It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus) is a plant in the family Asteraceae and also grows in our climate. For centuries, it has been used as a medicinal herb as an extract or tea, e.g. to aid the digestive system. Researchers at the Center for Pharmacology of University Hospital Cologne and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cologne have now found a completely novel use for Cnicin under the direction of Dr Philipp Gobrecht and Professor Dr Dietmar Fischer. Animal models as well as human cells have shown that Cnicin significantly accelerates axon (nerve fibres) growth. The study ‘Cnicin promotes functional nerve regeneration’ was published in Phytomedicine.
Rapid help for nerves
Regeneration pathways of injured nerves in humans and animals with long axons are accordingly long. This often makes the healing process lengthy and even frequently irreversible because the axons cannot reach their destination on time. An accelerated regeneration growth rate can, therefore, make a big difference here, ensuring that the fibres reach their original destination on time before irreparable functional deficits can occur. The researchers demonstrated axon regeneration in animal models and human cells taken from retinae donated by patients. Administering a daily dose of Cnicin to mice or rats helped improve paralysis and neuropathy much more quickly.
Compared to other compounds, Cnicin has one crucial advantage: it can be introduced into the bloodstream orally (by mouth). It does not have to be given by injection. “The correct dose is very important here, as Cnicin only works within a specific therapeutic window. Doses that are too low or too high are ineffective. This is why further clinical studies on humans are crucial,” said Fischer. The University of Cologne researchers are currently planning relevant studies. The Center for Pharmacology is researching and developing drugs to repair the damaged nervous system.
The current study received funding of around 1,200,000 euros from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the project PARREGERON.
A type of ginger native to Southeast Asia has anti-cancer properties, a new study reveals.
What it is: This ginger is called kencur (Kaempferia galanga L.), which is typically used as a spice or prepared as herbal tea. It has a peppery and camphorous scent.
What it does: Researchers from Japan’s Osaka Metropolitan University found that kencur extract and its main active component, ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EMC), can significantly suppress the growth of cancer cells in cellular and animal experiments. EMC is known to decrease the expression of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), which is linked to the proliferation of cancer cells.
Additionally, the researchers observed that kencur might induce anti-proliferative effects without cytotoxicity to normal cells. This makes it a promising candidate for further study as a safer anti-cancer agent.
What researchers are saying: The study confirms kencur’s anti-cancer properties, the researchers said. However, further research is needed, including clinical trials.
“The results of this study confirm the anti-cancer effects of Kencur extract and its main active ingredient, EMC,” lead author Akiko Kijima said in a statement. “It is highly expected that TFAM will become a new marker for anti-cancer effects in the future as research advances in related fields.”
Extracted from the core of sandalwood trees (santalum album tree), sandalwood oil has been used for many centuries by several cultures throughout the world for perfume, soaps, incense and candles. With its earthy sweet scent, this essential oil also is used in the food industry and topically in various cosmetic preparations.
Importantly, this natural oil is known for its health benefits and medicinal applications from antibacterial to anticancer because of its phytochemical constituents. In addition to containing esters, free acids, aldehydes, ketones and santenone, sandalwood oil primarily (90 percent or more) constitutes santalol – equal amounts of two compounds, alpha and beta-santalol.
Now, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators are the first to demonstrate in vivo the chemo-preventive properties of alpha-santalol against prostate cancer development using a transgenic mouse model.
Results of the study, published in the journal Phytomedicine Plus, showed that administration of alpha-santalol decreased the incidence of prostate tumors by decreasing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis, without causing weight loss or any noticeable side effects. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a method the body uses to get rid of unneeded or abnormal cells such as cancer cells.
Findings revealed that the area occupied by normal tissue in alpha-santalol-treated mice was 53 percent compared to 12 percent in control mice. This suggests that administering alpha-santalol protected the normal tissue and delayed progression from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, a precancerous condition, to poorly differentiated carcinoma, a high-grade form of cancer where cancer cells and tissue look very abnormal. These results are significant because mortality in prostate cancer patients is mainly attributable to advanced stages of the disease.
In prior studies, the researchers demonstrated the efficacy of alpha-santalol in suppressing growth and inducing apoptotic cell death in cultured human prostate cancer cells. Based on these observations, they selected a genetically engineered mouse model that resembles many features similar to human prostate cancer, eliciting different lesion grades and cancer progression.
“Although our cellular studies provided important mechanistic insights, relevant in vivo models are vital for developing novel chemo-preventive agents for clinical use and to determine if alpha-santalol offers protection against prostate cancer development,” said Ajay Bommareddy, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor of pharmacology in the Department of Biomedical Science, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. “Prior to this new study, alpha-santalol’s in vivo efficacy against prostate cancer development had not yet been established.”
Additional findings of the current study showed alpha-santalol reduced the incidence of visible prostate tumors compared to control-treated mice. Only 11 percent in the treated group developed prostate tumors whereas more than half in the control group developed the tumors. The differences in urogenital and prostate weights were statistically significantly different in alpha-santalol-treated mice compared with controls. The average wet weight of urogenital tract in alpha-santalol treated mice was about 74.28 percent lower compared with control mice. Similarly, the average wet weight of the prostate gland was lower by 52.9 percent compared with control mice.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. An estimated 288,300 new cases were diagnosed in American men last year with about 34,700 estimated deaths.
Current treatment methods for prostate cancer include androgen ablation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy, but are ineffective against advanced prostate cancers. Early detection and local therapy have resulted in improved outcomes but has been challenging with the management of advanced stages.
“Identifying agents that have the ability to selectively target cancerous cells and delay onset and progression of prostate cancer is greatly needed,” said Bommareddy. “Additional studies are essential to systemically explore the feasibility of alpha-santalol as a promising chemo-preventive and anti-tumor agent against human prostate cancer development and to elucidate the mechanisms surrounding the role of pro-apoptotic and antiapoptotic proteins.”
Study co-authors are John Oberlin Jr., PharmD; Kaitlyn Blankenhorn, PharmD; Sarah Hughes, PharmD; Erica Mabry, PharmD; Aaron Knopp, PharmD; Adam L. VanWert, PharmD, Ph.D., all with the Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy; Chandradhar Dwivedi, Ph.D., South Dakota State University; Isaiah Pinkerton, a graduate of Wilkes University; and Linda Gutierrez, M.D., Wilkes University.
- FAU -
About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:
FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 156 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The Consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology.
About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
Washington, D.C.— A new study demonstrates that the human gut microbiome may be a factor in breast health. Lifestyle and diet have long been known to affect human health. In the study, flaxseed components called lignans were shown to influence the relationship between gut microorganisms and the expression of mammary gland microRNAs (miRNAs). A subset of these miRNAs regulates the genes involved in breast cancer, including genes that control cell proliferation and migration. The study was published in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
“The gastrointestinal microbiota plays an important role in modifying many components of our diet to impact human health,” said Jennifer Auchtung, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Food Science and Technology Department at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, the editor who coordinated the review of the paper. “In this study, we found correlations between diets enriched in flaxseed, cecal microbiota composition and miRNA profiles in the mammary gland that regulate many pathways, including those involved in cancer development. This preliminary study supports further research into the role that the microbiota plays in dietary approaches to reduce risk factors associated with disease.”
The researchers studied the effects of flaxseed lignans on the microbiota of young female mice. Lignans, fiber-associated compounds found in many foods and particularly plentiful in flaxseed, are associated with reduced breast cancer mortality in postmenopausal women. The researchers found that lignan components generate specific miRNA responses in the mammary gland. miRNAs are short, noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression by targeting the 3’ untranslated region of target mRNAs.
To determine whether the relationship between the microbiota and mammary gland miRNAs could be manipulated to reduce the risk of breast cancer, the researchers fed flaxseed lignan components to female mice to determine whether gut cecal microbiota profiles are related to miRNA expression in the mammary gland. The cecum, the first part of the colon, located in the right lower abdomen near the appendix, is believed to have a role in production of short-chain fatty acids and has been proposed to serve as a reservoir of anaerobic bacteria.
One flaxseed oil lignan requires microbial processing to release bioactive metabolites, small-molecule chemicals produced during metabolism that influence physiology and disease —in this case having antitumor effects. The researchers found that the microbiota and mammary gland miRNA are related and that flaxseed lignans modify the relationship to be non-cancer causing.
“If these findings are confirmed, the microbiota becomes a new target to prevent breast cancer through dietary intervention,” said Elena M. Comelli, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, the corresponding author on the paper.
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The American Society for Microbiology is one of the largest professional societies dedicated to the life sciences and is composed of 36,000 scientists and health practitioners. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.
ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications, educational opportunities and advocacy efforts. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.
JOURNAL
Microbiology Spectrum
Thursday, September 21, 2023
SPAGYRIC HERBALISM
DGIST Core Protein Resources Center and Honam National Institute of Biological Resources, utilizing island wildlife to treat prostate cancer!
DGIST (DAEGU GYEONGBUK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)
The DGIST (President Kuk Yang) Core Protein Resources Center (Center Director Choi Seong-gyun) and Honam National Institute of Biological Resources (Director Ryu Tae-chul) announced on August 14th (Monday) that they have molecularly elucidated the mechanism by which veratramine, extracted from the wild island plant Veratrum japonicum, inhibits the proliferation of prostate cancer cells, through the “Advancing Island Wildlife Materials” (Research Director Choi Gyeong-min) project.
□ Prostate cancer ranks first in incidence among male cancers in Western countries including the United States, and it is also the fastest-growing male cancer in South Korea. In the early stages of onset, hormone suppression therapy can control proliferation; however, as the disease progresses, it becomes hormone-refractory, making treatment more difficult. Therefore, developing treatments using natural substances without side effects is considered an important area of research.
□ Veratramine extracted from Veratrum japonicum, a wild island plant, has been known to inhibit the proliferation of liver cancer and brain neuroglioma cells and is also effective for high blood pressure and inflammatory diseases. However, the effect of veratramine on prostate cancer had not been studied before.
□ The research team led by Choi Seong-gyun applied veratramine to prostate cancer cells and identified the concentration at which it inhibits the cells’ biological functions. They confirmed that veratramine significantly inhibits the proliferation of prostate cancer. Furthermore, the experiments revealed that veratramine significantly reduces the cancer cells’ survivability and mobility.
□ Through immunostaining, proteomics, and microarray analyses, the research team found that veratramine increases the expression of ATM/ATR, a DNA damage-related protein in prostate cancer cells, and suppresses the expression of the Akt protein involved in cancer cell proliferation. Additionally, when veratramine was administered to immunodeficient mice with prostate cancer, both the tumor size and the expression of tumorigenic proteins significantly decreased without any toxic lesions in the parenchymal organs.
□ This research was conducted as part of the “Advancing Island Wildlife Materials” project initiated last April. This project is a collaborative effort involving the Honam National Institute of Biological Resources (Ministry of Environment) and academia–industry collaborations, aimed at accelerating growth in the biosector by fostering bio-material infrastructure. Plans are underway to continue research on enhancing the utility of island-specific wildlife materials in collaboration with relevant organizations.
□ Choi Seong-gyun, Director of the DGIST Core Protein Resources Center, stated, “This research lays the groundwork for developing effective substances that can overcome the limitations of existing treatments using island wildlife extracts. We will take the lead in constructing a utility database for various effective substances from island wildlife extracts for different diseases through active joint research between DGIST and the Honam National Institute of Biological Resources.”
□ Choi Gyeong-min, the leader of the research group, expressed great satisfaction with the excellent results achieved based on inter-ministerial cooperation in the initial stage of the project, stating, “We will continue to meet the public’s expectations through fruitful outcomes from multi-ministerial collaborations.”
□ Kim Hee-yeon and Lee Seung-woo from the DGIST Core Protein Resources Center participated in the research as the first authors, with Choi Seong-gyun as the corresponding author. The research findings were published in the globally recognized natural products scientific journal The American Journal of Chinese Medicine on June 30.
Veratramine Inhibits the Cell Cycle Progression, Migration, and Invasion via ATM/ATR Pathway in Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer
Thursday, July 20, 2023
21ST CENTURY SPAGYRIC HERBALISM
The power of flowers: New Zealand researchers discover that dahlia flowers have antidiabetic properties by targeting the brain as a key regulator of blood sugar
IMAGE: THE EXTRACT INHIBITS THE IKKΒ/NF-ΚB PATHWAY AND HAS MARKED ANTI-INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES.view more
CREDIT: DOMINIK PRETZ, PHILIP M HEYWARD, JEREMY KREBS, JOEL GRUCHOT, CHARLES BARTER, PAT SILCOCK, NERIDA DOWNES, MOHAMMED ZUBAIR RIZWAN, ALISA BOUCSEIN, JULIA BENDER, ELAINE J BURGESS, GEKE ALINE BOER, PRAMUK KEERTHISINGHE, NIGEL B PERRY, ALEXANDER TUPS
In a clinical trial, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand researchers have discovered a dahlia extract that improves blood sugar regulation without reported side effects in humans. This is a ground-breaking discovery as it for the first time suggests that dysfunctional glucoregulation by the brain can be targeted therapeutically using potent plant molecules to treat type 2 diabetes.
Almost 170 years ago, Claude Bernard, the founder of modern medicine, discovered that the brain plays an important role in the regulation of blood sugar. However, due to the discovery of insulin in 1922, his ground-breaking discovery got almost forgotten until recently. It has been subsequently established that the brain contains a region called the hypothalamus that plays an essential role in the regulation of blood sugar. This region can be damaged through inflammatory processes that are brought about by excess consumption of a Western Style diet enriched in long-chain saturated fatty acids, for example, contained in lard, and this is regarded as a hallmark in the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes. In 2015, Associate Professor Tups and colleagues discovered that butein, a specific plant molecule, could block these inflammatory processes that damage the hypothalamus, and butein potently improved blood sugar regulation in mice.
In the current study, published inLife Metabolism, the New Zealand researchers reported that flowers of the non-toxic dahlia plant are a cultivable source of butein. Intriguingly, in a mouse model of diet-induced metabolic disease, an extract from this plant improved blood sugar regulation. Furthermore, the researchers demonstrate that the effect of butein was enhanced by the presence of two additional plant molecules that were obtained from the flower in a specific extraction process. When the researchers used molecular tools that stopped insulin from working in the brain, the ability of the dahlia extract to improve blood sugar regulation was lost, suggesting that the extract improves the brain’s function required for blood sugar regulation. This was substantiated by the observation that the extract enhanced the function of insulin in the brain and the discovery that the extract acts as a neuro-anti-inflammatory (Figure 1).
Confirming this, a randomized controlled crossover clinical trial on participants with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes revealed that the dahlia extract improved blood sugar regulation without reported side effects in humans.
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Reference: Dominik Pretz et al. (2023) A dahlia flower extract has anti-diabetic properties by improving insulin function in the brain. Life Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1093/lifemeta/load026.
About Higher Education Press
Founded in May 1954, Higher Education Press Limited Company (HEP), affiliated with the Ministry of Education, is one of the earliest institutions committed to educational publishing after the establishment of P. R. China in 1949. After striving for six decades, HEP has developed into a major comprehensive publisher, with products in various forms and at different levels. Both for import and export, HEP has been striving to fill in the gap of domestic and foreign markets and meet the demand of global customers by collaborating with more than 200 partners throughout the world and selling products and services in 32 languages globally. Now, HEP ranks among China’s top publishers in terms of copyright export volume and the world’s top 50 largest publishing enterprises in terms of comprehensive strength.
About Life Metabolism
Life Metabolism is a fully open access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes one volume per year online, providing a platform for the publication of works of high significance and broad interest in all areas of metabolism. Life Metabolism welcomes several different article types, including original article, review article, research highlight, letter, editorial, perspective, and so on. Once a paper is accepted, Life Metabolism can publish a precopyedited, preproofed version of the paper online within 48 hours of receiving a signed licence, and this will be replaced by a copyedited, proofed version of the paper as soon as it is ready. The Editors-in-Chief are professors Peng Li at Tsinghua University and John R Speakman at University of Aberdeen, UK. In the first three years, there will be no publication costs for publishing in Life Metabolism, and Open Access fees will be waived.
New research has revealed a potentially important role ginger supplements can play in controlling inflammation for people living with autoimmune diseases.
The research published in JCI Insight focused on studying the impact of ginger supplementation on a type of white blood cell called the neutrophil. The study was especially interested in neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, also known as NETosis, and what it may mean for controlling inflammation.
The study found ginger consumption by healthy individuals makes their neutrophils more resistant to NETosis. This is important because NETs are microscopic spider web-like structures that propel inflammation and clotting, which contribute to many autoimmune diseases, including lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.
"There are a lot of diseases where neutrophils are abnormally overactive. We found that ginger can help to restrain NETosis, and this is important because it is a natural supplement that may be helpful to treat inflammation and symptoms for people with several different autoimmune diseases," said senior co-author Kristen Demoruelle, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
In a clinical trial, the researchers found that daily intake of a ginger supplement for seven days (20 mg of gingerols/day) by healthy volunteers boosted a chemical inside the neutrophil called cAMP. These high levels of cAMP then inhibited NETosis in response to various disease-relevant stimuli.
"Our research, for the first time, provides evidence for the biological mechanism that underlies ginger's apparent anti-inflammatory properties in people," said senior co-author Jason Knight, MD, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Michigan.
The researchers say that many people with inflammatory conditions are likely to ask their health care providers whether natural supplements could be helpful for them or they already take supplements, like ginger, to help manage symptoms. Unfortunately, the precise impact on disease is often unknown.
The researchers hope that providing more evidence about ginger's benefits, including the direct mechanism by which ginger impacts neutrophils, will encourage health care providers and patients to more strategically discuss whether taking ginger supplements as part of their treatment plan could be beneficial.
"There are not a lot of natural supplements, or prescription medications for that matter, that are known to fight overactive neutrophils. We, therefore, think ginger may have a real ability to complement treatment programs that are already underway. The goal is to be more strategic and personalized in terms of helping to relieve people's symptoms," Knight adds.
As a next step, the researchers hope to undertake clinical trials of ginger in patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases where neutrophils are overactive, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, antiphospholipid syndrome and even COVID-19.
More information: Ginger intake suppresses neutrophil extracellular trap formation in autoimmune mice and healthy humans, JCI Insight (2023).
IMAGE: (SCUTELLARIA BARBATA) KNOWN IN CHINA AS BANZHILIANview more
CREDIT: PHIL ROBINSON
The evolutionary secrets that enable the medicinal herb known as barbed skullcap to produce cancer fighting compounds have been unlocked by a collaboration of UK and Chinese researchers.
The CEPAMS collaboration used DNA sequencing technology to assemble the genomic sequence of skullcap (Scutellaria barbata) known in China as banzhilian.
This gave researchers the genetic information - a microevolutionary history - required to identify how the plant produces the compound scutebarbatine A, which acts against a range of cancer cells.
Professor Cathie Martin, Group Leader at the John Innes Centre, and one of the authors of the study said, “We have found that the primary metabolite has activity against cancer cells but not non cancer cells which is especially important for an anti-cancer metabolite. Now we are looking to develop synthetic methods for producing more of the lead compound.”
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to isolate medicinal chemistry from the plant, the herb is boiled in water for two hours and extract is dried to produce a powder and taken as a decoction (concentrated liquid).Now, with the knowledge of the genes that make up the biochemical pathway behind the anti-cancer activity of the herb, researchers are close to being able to synthesise larger quantities of compounds more rapidly and sustainably by using a host such as yeast.
The research which appears in the journal Molecular Plant is led by CEPAMS, a partnership between the John Innes Centre and the Chinese Academy of Science and supported by The Royal Society.
“This is a fantastic collaboration about developing interesting drug leads from natural resources and shows the practical value of focusing on the microevolution of a species” said Professor Martin.
The Skullcap genus has been used for centuries in TCM for treatment of different medical conditions. Clinical work has shown that preparations based on Scutellaria barbata during chemotherapy can reduce the risk of metastatic tumors.
CEPAMS Group Leader based at Shanghai Dr Evangelos Tatsis said, “Natural products have long been the lead compounds for the discovery of new drugs. By following the trail of the traditional Chinese plants, we can develop new anti-cancer medicines and this research marks a crucial step in that direction.”
Plant-based traditional medicines have long been used to provide leads for the new drug discovery, and plant natural products like vinblastine and taxol are used clinically as anticancer drugs.
TCM is one of the best catalogued systems with empirical information about the therapeutic properties of herbal remedies.
Anti-cancer drugs obtained from traditional Chinese medicine have higher efficacy than chemical synthetic drugs and with less toxic side effects. The genomes of medicinal skullcaps reveal the polyphyletic origins of clerodane diterpene biosynthesis in the family Laminiaceae, is published inMolecular Plant
The lipids in some herbal teas have been identified in detail for the first time, preparing the ground for investigating their contribution to the health benefits of the teas.
Herbal teas are enjoyed worldwide, not only for their taste and refreshment but also for a wide range of reputed health benefits. But the potential significance of a category of compounds called lipids in the teas has been relatively unexplored. Researchers at Hokkaido University, led by Associate Professor Siddabasave Gowda and Professor Shu-Ping Hui of the Faculty of Health Sciences, have now identified 341 different molecular species from five categories of lipids in samples of four types of herbal tea. They published their results in the journal Food Chemistry.
Lipids are a diverse collection of natural substances that share the property of being insoluble in water. They include all of the fats and oils that are common constituents of many foods, but they have generally not been examined as significant components of teas.
The Hokkaido team selected four teas for their initial analysis: dokudami (Houttuynia cordata, fish mint), kumazasa (Sasa veitchii), sugina (Equisetum arvense, common horsetail) and yomogi (Artemisia princeps, Japanese mugwort).
“These herbs are native to Japan and have been widely consumed as tea from ancient times due to their medicinal properties,” says Gowda. The medicinal benefits attributed to these and other herbal teas include antioxidant, antiglycation, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-allergic, anticarcinogenic, antithrombotic, vasodilatory, antimutagenic, and anti-aging effects.
The lipids in the teas were separated and identified by combining two modern analytical techniques called high-performance liquid chromatography and linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometry.
The analysis revealed significant variations in the lipids in the four types of tea, with each type containing some known bioactive lipids. These included a distinct category of lipids called short-chain fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (SFAHFAs), some of which had never previously been found in plants. SFAHFAs detected in tea could be a novel source of short-chain fatty acids, which are essential metabolites for maintaining gut health.
“The discovery of these novel SFAHFAs opens new avenues for research,” says Hui, adding that the lipid concentrations found in the teas are at levels that could be expected to have significant nutritional and medical effects in consumers.
The lipids discovered also included α-linolenic acid, already known for its anti-inflammatory properties, and arachidonic acid which has been associated with a variety of health benefits. These two compounds are examples of a range of poly-unsaturated fatty acids found in the teas, a category of lipids that are well-known for their nutritional benefits.
“Our initial study paves the way for further exploration of the role of lipids in herbal teas and their broad implications for human health and nutrition,” Gowda concludes. “We now want to expand our research to characterize the lipids in more than 40 types of herbal tea in the near future.”
Separation and analysis revealed the lipid profiles of four herbal teas.
(Lipsa Rani Nath, et al. Food Chemistry. March 4, 2024)
CREDIT
Lipsa Rani Nath, et al. Food Chemistry. March 4, 2024
CREDIT: ELIZABETH POINDEXTER, THE GRADUATE SCHOOL AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)
In a new study, researchers found that the microbes in kombucha tea make changes to fat metabolism in the intestines of a model worm species that are similar to the effects of fasting. Robert Dowen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues, present these findings March 28 in the journal PLOS Genetics.
Kombucha is a sweetened, fermented tea beverage that has surged in popularity recently, in part due to its supposed health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, preventing cancer and protecting against metabolic disease and liver toxins. These benefits are believed to come from the drink’s probiotic microbes and their effects on metabolism, but the associated health claims have not been well studied in humans.
Dowen’s team investigated how microbes from kombucha tea impact metabolism by feeding them to the model nematode worm C. elegans. The researchers found that the yeast and bacteria colonize the worms’ intestines and create metabolic changes similar to those that occur during fasting. The microbes alter the expression of genes involved in fat metabolism, leading to more proteins that break down fats and fewer proteins that build a type of fat molecule called triglycerides. Together, these changes reduce fat stores in the worms.
The new results provide insights into how probiotics in kombucha tea reshape metabolism in a model worm species, and offer hints to how these microbes may be impacting human metabolism. It’s important to remember that more research is required to provide evidence that humans consuming kombucha experience similar effects as the C. elegans model studied here—but these findings appear consistent with the reported human health benefits of kombucha, note the authors, and could inform the use of the beverage in complementary healthcare approaches in the future.
The authors add: “We were surprised to find that animals consuming a diet consisting of the probiotic microbes found in Kombucha Tea displayed reduced fat accumulation, lower triglyceride levels, and smaller lipid droplets - an organelle that stores the cell’s lipids - when compared to other diets. These findings suggest that the microbes in Kombucha Tea trigger a “fasting-like” state in the host even in the presence of sufficient nutrients.”
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In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Genetics:
Funding: This work was supported by NIGMS grant T32GM007092 to R.N.D., NCCIH grant F31AT012138 to R.N.D., and NIGMS grant R35GM137985 to R.H.D. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
