Non-alcoholic liver disease is a medical condition caused by excessive fat accumulated in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol.

Believe or not, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) now becomes a universal disorder and the most common liver disease in the Western world.

According to the statistics in 2015, approximately, 20 to 30% of the general population in the Western world suffer from NAFLD. The prevalent rate is substantially higher in the population with type 2 diabetes mellitus (70%) and morbid obesity (90%).

Some researchers in the assessment of the relationship of widespread obesity in risk of NAFLD suggested that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease may be caused by the promotion of the Western diet over the past few decades.

Dr. Kristen Stephenson, in the assessment of the impact of dietary fat on the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in animal model wrote, "WD mouse models consisting of high fat, cholesterol, and a combination of high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, fructose, or glucose not only lead to metabolic syndrome but also induce NAFLD with fibrosis".

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

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

Researcher on finding a natural therapeutic for the treatment of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide investigated the artichoke leaf extract (ALE) therapeutic utility in patients with established NAFLD.

The randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel-group trial included 100 subjects with ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD randomized to either ALE 600 mg daily or placebo for a 2-month period.

Compared to the control, the ALE treatment group showed increased hepatic vein flow, reduced portal vein diameter and liver size, according to the Doppler sonography. In other words, ALE treatment improved liver function.

Inflammatory and oxidative stress such as serum ALT, AST levels and total bilirubin were also decreased upon the injection of ALE observed by the improved AST/ALT ratio.

Furthermore, ALE supplementation also reduced total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations. All these parameters were elevated in patients with NAFLD.

Dr. Panahi Y, the lead scientist, after taking into account other factors, wrote, " This study has shown beneficial effects of ALE supplementation on both ultrasound liver parameters and liver serum parameters (ALT, AST, APRI ratio, and total bilirubin) in patients with NAFLD".

In order to reveal more information about artichoke anti NAFLD activity, researchers elucidated the physiological responses and mechanisms of JA intervention with a comprehensive transcriptome analysis.

The study included Wistar rats fed a control diet, a 60 % fructose-enriched diet (FRU), or an FRU with 10 % JA (n 6-7) for 4 weeks with an oral glucose tolerance test was carried out on day 21.

According to the assays, dietary JA supplementation improved the IR and hepatic TAG accumulation induced by the Fructose feeding.

JA also inhibited the gene expression of malic enzyme 1 (Me1), associated with fatty acid synthesis; decorin (Dcn), related to fibrosis; and cytochrome P450, family 1, subfamily a, polypeptide 2 (Cyp1a2) and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt), associated with inflammation.

Based on these results, researchers proposed that 10 % of JA supplementation may be beneficial for the prevention of the onset of NAFLD.

Taken altogether, artichoke may be considered a functional remedy for the treatment of NAFLD with no side effects, pending to the validation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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.

References
(1) Efficacy of artichoke leaf extract in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial by Panahi Y1, Kianpour P2, Mohtashami R3, Atkin SL4, Butler AE5, Jafari R6, Badeli R7, Sahebkar A. (PubMed)
(2) Beneficial effects of soluble dietary Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the prevention of the onset of type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in high-fructose diet-fed rats by Chang WC1, Jia H2, Aw W2, Saito K2, Hasegawa S3, Kato H. (PubMed)
(3) Updates on Dietary Models of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Current Studies and Insights by Kristen Stephenson,* 1 Lindsey Kennedy,†‡ 1 Laura Hargrove,‡ Jennifer Demieville,†Joanne Thomson,† Gianfranco Alpini,*†‡ and Heather Francis. (PMC)

Saturday 30 March 2019

Whole Food Tomatoes, Protects the Aging Vision Against Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

By Kyle J. Norton

Macular degeneration is a condition caused by the blurring of the center of the vision without affecting the side or peripheral vision.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an aging process found in older adults is the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 55.

Most adults with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are asymptomatic. However, it can be detected by professions during annual eye check-up.

Untreated AMD, over time, can lead the increased size of blur-area and interfere with the vision, including reading.

AMD can be classified into 2 types
* The dry form is a milder form found in most patients with AMD with gradual degeneration of the central retinal tissues that make up the macula.

* The wet form is the serious form of AMD account for only 10% in all patients

However, the dry form can develop into the wet form over time.

Conventionally, as of today, there is no effective treatment for AMD. Most treatments such as from low vision aids and lifestyle control are to delay the progression and improve quality of life.

In some cases, wet AMD may be treated with medications injected into the eye to stop leaking blood vessels, depending on the disease severity.

Besides aging and exposure to UVB, smoking has been found to increased risk AMD by 2-5 fold.

Dr. Sara Velilla, the lead scientist said, "Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the main socioeconomic health issues worldwide. AMD has a multifactorial etiology with a variety of risk factors. Smoking is the most important modifiable risk factor for AMD development and progression".

Tomato is red, edible fruit, genus Solanum, belongs 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 natural treatment of eye disease, researchers examined the combinations of antioxidants including lutein+zeaxanthin (1 μM; 0.2 μM), zinc (10 µM), carnosic acid (2 µM), beta-carotene (2 µM), and standardized tomato extract containing lycopene and other tomato phytonutrients added to the culture media.against age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Injection of the combination protected the eye against age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by yielding an antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiangiogenic effect in M1 and M2 macrophages.

The results of the effects were attributed to the upregulation of antioxidative genes (HMOX1, SOD1) expression and the inhibition of pro-angiogenic genes and pro-inflammatory genes (SDF-1, TNF-alpha, IL-6, MCP-1).

Compared to the combination, lutein monotherapy or a combination of lutein and zinc had less effect on the expression of these genes.

Dr.Rinsky B, the lead scientist said, "Combinations of supplements can modify the expression of genes and proteins that may be relevant for the involvement of macrophages in the pathogenesis of AMD".

Futhermore, in oxidative stress-induced damage to the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) on age-related macular degeneration and neovascular retinopathies (e.g., retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy, researchers investigated xanthophyll carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin, isolated from toma in damage of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells.

Also, administration of carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin showed to protect the macula (and the broader retina) via their antioxidant and photoprotective activities.

In undifferentiated ARPE-19 cells, lutein and lycopene, but not β-carotene, protected the cell integrity and viability by inhibiting the overexpression of retinal cell growth.

Moreover, pre-incubation of ARPE-19 cells with lutein or lycopene protected against tBHP-induced cell loss and cell co-exposure of lutein or lycopene with tBHP essentially neutralized tBHP-dependent cell death at tBHP concentrations up to 500 μM.

Where tert-Butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) is an organic peroxide used to induce oxidation processes.

In other words, lutein and lycopene protected the RPE against oxidative stress-induced cell loss

Taken altogether, tomatoes may be considered a natural remedy for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Sources
(1) Characterizing the effect of supplements on the phenotype of cultured macrophages from patients with age-related macular degeneration by Rinsky B1, Hagbi-Levi S1, Elbaz-Hayoun S1, Grunin M1, Chowers. (PubMed)
(2) Effects of the Macular Carotenoid Lutein in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells by Gong X1, Draper CS2, Allison GS3, Marisiddaiah R4, Rubin LP. (PubMed)
(3) Smoking and Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Review and Update by Sara Velilla, 1 , 2 José Javier García-Medina, 3 , 4 , 5 Alfredo García-Layana, 2 , 6Rosa Dolz-Marco, 5 , 7 Sheila Pons-Vázquez, 5 M. Dolores Pinazo-Durán, 2 , 5 , 8Francisco Gómez-Ulla, 2 , 9 , 10 J. Fernando Arévalo, 11 , 12 Manuel Díaz-Llopis, 2 , 7 , 8 and Roberto Gallego-Pinazo. (PMC)