Traditional herbal remedies fight disease

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Traditional herbal remedies fight disease

 

29/09/2004 - Traditional herbal remedies can help in the battle

against a range of illnesses, including cancer and diabetes, according

to data presented yesterday to the British Pharmaceutical Conference

in Manchester, UK.

 

The studies - presented by a team of researchers from King's College,

London - confirmed the benefits of common traditional remedies and

offered scientific justification for their use.

 

The researchers concentrated on three sets of plants, namely those

used in Indian for the treatment of diabetes, Ghanaian wound healing

agents and cancer treatments used in the Far East. They commented that

the findings " will help local people identify which plants to

recommend and may lead to potential new compounds for pharmaceutical use. "

 

Curry-leaf tree and diabetes

 

The first herbal to be examined was the curry-leaf tree (Murraya

koenigii) from India, which is reputed to help diabetes. Researcher

Katie Bawden-Tucknott and colleagues said that their investigations

had clearly shown that the plant had potential antidiabetic activity.

 

They came to this conclusion after developing a test for antidiabetic

activity based on the inhibition of a digestive enzyme (pancreatic

alpha-amylase), which is involved in the breakdown of dietary starch

to glucose.

 

A patient with diabetes does not produce enough insulin to cope with

rapid rises in blood glucose levels. Slowing the rate of starch

breakdown, by blocking alpha-amylase, can lead to a more even trickle

of glucose into the bloodstream from the intestine.

 

Professor Peter Houghton, head of the King's College research team,

described this as " like restricting people coming out of a station

gate in the rush hour so that they come out one at a time rather than

seven at a time. "

 

Curry-leaf tree extracts were able to significantly inhibit the enzyme

and the researchers are now working to identify the specific active

compounds, which are responsible for this action.

 

When the active component has been isolated and characterized, the

scientists believe it should be possible to evaluate whether the agent

is likely to have advantages - in terms of efficacy or side effects -

over currently marketed antidiabetic drugs that interfere with starch

digestion.

 

Climbing dayflower to heal wounds

 

The second project was a joint work between King's College and Kwame

Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, looking at the

properties of some plants used by one of the largest ethnic groups in

Ghana, the Ashantis, to heal wounds.

 

At the conference, they presented the results of their experiments

using climbing dayflower (Commelina diffusa), which they found had

antibacterial and antifungal properties.

 

" This indicated that the plant is useful in helping wounds to heal and

stopping them getting infected, " said Houghton.

 

Thai and Chinese plants in cancer treatment

 

Asia was the team's next stop. They concluded that plants used in

traditional medicine in Thailand and China for the treatment of cancer

do appear to have anticancer activities.

 

The scientists extracted plant materials from both countries using

traditional methods, before assessing their in vitro activity in

inhibiting growth of cancer cells (a measure of potential therapeutic

use) and normal cells (a measure of potential toxicity) through the

sulforhodamine B test.

 

Both sets of plants showed some promising activity against lung cancer

cells. The star performer from Thailand was the aquatic weed, Ammannia

baccifera, whose active compounds researchers are now attempting to

isolate and purify, while the most promising of the Chinese products

was the plant Illicium verum, more commonly known as star anise, often

found in spice mixtures and cooking pastes, herbal tea blends, and

therapeutic and natural health products.

 

The BPC 2004 is being held at Manchester International Convention

Centre, UK between 27 and 29 September.

 

 

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