Nanoparticle Protects Antioxidants
Filed Under News August 25, 2008
Dr Ken Ng and Dr Ian Larson from Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have designed a nanoparticle, that protects antioxidants from being destroyed in the gut and give’s them a better chance of them being absorbed in the human digestive tract.
Dr Larson said orally delivered antioxidants were easily destroyed by acids and enzymes in the human body, with only a small percentage of what is consumed actually being absorbed.
The solution is to design a tiny sponge-like chitosan biopolymeric nanoparticle as a protective vehicle for antioxidants. Chitosan is a natural substance found in crab shells.
“Antioxidants sit within this tiny trojan horse, protecting it from attack from digestive juices in the stomach,” Dr Larson said.
“Once in the small intestine the nanoparticle gets sticky and bonds to the intestinal wall. It then leaks its contents directly into the intestinal cells, which allows them to be absorbed directly into the blood stream.
“We hope that by mastering this technique, drugs and supplements also vulnerable to the digestive process can be better absorbed by the human body.”
The research project will start trials early in 2009.
Red Grape Antioxidants Help Reduce Blood Pressure
Filed Under News August 23, 2008
Red Grapes lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels reducing the risk of heart disease, according to Madrid University scientists.
The researchers believe that the antioxidants and fibre found in a combination of grape skin and seeds could be usedin the battle against heart attacks.
The latest discovery was given as a dietary supplement to volunteers, who saw their blood pressure reduced by up to five per cent and cholesterol by up to 14 per cent.
During the trials, the compound also improved volunteers’ Lipid Profiles – a range of blood tests to diagnose the risk of heart disease.
The researchers say the grape extract would boost the average Briton’s intake of dietary fibre to recommended daily levels of 30g a day.
“The effects appear to be higher than the ones caused by other dietary fibres, such as oat, fibre or psyllium, probably due to the combined effect of dietary fibre and antioxidants,” The Daily Express quoted Jara Perez Jimenez, the study’s lead researcher, as saying.
Health Benefits of Wine Flavonoids
Filed Under News August 13, 2008
The compounds responsible for the protective powers of wine are a class of compounds called antioxidants. Red wines contain several antioxidants the key isolate being the polyphenol compound called trans-Resveratrol or Res for short. Res is found in other fruit besides grapes including mulberries, raspberries and muscadine grapes (indigenous to the Americas). And in this particular grape Res is reported to be seven times as concentrated. Resveratrol is also encountered in peanuts and other nuts. Researchers at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Illinois found that Res has both anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. A paper published by the UNC researchers in 2000 in the journal Cancer Research reports that Res inhibits the activity of a protein called NF-kappa B which attaches to DNA inside human cells. This protein acts like a switch turning certain genes on and off. Cancer cells propagate and continue to survive by means of NF-kappa B and thus under controlled settings researcher introduce Res which turns off this protein and thus causes the death (apoptosis) of cancer cells.
Polyphenols and Human Health
Filed Under News August 7, 2008
Findings from a study by the University of Grenoble in collaboration with the other researchers suggest that a polyphenol rich diet keeps the heart healthy.
The scientific work, published in the Journal of Nutrition, is one of the few approaching this field by in vivo studies. “So far- says Marie-Claire Toufektsian, leading author of the study - the biological and protective activities of various flavonoids have been extensively studied in vitro, on cell- based assays. Nevertheless, this kind of approach has a major limitation: it is extremely difficult to assess precisely the nature of all flavonoids absorbed following consumption of fruits and vegetable plants present in a given meal. In other words, laboratory cultured cells alone are not sufficient to study a complex mechanism such as that of absorption of food flavonoids”. That is why we need to turn attention on other features.
Dr. Robert O. Young, a research scientist from the pH Miracle Living Center, states, “the best source of the acid buffering-alkalizing proanthocyanadins is from green fruits and veggies. Eating 9 to 12 servings of green fruits and veggies every day will help to provide the protective proanthocyanadins needed to buffer the dietary and metabolic acids that can lead to heart dis-ease and cancerous conditions.”
