PAWPAW | yorubareligion-1

A combination of extracts of pawpaw and Brimestome tree has shown promise in treating stomach ulcer and may provide the next novel drug.

CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes..

Guardian. Lagos. Nigeria. 18.4.12

BISI Okonta has stomach ulcer. She avoids hot and peppery foods. Bisi, a 42-year-old mother of two, had to eat every two hours to ameliorate the pains. Life had not been easy with Bisi living with stomach ulcer for 11 years until she stumbled upon a herbal combination made of pawpaw, Brimstone tree, okra and cabbage extracts.
Indeed, ulcers are on the prowl. Researches have shown that stomach ulcers occur when the lining of the stomach becomes compromised, resulting in formation of an open sore. One of the most common causes of stomach ulcers is bacterial infection by Helicobacter pylori. Several studies have also indicated routine use of certain analgesic medications, including aspirin.
However, it is over a decade that Helicobacter pylori infections were known as a major cause of gastro-duodenal ulcers, gastritis and stomach cancer with greater burden of cases documented in developing countries. Most effective therapies employ a synergic action between a gastric acid release inhibitor and one or antibiotics to eradicate Helicobacter pylori, its urease and associated diseases.
However, the implementation of these therapies in communities where the poor bears the greater brunt of the disease is cost ineffective as concerned drugs are poorly patronised.
In Nigeria, Helicobacter pylori is fast replacing non steroidal anti-in?ammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as causal agent of gastro-duodenal ulcers and duodenal perforation cases are also of signi?cant increase.
More worrisome is the increased resistance trend of Helicobacter pylori isolates to metronidazole, amoxycillin and tetracycline in vitro in a manner that discourages their future clinical use against Helicobacter pylori infection in the country.
In Nigeria, a triple therapy involving omeperazole, metronidazole and amoxycillin are widely used in severe cases and treatment failures with this combination have been reported.
Alternative triple therapies that could be used are expensive, have undesirable side effects and a long list of contraindications. The discoveries that Allium vegetables (garlic, onions), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and cabbage habour anti-Helicobacter pylori substances have further heightened -the global search for similar compounds in other medicinal plants and this to some extent has yielded encouraging results that have the therapeutic applications in areas of discovery as a barrier.
Abelmoschus esculentus is commonly called okro, okra or Lady’s fingers. It belongs to the plant family malvaceae.

Honey As An Antibiotic.

Leadership. 10.4.12

Sweet news for those looking for new antibiotics: A new research published in the FASEB Journal explains for the first time how honey kills bacteria. Specifically, the research shows that bees make a protein that they add to the honey, called defensin-1, which could one day be used to treat burns and skin infections and to develop new drugs that could combat antibiotic-resistant infections.
"We have completely elucidated the molecular basis of the antibacterial activity of a single medical-grade honey, which contributes to the applicability of honey in medicine," said Sebastian A.J. Zaat, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Medical Microbiology at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.
"Honey or isolated honey-derived components might be of great value for prevention and treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
To make the discovery, Zaat and colleagues investigated the antibacterial activity of medical-grade honey in test tubes against a panel of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria.
They developed a method to selectively neutralize the known antibacterial factors in honey and determine their individual antibacterial contributions.
Ultimately, researchers isolated the defensin-1 protein, which is part of the honey bee immune system and is added by bees to honey. After analysis, the scientists concluded that the vast majority of honey's antibacterial properties come from that protein.
This information also sheds light on the inner workings of honey bee immune systems, which may one day help breeders create healthier and heartier honey bees.
"We've known for millennia that honey can be good for what ails us, but we haven't known how it works," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal, "Now that we've extracted a potent antibacterial ingredient from honey, we can make it still more effective and take the sting out of bacterial infections."
To capitalize on the positive health effects of honey, we experimented with using honey in salad dressings," said Nicki Engeseth, a U of I associate professor of food chemistry. "We found that the antioxidants in honey protected the quality of the salad dressings for up to nine months while sweetening them naturally."

How local spice prevents hypertension, by researchers .

Guardian. Lagos. Nigeria. 28.3.12

Can regular dietary intake of a local spice, Tetrapleura tetraptera, reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure? CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.
HYPERTENSION is on the prowl! Hypertension (HTN) or high blood pressure, sometimes referred to as arterial hypertension, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. This requires the heart to work harder than normal to circulate blood through the blood vessels.
Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and diastolic, which depend on whether the heart muscle is contracting (systole) or relaxed between beats (diastole). Normal blood pressure at rest is within the range of 100-140mmHg systolic (top reading) and 60-90mmHg diastolic (bottom reading). High blood pressure is said to be present if it is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg.
Several studies have shown that hypertension is the leading risk factor linked to increasing complications of cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart diseases, stroke and renal failure.
It has also been shown that hypertension, which causes end organ damage to the heart, kidneys and the central nervous system has no conventional cure but can only be managed with drugs and lifestyle changes.
But researchers have found that regular intake of the fruit and bark extracts of a local spice, Tetrapleura tetraptera, could prevent the development of hypertension and its complications.
Tetrapleura tetraptera belongs to the mimosaceae family. It is referred locally to as Aridan in Yoruba and Oshosho in Ibo.
Tetrpleura tetraptera is generally found in the lowland forest of tropical Africa. The fruit consist of a fleshy pulp with small, brownish-black seeds. The dry fruit has a pleasant aroma. It is therefore, used as a popular seasoning spice in southern and eastern Nigeria. The fruit is used to prepare soup for mothers from the first day of birth to prevent post partum contraction.
Camerounian researchers in a study titled: “Aqueous Extract of Tetrapleura tetraptera (Mimosaceae) prevents hypertension, dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in high salt-sucrose induced hypertensive rats” concluded: “Present study showed that oral administration of Tetrapleura tetraptera aqueous extract exhibited an antihypertensive and anti-dyslipidemic (cholesterol lowering) effects on high salt-sucrose feeding rats. This effect might be related to its antioxidant potential and supports the traditional use of the stem bark of Tetrapleura tetraptera.”
Dyslipidemia or dyslipidaemia is an abnormal amount of lipids (example cholesterol and/or fat) in the blood.

Researchers validate local TB ‘drugs’ .

Guardian. Lagos. Nigeria. 22.3.12

A local study has identified extracts of kola nut, bitter kola, alligator pepper, shea butter tree, bush cane/sugar cane, and African nutmeg as possible novel drugs for tuberculosis. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.
A STUDY of plants used traditionally for the management of tuberculosis in five local councils in Ogun State, has identified six plants with great potentials for developing novel drugs.
The six Nigerian plants, according to a study published recently in African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines are: The fruit of Cola acumminata (kola nut), leaves of Garcinia kola (bitter kola), oil from Vitallaria parodoxa (sheabutter), stem of Costus afer (sugar cane), stem bark of Pycnanthus angolensis (African nutmeg), and fruits of Aframomum melegueta (alligator pepper).
The study tiled: “Traditional management of tuberculosis in Ogun State of Nigeria: The practice and ethnobotanical survey,” was conducted by researchers from the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu, Ogun State; and Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
According to the researchers, the aim of the study was to document herbs used in the management of tuberculosis and identify possible drug lead from the phytomedicine of these communities.
The researchers wrote: “A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain the required information on the use of herbal remedies for the management. A total of 50 respondents made up of herbalists (40.0 per cent), herb sellers (52.0 per cent) and traditional medicine practitioners (8.0 per cent) were interviewed in the study. The dominant age of respondents was in the range of 21 to 40 years (72.0 per cent). Duration of treatment of tuberculosis with herbs was between two to 12 weeks.
“A total of 36 plants belonging to 20 families were proffered for the management of tuberculosis. Eighty-four people (42 per cent) of the 50 respondents interviewed said that their clients observed no side effects and that the herbs were either available in the forest or bought from the markets.
“Cola acumminata (fruit), Garcinia kola (leaf), Vitallaria parodoxa (oil), Costus afer (stem), Pycnanthus angolensis (stem bark) and Aframomum melegueta (fruit) were the most frequently mentioned herbs. The ethnomedicines of the studied areas of Ogun State seem to have a high potential as a source of drug discovery of anti-tuberculosis. This is of utmost importance because people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are susceptible to tuberculosis.”
Formerly called Butryspermum paradoxum, Vitellaria paradoxa belongs to the plant family Sapotaceae. It is an immensely popular tree with many applications in folkloric medicine. It is commonly called shea butter in English, kareje in Fulfulde), kadanya in Hausa, koita in Gbagi, mmameng in Cham, okwuma in Ibo, and ori in Yoruba.