SPAGYRIC HERBALISM

Unlocking the blueprint for a powerful plant-based drug

Discovery opens path to sustainable synthesis of anti-inflammatory and anti-tumour agents

University of British Columbia Okanagan campus

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UBC Okanagan doctoral student Tuan-Anh Nguyen, left, and Dr. Thu-Thuy Dang examine plant samples in their lab. Their research has uncovered how tropical trees produce mitraphylline, a rare compound with potential anti-tumour properties.

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Credit: UBC Okanagan

Researchers at UBC Okanagan have uncovered how plants produce mitraphylline, a rare natural compound that may help fight cancer. 

Mitraphylline belongs to a small group of plant molecules called spirooxindole alkaloids.  

These compounds have unusual “twisted” ring structures and are known for their strong effects, like fighting tumours and inflammation.  

Despite their promise, the molecular steps plants use to make spirooxindoles remained a mystery. 

That changed in 2023, when Dr. Thu-Thuy Dang’s research group in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science found the first plant enzyme that can twist a molecule into the spiro shape.  

Building on that breakthrough, doctoral student Tuan-Anh Nguyen led the effort to identify a pair of enzymes —one that sets up the molecules’ 3D configuration and another that twists it into mitraphylline. 

“This is similar to finding the missing links in an assembly line,” says Dr. Dang, UBC Okanagan Principal’s Research Chair in Natural Products Biotechnology. “It answers a long-standing question about how nature builds these complex molecules and gives us a new way to replicate that process.” 

Natural compounds are often found in very small amounts in plants, making them difficult or costly to reproduce in the lab. Mitraphylline is one such example: it occurs only in trace amounts in tropical trees like Mitragyna (kratom) and Uncaria (cat’s claw), members of the coffee family.  

By identifying enzymes that build and shape mitraphylline, researchers now have a roadmap for producing it and related compounds in sustainable ways. 

“With this discovery, we have a green chemistry approach to accessing compounds with enormous pharmaceutical value,” says Nguyen. “This is a result of UBC Okanagan’s research environment, where students and faculty work closely to solve problems with global reach.” 

“Being part of the team that uncovered the enzymes behind spirooxindole compounds has been amazing,” Nguyen adds. “UBC Okanagan’s mentorship and support made this possible, and I’m excited to keep growing as a researcher here in Canada.” 

The project is the result of collaboration between Dr. Dang’s lab at UBC Okanagan and Dr. Satya Nadakuduti’s team at the University of Florida.  

The work was supported by Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Alliance International Collaboration program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar Program. Support also came from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. 

“We are proud of this discovery coming from UBC Okanagan. Plants are fantastic natural chemists,” she says. “Our next steps will focus on adapting their molecular tools to create a wider range of therapeutic compounds.” 

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Journal

The Plant Cell

DOI

10.1093/plcell/koaf207 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

A chromosome-level Mitragyna parvifolia genome unveils spirooxindole alkaloid diversification and mitraphylline biosynthesis

The Lancet: Tens of thousands of children aged under five suffering acute malnutrition in Gaza, recent estimates suggest

The Lancet

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Between Jan 2024 and Aug 2025, peaks in the prevalence of acute malnutrition match periods of severe aid restrictions.

 

More than 54,600 children in Gaza are estimated to be acutely malnourished, including over 12,800 severely so, with few therapeutic options available to them. With measurements up to the middle of August 2025, the study comprehensively tracks wasting among children during the war, estimates population prevalence, and highlights unprecedented increases in child malnutrition following periods of blockades and severe aid restrictions.

 

Published in The Lancet, the study was led by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Between January 2024 and mid-August 2025, UNRWA staff screened 219,783 children aged 6-59 months, measuring mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) at 16 functioning health centres and 78 medical points in shelters and tented encampments across five governorates in the Gaza Strip. The researchers then estimated the prevalence of acute malnutrition, based on the total estimated number of children in that age group in the territory (346,000).

 

Based on evidence of child malnutrition collected from multiple aid agencies, on 15 August 2025 the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine in the Governate of Gaza City, with the rest of the Gaza Strip facing critical conditions or the prospect of famine. The study reenforces the IPC’s confirmation of famine in Gaza City Governorate, and provides evidence of how child malnutrition has evolved during the war.

 

Wasting, or acute malnutrition, is defined as a child being too thin for their height, indicating rapid weight loss and severe lack of energy, protein and other nutrients. Wasting can also be assessed by measuring the circumference of a child’s upper arm with a calibrated tape, as done in this study, with a thin arm highly correlating to a thin body. It is a life-threatening condition, and children require regular treatment with therapeutic food over several weeks, or in extreme cases and when possible, hospitalisation.

 

During the 20-month surveillance period, the number of MUAC screenings varied from 722 to 23,651 per month. Prevalence of wasting in January 2024 was 4.7% (34 out of 722 children), rising to 8.9% (1,281/14,387) in July 2024. The end of 2024 saw severe aid restrictions, with UN sources reporting daily averages of 42 to 92 aid trucks per day crossing into Gaza, compared to 300 to 600 per day pre-war. In January 2025, prevalence of wasting was 14.3% (1,661/11,619).

 

In early 2025, a six-week ceasefire allowed for increased aid to enter the Gaza Strip, and wasting declined to 5.5% by March 2025 (831 out of 15,165 children). A subsequent 11-week blockade followed, with severe restrictions on the entry of food, water, fuel, medicines and other essentials, was in place until late May 2025.

 

The latest measurements, taken through mid-August 2025, found that 15.8% (1,213/7,668) of screened children were wasted, 3.7% (280/7,668) severely so. Extrapolated to the estimated total population of the Gaza Strip, this is equivalent to over 54,600 children aged 6-59 months in need of urgent therapeutic nutrition and medical care, including 12,800 severely wasted children with little chance of rehabilitation given the inadequate amounts of food crossing the borders, and the cripped health and nutrition services. 

 

Trends were most extreme in some areas – for instance, in Rafah there was an increase in wasting malnutrition from 7.1% (273/3,855) in April 2024 to 31.5% (63/200) in January 2025, decreasing to 8% in April 2025, in association with the ceasefire, although screening was ceased in this area shortly after. In Gaza City, prevalence rose six-fold from 5.4% (373/6,908) in March 2025, to 28.8% (631/2,194) in mid-August 2025.

Dr Akihiro Seita, the UNRWA Director of Health and a senior author of the paper notes: “Since October 7, 2023, an unprecedented war has unfolded across the Gaza Strip. From the outset, the territory’s infrastructure has been destroyed, the population repeatedly displaced and, with few exceptions, humanitarian aid has been severely restricted. Given the long failure to stop the war and prevent encroaching famine despite a global capacity to do so, unless there is a lasting cessation of the conflict coupled with unimpeded, competent, international humanitarian nutritional, medical, economic and social services, a further deterioration in early childhood nutrition with increased mortality are inevitable in the Gaza Strip.”

Dr Masako Horino, nutrition epidemiologist, UNRWA and lead scientist for the study, adds: “Evidence prior to Oct 2023 indicated that children in Palestine refugee families in the Gaza Strip were food insecure and had poor dietary diversity. Yet, they were only marginally underweight. This paradox was likely explained by these families’ regular access to food aid. Following two years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of pre-school aged children in the Gaza Strip are now suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and face an increased risk of mortality.”

The authors note that data collected was limited to available, functioning UNRWA facilities. Two-thirds of screenings were conducted in Khan Younis and Middle areas, due to challenges of operating health centres in other areas. A total of 265,974 screenings were done for 219,783 children, indicating some children were screened more than once over time. Researchers faced considerable challenges including lack of identity information, and unsafe locations making data collection challenging.

In a linked Comment, Zulfiqar A Bhutta (Aga Khan University, Pakistan & Hospital for Sick Children, Canada), Jessica Fanzo (Columbia University, USA) and Paul H Wise (Stanford University School of Medicine, USA), who were not involved in the study, write: “These temporal data strongly suggest that restrictions on food and assistance have resulted in severe malnutrition among children in the Gaza Strip, a reality that will undoubtedly impact their future health and development outcomes for generations... Although immediate attention has been paid to the short-term outcomes of starvation, there should also be serious concern for the well documented long-term effects, such as intergenerational consequences of starvation and food restriction in children, including inordinately high risks of non-communicable diseases and reduced life expectancy.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

This study was funded by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Quotes from Authors cannot be found in the text of the Article but have been supplied for the press release. The Comment quote is taken directly from the linked Comment.

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Journal

The Lancet

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01820-3 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Assessment of malnutrition in preschool-aged children by mid-upper arm circumference in the Gaza Strip (January, 2024–August, 2025): a longitudinal, crosssectional, surveillance study

Article Publication Date

8-Oct-2025

COI Statement

See paper

 

Current and recommended diets in the USA have embedded forced labor risk

Study finds that some recommended U.S. diets carry higher risk of forced labor in their food supply chains

Tufts University

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Many Americans choose food based on cost and nutrition, but personal values, such as animal welfare and environmental concerns, also shape what ends up on our plates.  

Now, researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab and School of Geography have measured the risk of forced labor behind ingredients in recommended U.S. diets. By showing when healthy eating may come at the expense of exploited workers, the findings could inform how governments and institutions buy food at scale.  

The International Labor Organization estimates that approximately 28 million people worldwide are currently ensnared in forced labor, including across the United States.  “Forced labor takes many forms, but most often it traps workers in jobs through isolation, dependencies on employers, exploitative pay schemes and binding recruitment debt,” explains Jessica Decker Sparks, assistant professor at the Friedman School and corresponding author on the research. Forced labor can also involve intimidation, withheld wages, abusive living conditions, or even violence. 

For the first-of its-kind study published on October 8 in Nature Food, the researchers analyzed the ingredients of five different diets: three diets recommended by federal dietary guidelines (Healthy U.S.-Style Diet, Healthy Mediterranean-Style Diet and Healthy Vegetarian Diet); the 2019 EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet; and the current average American diet, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  

To assess the risk of forced labor among these recommended healthy diets and the current American diet, researchers rated more than 200 commonly eaten foods on a risk scale, based on how and where foods available in the United States are typically grown, harvested, or processed.  

“We found that recommended healthy diets could have higher or lower risk of forced labor compared with what Americans currently eat, depending on the mix of foods,” says Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, associate professor at the Friedman School and senior author on the paper.  

The biggest differences came from how much fruit, dairy, and red meat people eat. Protein foods were the biggest source of forced labor risk across the five diets studied, but the drivers varied.  

When looking at livestock farming, the researchers accounted for the risk involved in slaughtering, meat processing, and producing feed for these animals. Fruits that need to be handpicked (versus harvested by machines) or nuts that need to be shelled by hand tend to have a higher risk of forced labor. And the fishing industry has a very high risk compared with many other food sectors. 

The Healthy Mediterranean-Style diet, which leans toward plant-based foods and seafood, with some dairy and red meat, and the Healthy U.S.-Style diet, which includes a balanced mix of nutrient-dense foods with a relatively high amount of dairy, showed greater forced labor risk than today’s average diet. Seafood on top of red meat and dairy substantially raised risk in the Mediterranean pattern, and fruits also contributed to the risk. Dairy was the highest contributor to overall risk in the U.S.-Style pattern. 

In contrast, the Healthy Vegetarian diet, which includes beans, soy, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and the Planetary Health diet, which is mostly plant-based, with very small amounts of meat and dairy to reduce environmental impact, had lower risks. These diets both showed outsized risk from nuts and seeds. 

While swapping foods on individual plates may not end forced labor, the study could have far-reaching implications. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans shape what millions of children and adults eat through public programs like school lunches, and cities worldwide are using the Planetary Health Diet to help guide purchasing policies. 

“We hope our work represents a starting point for communities to shape dietary transitions that promote equity and justice alongside health and sustainability,” Blackstone says.  

“The best way to reduce forced labor in our food supply chains is to let workers lead in shaping solutions and to back those solutions with legally binding agreements that protect them from retaliation,” says Sparks.  

She notes that programs such as the Fair Food Program show how farmworkers can drive real change when they have a seat at the table. These, coupled with trade policies that block imports made with forced labor, can help level the playing field so that companies that respect workers aren’t undercut by exploitative practices abroad. 

Edgar Rodríguez-Huerta from the University of Nottingham Rights Lab and Brooke Bell from the Friedman School contributed equally as co-first authors of this study. Bethany Jackson from University of Nottingham School of Geography and Rights Lab was co-senior author. The research was supported by the Interdisciplinary Research Innovation Fund at the Friedman School. Complete information on authors, funders, methodology, limitations, and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper.

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Journal

Nature Food

DOI

10.1038/s43016-025-01242-8 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The Human Cost of Healthy Eating

Article Publication Date

8-Oct-2025

COI Statement

C.B.N. declares that she was a Research Scientist in Social Responsibility with Amazon, Inc. for part of the time this research was in progress and began a role with Target as Senior Social Sustainability Manager when this project was close to completion. C.B.N. is also co-owner of NewEarth B and the Social Hotspots Database project. Data from the Social Hotspots Database were provided free of charge for academic use in this research. The other authors declare no competing interests.

 

East-West divide in lettuce pest threatens UK crop yields, study finds

Aphids attacking lettuce fields in England are showing surprising regional patterns that could complicate control efforts

Rothamsted Research

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Aphids attacking lettuce fields in England are showing surprising regional patterns that could complicate efforts to protect one of the country’s most important salad crops, new research has revealed.

The currant-lettuce aphid, Nasonovia ribisnigri, is a destructive aphid that feeds on outdoor lettuces. The new analysis found that populations in England are divided sharply between the east and west of the country. The finding, based on nearly two decades of genetic sampling, suggests that the pest’s movements are strongly tied to lettuce-growing regions and may not spread as widely as previously thought.

The study, which analysed insects collected from ten sites between 2003 and 2020, showed that while aphids migrate from the west into eastern lettuce fields, they rarely move in the opposite direction. Researchers say the pattern could be linked to the insect’s relationship with its winter host, blackcurrant and related Ribes plants, and its summer host, lettuce.

The findings come at a critical time for growers. Traditional defences against the pest, such as resistant lettuce varieties, have started to fail in recent years, leaving few effective alternative options for control. Despite this, populations of N. ribisnigri appear to have remained relatively stable, even as warmer temperatures and shifting weather patterns create more favourable conditions for the aphid.

Dr Dion Garrett, who led the study, also found that the insects are highly inbred and mostly reproduce in cycles tied to the seasons, a factor that may help explain their long-term persistence.

With the UK lettuce industry worth hundreds of millions of pounds annually, the work highlights the urgent need to rethink pest management strategies. “The clear geographic divide we see has major implications for how we monitor and control N. ribisnigri,” said Dr Garrett, warning that growers will need region-specific approaches to tackle the pest in future.

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Journal

Journal of Insect Science

DOI

10.1093/jisesa/ieaf082 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Population genetics show that aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are limited by summer host-plant distribution at the regional scale

Article Publication Date

6-Oct-2025