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

Wednesday 19 June 2019

Herbal Turmeric Suppresses Osteoarthritis

By Kyle J. Norton

Osteoarthritis (OA) one of the most common forms of arthritis that affects over 25 25 million people in the United States is a chronic inflammatory disease of the joints due to wear and tear over time.

The characteristics of osteoarthritis are aching pain, stiffness, or difficulty of moving the joint or joints. The pain usually gets worse in a change of weather, at night and in the advanced diseases, the pain can occur even at rest.

Conventionally, treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) focuses on pain relief and improved physical function through pharmacological, nonpharmacological, and surgical treatments.

Most common risk factors associated with the onset of OA include genetic preposition, being overweight or obese, previous joint injury and repetitive movements or injuries to joints (such as a fracture, surgery or ligament tears).

However, most people with some of the risk factors have never developed the disease.

Dr. Sally Thomas, the lead scientist in the treatment of OA patients wrote, "As current treatment options in OA are very limited, OA patients would benefit greatly from some ability to self-manage their condition".

And, "For overweight/obese patients, weight reduction, ideally incorporating exercise, is paramount. The association between metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, and OA risk or progression may partly explain the apparent benefit of dietary-lipid modification resulting from increased consumption of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish/fish oil supplements. A strong association between OA and raised serum cholesterol together with clinical effects in statin users suggests a potential benefit of reduction of cholesterol by dietary means".

In other words, depending on the causes, patients may be recommended to a specific treatment.

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.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), researchers examined the Curene®, a bioavailable formulation of turmeric anti-inflammatory properties.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group included 50 subjects aged between 40 and 75 years who were suffering from unilateral or bilateral OA of the knee for greater than 3 months according to American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria.

The treatment group received 500mg Curene® once daily and the other group received a placebo.

According to the results from the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, Curene® treated group showed a statistically significant reduction of pain score compared to placebo without inducing any adverse effects.

In other words, Curene® 500mg not only reduced pain, stiffness but also improved physical functioning in subjects suffering from knee OA.

In order to reveal more information of turmeric anti OA activity, researchers investigated LI73014F2 is a novel composition prepared from extracts of Terminalia chebula fruit, Curcuma longa rhizome, and Boswellia serrata gum resin in the inhibition of 5-Lipoxygenase (5-LOX).

Where activated enzyme 5-Lipoxygenase (5-LOX), has been found to induce pain in patients with OA.

In a 90-day randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind study included 105 particpants divded into three groups: placebo (n = 35), 200 mg/day of LI73014F2 (n = 35), and 400 mg/day of LI73014F2 (n = 35).

According to the results from tested assays obtained from the baseline (day 0) and on day 14 ± 3, 30 ± 3, 60 ± 3, and at the end of the study (day 90 ± 3), all doses of LI73014F2 conferred a strong effect in pain relief, improved physical function, and quality of life in OA patients, compared to the baseline.

Dr. Karlapudi V, the lead scientist said, "preclinical and clinical data together strongly suggest that the herbal formulation LI73014F2 is a safe and effective intervention for management of joint discomfort, demonstrating efficacy as early as 14 days".

Based on the findings, turmeric processed a high amount of bioactive curcumin used alone or combined with other herbal medicines may be considered supplements for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), 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
Osteoarthritis
(1) A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Parallel-Group Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Curene® versus Placebo in Reducing Symptoms of Knee OA by Panda SK1, Nirvanashetty S2, Parachur VA3, Mohanty N4, Swain T. (PubMed)
(2) A Placebo-Controlled Double-Blind Study Demonstrates the Clinical Efficacy of a Novel Herbal Formulation for Relieving Joint Discomfort in Human Subjects with Osteoarthritis of Knee by Karlapudi V1, Prasad Mungara AVV2, Sengupta K3, Davis BA4, Raychaudhuri SP. (PubMed)
(3) What is the evidence for a role for diet and nutrition in osteoarthritis? by Sally Thomas,1 Heather Browne,1 Ali Mobasheri,2,3,4 and Margaret P Rayman. (PMC)

Herbal Bilberry Protects the Blood Vessels Against the Risk of Vascular Disease in Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton

Vasoprotection is the action in which substances including herbal and natural remedy are used to protect the integrity of the blood vessels.

Blood vessels are the tubular structure including a vein, artery, or capillary which carries the blood through the tissues and organs pumped by the heart.

There are 3 main types of blood vessel
* Arteries that deliver oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the tissues and organs of the body. Damage of arteries is found to induce coronary artery disease caused by narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries due to plaques accumulated on the arterial wall.

* Veins that carry blood toward the heart. Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a common condition associated with disease of the veins that affects up to 20 percent of adults.

* Capillaries (the smallest blood vessels) has been found to induce systemic capillary leak syndrome (SCLS) is a rare acquired disorder.

Some researchers suggested that following a healthy diet accompanied by moderate exercise may have a strong impact on the blood vessels integrity.

Dr. Hanrui Zhang said, "Accumulating evidence suggests that inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) plays a pivotal role in the dysregulation of macrovascular and microvascular function".

And, "Dietary supplements and exercise training decrease TNFαproduction and ameliorate TNFα-mediated pathological changes in vasculature. Thus, the inhibitory effects of dietary supplements and physical exercise on TNFα production and TNFα signaling may contribute to their vasoprotective properties".

Bilberry is a species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern Europe.

The plant berry has been used as herbs in traditional medicine for the treatment of acute and chronic diarrhea, gastritis, gastric ulcer, and duodenal ulcer, enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, anemia, cystitis, kidney disease, and psoriasis, diabetes, etc.

On finding a natural ingredient which processes vasoactive and vasoprotective properties, researchers examined the effects of anthocyanin-rich extracts prepared from chokeberry (Ck), bilberry (B), or elderberry (E). on reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role in the impairment of nitric oxide-mediated vascular functions.

In Coronary arterial rings isolated from 64 pigs and incubated in sterile tissue culture media overnight, Ck and B, but not E, produced dose- and endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation.

In coronary vascular tone, endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation by other factors was not affected by exposure of rings to any extract at 0.05 mg total anthocyanins per liter for 5 or 30 min.

Furthermore, anthocyanin-enhanced extracts produce endothelium-dependent relaxation in porcine coronary arteries.

However, high doses of B exerted a significantly protective effect against alternation of coronary arteries induced by ROS with no effect on vasorelaxation to endogenous or exogenous NO.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "These results suggest that such extracts could have significant beneficial effects in vascular disease".

Taken altogether, bilberry processed abundantly bioactive compound anthocyanin may be considered a functioning remedy for the prevention and treatment of vascular disease, 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) Direct vasoactive and vasoprotective properties of anthocyanin-rich extracts by Bell DR1, Gochenaur K. (PubMed)
(2) Vasoprotection by Dietary Supplements and Exercise: Role of TNFα Signaling by Hanrui Zhang* and Cuihua Zhang. (PMC)

Healthy Food Onion, the Natural Prevention and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

By Kyle J. Norton

Colorectal Cancer is a medical condition caused by cell growth disorderly in the tissues of colon or rectum.

According to the statistics provided by the American Cancer Society in 2019, approximately
101,420 new cases of colon cancer and 44,180 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in the US.

Furthermore, the overall, lifetime risk colorectal cancer of developing is 1 in 22 (4.49%) for men and 1 in 24 (4.15%) for women.

Colorectal cancer is relatively very common and slowly growing and progressing cancer with a tendency that is easy to predict. It is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in developed countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Colorectal cancer is cancer that arises in the cell on the surface of the inner lining of the colon or rectal tissue before penetrating into deeper layers and colonizing the parts of organs.

At the advanced stage, the cancerous cells can also travel a distance away from either the colon or rectum to infect other healthy tissues to induce secondary metastasis through blood and fluids circulation.

Most patients with colorectal cancer are assymptomatic at an early stage. However, at the advanced stage patients might experience symptoms of changes in bowel habits, narrow stools, constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, intermittent, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulosis, peptic ulcer disease, abdominal pain, accompanied by the general symptoms shared by other types of cancer.

Most common types of colorectal cancer are

*Adenocarcinomas
Most colorectal cancers are adenocarcinomas, originated in epithelium tissues, including the surface layer of skin, glands and their tissues that line the cavities and organs of the body.

* Squamous cell cancers
Squamous cells are the skin like cells that make up the bowel lining together with the gland cells. Squamous cell cancers are rare with the risk of 25 per 100000.

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.

With an aim to find a natural compound for the treatment of colorectal cancer, researchers examined the epidemiological studies of onion and garlic on vitro and vivo.

Epidemiologically

* Onion intake was associated with decreased risk of colorectal cancer (p-trend <0.0001) compared to non-consumers of onion regardless of the levels.

* Risk of colorectal cancer was significantly reduced with the relative odds ratio risk of.44 in people who have the highest of 4 categories of onion consumption (≥7 servings per week).

* People who were in the intermediate and high garlic use groups have a decreased risk of colorectal cancer with ORs of 0.88 and 0.74, respectively, compared to low or no use.

* In 562 cases and 5932 controls from subjects in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, after assessing the onion and garlic intake collectively for the 12 months prior to screening using a food frequency questionnaire, researchers found that the fifth quintile of garlic/onion intake have an ORs of colorectal adenoma of 0.87 compared to the lowest quintile.

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

Sources
(1) Garlic and onions: Their cancer prevention properties by Holly L. Nicastro,1 Sharon A. Ross,2 and John A. Milner. (PubMed)
(2) Bowel (Colorectal ) Cancer by Kyle J. Norton

Phytochemical Betacyanins, the Anti Cancer Natural Remedy In Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is a class of chronic diseases caused by cells growth and multiplies disorderedly and uncontrollably in the body.

Depending on the types and grade of cancer, some cancers can be progressively worse and damaged other healthy tissues. Sometimes cancers can spread to other tissues and organs in the body via lymph or blood.

Under normal circumstance, cell growth is a natural process. Every day millions of cell grow to replace millions of dead cells and to keep our body in balance and healthy.

Sometimes, acceleration of cells growth is necessary to prevent further damage to the body organ, such as cut, injure, etc., but after fulfilling their purposes, the growth of cells are back to a normal rate again.

In other words, cell growth or cell division limit to a number of cycles due to our body growth inhibitors, before replacing by the new cells.

In cancer cells, the cycle of cell growth can be indefinite.

Depending on the type of cells that initiates cancer, cancers can be classified into

* Carcinoma
Carcinoma is a malignant tumor found in anywhere of epithelial tissues lining the cavities, surfaces of structures and glands. Although the forming of the malignant tumor in the epithelium is still unknown, it possesses and associates the characteristics of epithelial cells, including those of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon.

* Sarcoma
Sarcoma is a type of cancer that arises from malignantly connective tissue cells originated from embryonic germ cells or bone, cartilage, and fat tissues and cells.

* Lymphoma and leukemia:
Hematopoietic cells are multipotent stem cells that give rise to all types of the blood cell, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets become cancerous.

* Germ cell tumor
Cancer is derived from pluripotent cells. In adults, these are most often found in the testicle and ovary but are more common in babies and young children.

* Blastoma
Cancer is derived from immature "precursor" or embryonic tissue. These are also commonest in children.

According to the statistics provided by the National Cancer Institute, approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. In 2017, an estimated 15,270 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 were diagnosed with cancer and 1,790 died of the disease.

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

With an aim to find a potential and natural compound for the treatment of cancer with no side effects, researchers examined the soluble natural food colors betacyanins and anthocyanins isolated from Beta vulgaris.

Based on the results of these natural pigments, alone and in combination, evaluated for their relative potencies using MCF-7 (breast), HCT-116 (colon), AGS (stomach), CNS (central nervous system), and NCI-H460 (lung) tumor cell lines, betacyanins and anthocyanins showed a significant effects in the inhibition of enzyme COX-2 associated with the promotion of tumor growth and suppression of tumor apoptosis.

Furthermore, the COX-1 associated with the promotion of overexpression of the enzyme in prostaglandin biosynthesis in tumor onset and progression also inhibited by the administration of betacyanins and anthocyanins.

Moreover, betacyanins showed a dose-dependent growth inhibition against breast, colon, stomach, central nervous system, and lung tumor cells.

Interestingly, in the chemical analysis, researchers found that the combination exerted the synergistic effects, chemical interactions at various concentrations against tested cancer cell lines.

Finally, Only the mixture of anthocyanin and betanin negated their efficacy in the cell growth inhibitory assay and did not enhance the COX enzyme inhibitory activity.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "This is the first report of a comparative evaluation and the impact on biological activities of these pigments alone and in combination".

Taken altogether, betacyanins used alone or combined with other herbal remedies may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of cancer, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Sources
(1) Relative inhibition of lipid peroxidation, cyclooxygenase enzymes, and human tumor cell proliferation by natural food colors by Reddy MK1, Alexander-Lindo RL, Nair MG. (PubMed)
(3) Most common Types of Cancer - What is Cancer? by Kyle J. Norton

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Turmeric Improves Impaired Glucose Tolerance

By Kyle J. Norton

Turmeric may be used for the prevention and treatment of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) with no side effects, according to studies.

Impaired glucose tolerance is a condition found in prediabetes and type II diabetes associated with insulin resistance and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

In other words, people with impaired glucose tolerance are less sensitive to the effects of insulin, leading to high blood glucose that is not high enough in the range of diabetes.

According to epidemiological studies, most people with impaired glucose tolerance are more like to develop diabetes and high blood pressure and cholesterol.

According to the statistics, approximately 11.2% of Americans age between 20-74 have IGT many of them do not know they have it, compared to 6.6% with diabetes.

The exact causes of IGT are unidentified. Some risk factors such as being overweight or obese, family history of diabetes, physical inactivity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol and gestational diabetes are found to induce a substantial risk of IGT.

Some researchers suggested that aging-induced the decrease of production of hormone and reduced function of body organ may have a strong implication to cause the condition developing.

Dr. Ervin Szoke, MD, the lead scientists in the examined the hyperglycemia in a total of 266 individuals with NGT and 130 individuals with IGT, ranging in age from ∼20 to ∼70 years, said, " In people with NGT, the disposition index for first- and second-phase insulin release decreased similarly at a rate of ∼0.7% per year. In people with IGT, the disposition indexes for first- and second-phase insulin release decreased at greater rates (∼2.2 and 1.4% per year, P = 0.002 and 0.009, respectively, vs. NGT), with the decrease in the first phase being greater than that of the second phase (P = 0.025)".

These results suggested that although aging does not correlate to insulin sensitive, it has a significant effect on insulin secretion. Over time, the condition may overwork the β-cell function that increases the risk of IGT.

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

Researchers on finding a potential compound for the prevention of diabetes evaluated the effect of turmeric on patients with impaired glucose tolerance.

The study included a review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted with a minimum follow-up period of 6weeks, according to the standard guideline and the Cochrane tool of risk of Bias Tool.

According to the results of the selected trials, curcumin extract intervention showed statistical significance after 3, 6 and 9months on the two-hour fasting plasma glucose.

Curcumin extract injection showed statistical significance in the reduction of glycosylated hemoglobin levels A1c (HbA1c) values after 3, 6 and 9 months.

Furthermore, curcumin extract administration also exerted a statistical significance against insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) after 6months and after 9months.

Compared to the effects of other herbal medicines used in the selected trials, curcumin is effective for the treatment of impaired glucose tolerance.

In order to understand more information about curcumin anti-IGT property, researchers conducted a double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial in 40 adults affected by impaired fasting glucose (FPG = 100-125 mg/dL) in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

The results of the experiment included 2 weeks of dietary habits correction than patients continued the diet and began a period of 8 weeks of treatment with nutraceutical (combination of Lagerstroemia speciosa, Berberis aristata, Curcuma longa, Alpha-lipoic acid, Chrome picolinate, and Folic acid,) or placebo suggested

* Nutraceutical treatment showed a significant improvement in TG (-34.7%), HDL-C (+13.7), FPI (-13.4%), and HOMA-Index (-25%) versus the baseline values compared to placebo.

* Both treatments showed no effect on body mass Index, LDL-C and hsCRP.

* No adverse effects were found in neither group.

In other words, the combination improved the IGT by selectively inducing the decrease of certain parameters without affecting the levels of LDL-C.

Taken altogether, turmeric processed a high amount of bioactive compound curcumin used alone or combined with other herbal medicines may be considered supplements for the prevention of IGT, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

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

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

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

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

Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Effects of medicinal food plants on impaired glucose tolerance: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials by Demmers A1, Korthout H2, van Etten-Jamaludin FS3, Kortekaas F4, Maaskant JM. (PubMed)
(2) Nutraceutical Effects on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Patients with Impaired Fasting Glucose: A Pilot, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Clinical Trial on a Combined Product by Cicero AFG1,2, Fogacci F3, Morbini M3, Colletti A3, Bove M3, Veronesi M3, Giovannini M3, Borghi C. (PubMed)

Healthy Food Tomatoes Inhibit Parameters Associated with the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

By Kyle J. Norton

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases associated with the blood vessels. Depending on the types of blood vessel damage or blocked, CVD can be a coronary artery disease caused by the hardening of the arteries that interfere with the blood flow to the heart.

Heart failure, a major health problem associated with the reduced function of the heart that affects more than 6.5 million Americans is also a leading cause of hospitalization in people older than age 65.

According to the statistics provided by the CDC, every year, heart disease causes the death of 610,000 people in the United States. In other words, every year, 1 in every 4 deaths in the US are caused by heart disease.

Believe it or not, every year about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack including the first attack of 525,000 patients.

Epidemiologically, risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease include family history, age ethnicity, gender, medical conditions such as cholesterol high blood pressure and diabetes.

Out of many risk factors, some researchers suggested the widespread obesity caused by the promotion of a high-fat diet over the past few decades may be one major condition that causes the onset of CVD.

Dr. Frank M. Sacks wrote, " Prospective observational studies in many populations showed that lower intake of saturated fat coupled with higher intake of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat is associated with lower rates of CVD and of other major causes of death and all-cause mortality. In contrast, replacement of saturated fat with mostly refined carbohydrates and sugars is not associated with lower rates of CVD and did not reduce CVD in clinical trials".

And, "Replacement of saturated with unsaturated fats lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, a cause of atherosclerosis, linking biological evidence with the incidence of CVD in populations and in clinical trials".

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 cardiovascular disease, researchers evaluated the state of the evidence from intervention trials on the effect of consuming tomato products and lycopene on markers of cardiovascular (CV) function.

By searching the medical literature database of Medline, Web of science, and Scopus from inception to August 2016, 21 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria out of 1189 publications were identified.

According to the results from the meta-analyses, overall, interventions supplementing tomato were associated with significant reductions in LDL-cholesterol, inflammatory cytokine IL-6.

Furthermore, tomato injection improved the arteries function in blood circulation (flow-mediated dilation (FMD).

Compared to tomatoes, lycopene supplementation only reduced systolic-BP.

In other words, with the exception of blood pressure management by lycopene supplementation, dietary tomato provided more favorable results on cardiovascular risk, compared to lycopene supplementation.

The results strongly support the use of dietary tomatoes for the prevention of CVD.

Dr. Cheng HM. after taking other factors into accounts said, "The available evidence on the effects of tomato products and lycopene supplementation on CV risk factors supports the view that increasing the intake of these has positive effects on blood lipids, blood pressure, and endothelial function".

Taken altogether, tomatoes may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of CVD, 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) Tomato and lycopene supplementation and cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis by Cheng HM1, Koutsidis G1, Lodge JK1, Ashor A2, Siervo M2, Lara J. (PubMed)
(2) Whole food versus supplement: comparing the clinical evidence of tomato intake and lycopene supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors by Burton-Freeman B, Sesso HD. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart AssociationFrank M. Sacks, Alice H. Lichtenstein, Jason H.Y. Wu, Lawrence J. Appel, Mark A. Creager, Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Michael Miller, Eric B. Rimm, Lawrence L. Rudel, Jennifer G. Robinson. (Circulation)

Bromelain Protects the Rotator Cuff Against the Onset of Tendinitis

By Kyle J. Norton

Tendinitis is inflammation or irritation of a tendon as a result of overuse, infection or rheumatic disease.

In other words, people who have an occupation or sport that requires a repetition of particular movement putting stress on the tendons over time are associated with the risk of tendinitis, including the tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, swimmer's shoulder, and jumper's knee.

Most common symptoms of tendinitis are a dull pain that affects limb or joint, tenderness and mild swelling.

Most common prevalent factors of tendinitis are aging, sport, occupation.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the US, tendonitis (swelling of the tendons) is a fairly common problem, accounting for more than 70,000 people to miss work per year.

Tendinitis if untreated may induce complication of tendon rupture, a serious condition that may require surgery.

Long-term or persistently of tendon irritation has been found to induce tendinosis that leads to the degenerative changes in the tendon.

Conventionally, the immediate treatment for tendonitis caused by occupation is rest, ice, compression, and elevation of the injured tendon. pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed to ease inflammation and pain.

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

On finding a natural compound for the treatment of tendinitis, researchers examined the effect of bromelain on patients with rotator cuff tendinitis.

Tenosan * (arginine L-alpha-ketoglutarate, methylsulfonylmethane, hydrolyzed type I collagen and bromelain), a commercial supplement sold in Italy was used in the study to test for its activity in tendon healing and mitigating the pain due to tendonitis.

Participants in the study included 90 consecutive patients with a large, postero-superior rotator cuff tear (RCT). managed with an arthroscopic repair randomly assigned into either Group I with or Group II without the supplement.

Supplement treated group showed a significant effect on the shoulder pain (follow-up: 6 months) and repair integrity on the final follow-up.

In other words, supplement after 3 months and after cuff repair decreases shoulder post-operative pain and a slight improvement in repair integrity.

Additional observation of the results, researchers suggested that these improvements may have a strong impact on the postoperative rehabilitation program and reduced the re-rupture rate.

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

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

Sources
(1) Arginine L-alpha-ketoglutarate, methylsulfonylmethane, hydrolyzed type I collagen and bromelain in rotator cuff tear repair: a prospective randomized study by Gumina S1, Passaretti D, Gurzì MD, Candela V. (PubMed)
(2) Naturopathic treatment of rotator cuff tendinitis among Canadian postal workers: a randomized controlled trial by Szczurko O1, Cooley K, Mills EJ, Zhou Q, Perri D, Seely D. (PubMed)