Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 6 Articles
This paper presents the results of a research in urban ethnobotany, conducted in a market of Bolivian immigrants in the neighborhood of Liniers, Ciudad AutÃ?³noma de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Functional foods and nutraceuticals belonging to 50 species of 18 families, its products, and uses were recorded. Some products are exclusive from the Bolivian community; others are frequent within the community, but they are also available in the general commercial circuit; they are introduced into it, generally, through shops called dietÃ?©ticas (ââ?¬Å?health-food storesââ?¬Â), where products associated with the maintenance of health are sold. On this basis, the traditional and nontraditional components of the urban botanical knowledge were evaluated as well as its dynamics in relation to the diffusion of the products. Both the framework and methodological design are innovative for the studies of the urban botanical knowledge and the traditional markets in metropolitan areas....
The genesis of cancer is often a slow process and the risk of developing cancer increases with age. Altering a diet that includes consumption of beneficial phytochemicals can influence the balance and availability of dietary chemopreventive agents. In chemopreventive approaches, foods containing chemicals that have anticancer properties can be supplemented in diets to prevent precancerous lesions from occurring. This necessitates further understanding of how phytochemicals can potently maintain healthy cells. Fortunately there is a plethora of plant-based phytochemicals although few of them are well studied in terms of their application as cancer chemopreventive and therapeutic agents. In this analysis we will examine phytochemicals that have strong chemopreventive and therapeutic properties in vitro as well as the design and modification of these bioactive compounds for preclinical and clinical applications. The increasing potential of combinational approaches using more than one bioactive dietary compound in chemoprevention or cancer therapy will also be evaluated. Many novel approaches to cancer prevention are on the horizon, several of which are showing great promise in saving lives in a cost-effective manner....
Safed musali, an endangered Indian medicinal herb is valued for its tuberous root, reputed to have an aphrodisiac property i.e. to enhance the libido and potency. Along with technical enhancement and life style changes; pollutants causes stress and strain which tends to reduce the vigor and vitality of man. These unavoidable demands of cyber age results in the disease of myriad prepositions hence this generation is far away from the real health. The research to overcome menaces in effective manner provides a divine herb i.e. safed musali (Chlorophytum borivilianum) which offers a ray of hope. The major constituents of safed musali are saponins (20%), alkaloids (30%), carbohydrates and proteins (5-7%). Besides these, in other ailments such as diabetes, hypercholesteremia, arthritis etc, safed musali is also a preventive measurement of natural origin. Present study has emphasized the multidimensional beneficial effects of it....
One breakthrough that the field of nutraceuticals has witnessed is Wheatgrass, which is proposed to have remarkable antioxidant capacity, which can prove to be a functional food for the management of chronic diseases. Thus an attempt was made to look into the nutrient content of freeze-dried wheatgrass powder, incorporate it in traditional recipes and investigate the acceptability of these recipes. It was found that wheatgrass has excellent nutrient content as reflected by its high iron content (57.9mg) and β-carotene content (360µg). For testing the acceptability, five recipes: Khakhra, Thepla, Muthiya, Dal and Buttermilk, which involve different method of cooking were selected and wheatgrass was incorporated at levels 1g, 1.5g and 2g per serving in case of Muthiya, dal and Buttermilk and per unit in case of Khakhra and Thepla. The acceptability of the organoleptic attributes was evaluated using sensory evaluation employing the Composite scoring test, by a semi trained panel of 12 subjects. The mean scores for Dal, buttermilk, Khakhra, Muthiya and Thepla were 7.0, 6.5, 6.9, 6.5, 7.3 respectively, which was indicative of good acceptability. It was observed that the acceptability was higher in recipes with low water content like Khakhra and Thepla, than recipes with high water content viz., Dal, Buttermilk and Muthiya. Therefore, wheatgrass will have excellent acceptability if used as a functional food component in day to day recipes and its nutritional quality can serve to ameliorate various chronic health conditions....
Whole grains and legumes are known to reduce postprandial glycemia and, in some instances, insulinemia. However, the subsequent meal effect of ingesting whole grains and legumes is less well known. That is, inclusion of whole grains or legumes at breakfast decreases postprandial glycemia at lunch and/or dinner on the same day whereas consumption of a whole grain or lentil dinner reduces glycemia at breakfast the following morning. This effect is lost upon milling, processing, and cooking at high temperatures. The subsequent meal effect has important implications for the control of day-long blood glucose, and may be partly responsible for the reduction in diabetes incidence associated with increased whole grain and legume intake. This paper describes the subsequent meal effect and explores the role of acute glycemia, presence of resistant starch, and fermentation of indigestible carbohydrate as the mechanisms responsible for this effect....
Background/objective\r\nZingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) (Zingiberaceae) has been cultivated for thousands of years both as a spice and for medicinal purposes. Ginger rhizomes successive extracts (petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol) were examined against liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride in rats.\r\nResults\r\nThe evaluation was done through measuring antioxidant parameters; glutathione (GSH), total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Liver marker enzymes; succinate and lactate dehydrogenases (SDH and LDH), glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase), acid phosphatase (AP), 5'- nucleotidase (5'NT) and liver function enzymes; aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST and ALT) as well as cholestatic markers; alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), total bilirubin were estimated. Liver histopathological analysis and collagen content were also evaluated. Treatments with the selected extracts significantly increased GSH, SOD, SDH, LDH, G-6-Pase, AP and 5'NT. However, MDA, AST, ALT ALP, GGT and total bilirubin were significantly decreased.\r\nConclusions\r\nExtracts of ginger, particularly the ethanol one resulted in an attractive candidate for the treatment of liver fibrosis induced by CCl4. Further studies are required in order to identify the molecules responsible of the pharmacological activity....
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