Carob

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Carob JoAnn Guest Apr 22, 2003 13:47 PDT

 

Carob

 

Scientific Names:

Ceratonia siliqua L. [Fam. Fabaceae]

 

 

Forms:

Flour, powder, and gum made from the

ground pods and seeds of carob

 

Traditional Usage:

- Antioxidant

- Antibacterial

- Cholesterol/Hyperlipidemia

- Constipation

- Diarrhea

- High Cholesterol

- Nutritive

- Prostate Health Maintenance

- Sugar Control

 

 

 

Overview:

Carobtree, Ceratonia siliqua L. [Fam. Fabaceae], also known as

Locust-Bean, is an evergreen tree found in the Mediterranean, Western

Asia, Egypt, United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

 

Carob is a legume and its foot-long bean pods have been used

medicinally and as a food source for over 5000 years. Carob's ground

seeds are well known as a delicious cocoa substitute and are high in

calcium, protein, and pectin and low in calories and fat.

 

Carob is primarily used to treat diarrhea, including salmonella or

virally induced diarrhea, as the gummy carbohydrates ('locust-bean

gum'), help to absorb water and act as a binding agent. In community

practice, carob bean has been used to treat diarrheal diseases in

Anatolia since ancient times.

 

The tannins in carob have antioxidant and antibacterial properties,

which also make it a good remedy for diarrhea. In folk medicine, carob

is also given to treat prostate problems, warts, and constipation.

 

Carob pods were also chewed in the 1800s by opera singers who believed

it helped their throats and voices. A clinical study of the

anti-diarrheal effects of carob bean juice with 80 children admitted to

hospital with acute diarrhea and dehydration found that carob bean juice

shortened the duration of diarrhea by 45%, reduced stool output by 44%

and decreased the need for oral rehydration solution (ORS) by 38%

compared with children receiving ORS alone.

 

Human studies have also confirmed the lipid-lowering effect of a carob

pulp preparation rich in insoluble dietary fiber and polyphenols. After

a 4-week study of consuming 15g of powdered carob daily, reductions of

7.1% in mean total cholesterol and 10.6% in LDL cholesterol were noted.

Locust-bean gum also significantly decreases the glucose response to,

and glycemic index of foods (when intimately mixed) and tends to

decrease their insulinaemic response and insulinaemic index.

 

 

 

 

Active Ingredients:

Carob contains: alanine, alpha-aminopimelic-acid, amino acids,

arginine, ash, aspartic acid, benzoic acid, butyric acid, capronic acid,

carubin, catechin tannin, cellulose, ceratoniase, ceratose,

chiro-inositol, concanavalin-A, fat, formic acid, fructose, D-galactose,

gallic acid, beta-D1,6-DI-O-galloylglucose, beta-D-glucogallin, glucose,

glutamic acid, glycine, gum, hemicellulose, histidine, hydroxyproline,

invert sugars, isobutyric acid, isoleucine, leucine, leucodelphinidin,

lignin, lysine, D-mannose, methionine, mucilage, myoinositol, pectin,

pentosane, phenylalanine, pinitol, primverose, proline, protein,

saccarose, saponin, serine, starch, sucrose, sugars, tannin, threonine,

tocopherol, tyrosine, valine, water, xylose.

 

The pods are rich in antioxidant polyphenols (19.2%) and have also been

proposed for use as a functional food or food ingredient.

 

Because they are high in nutrients, the pods are commonly given to

livestock as feed. The condensed tannin content determined by the

vanillin and proanthocyanidin assay systems was 4.37% and 1.36%,

respectively. [Duke JA. 1992. Handbook of Phytochemical Constituents of

GRAS Herbs and Other Economic Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp.

152-153; and Kumazawa S, Taniguchi M, Suzuki Y, Shimura M, Kwon MS,

Nakayama T. 2002. Antioxidant activity of polyphenols in carob pods. J

Agric Food Chem. 2002 Jan 16; 50(2): 373-7.].

 

 

 

 

Suggested Amount:

The recommended daily dose of carob powder is 15 grams for children and

20 grams for adults. The powder may be mixed with applesauce or sweet

potatoes and should be taken with water.

 

 

 

Drug Interactions:

None known.

 

 

 

Contraindications:

None known.

 

 

 

Side Effects:

In the hypercholeserolemia study, only 3 volunteers out of 47

participants (6%) reported a sensation of fullness, which led to 2 of

the 3 dropouts. No other negative side effects were noted in the studies

on cholesterol; HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels remained

unchanged in subjects.

 

 

 

 

References:

Aksit S, Caglayan S, Cukan R, Yaprak I. 1998. Carob bean juice: a

powerful adjunct to oral rehydration solution treatment in diarrhoea.

Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 1998 Apr; 12(2): 176-81.

 

Drouliscos NJ, Malefaki V. 1980. Nutritional evaluation of the germ meal

and its protein isolate obtained from the carob seed (Ceratonia siliqua)

in the rat. Br J Nutr. 1980 Jan; 43(1): 115-23.

 

Duke, J. 1997: The Green Pharmacy, The Ultimate Compendium of Natural

Remedies from the World's Foremost Authority on Healing and Herbs. Pp.

206. Rodale Press.

 

Yaniv Z, Dafni A, Friedman J, Palevitch D. 1987. Plants used for the

treatment of diabetes in Israel. J Ethnopharmacol. 1987 Mar-Apr; 19(2):

145-51.

 

Zunft HJ, Luder W, Harde A, Haber B, Graubaum HJ, Gruenwald J. 2001.

Carob pulp preparation for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Adv Ther.

2001 Sep-Oct; 18(5):230-6.

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

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