Natural healing Herbal research news roundup

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

You’ll have reason to smile the next time you dine on Japanese food. The research department at Ogawa & Company in Japan found that wasabi helps prevent cavities. The superhot green paste made from Japanese horseradish (Wasabia japonica) is best known as a condiment for sushi. The same compounds (isothiocyanates) that produce its spicy-hot taste inhibit tooth decay, making it difficult for bacteria to stick to teeth and bone. Wasabi also strongly inhibits growth of bacteria and fungi responsible for food poisoning. A Japanese study from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences found that horseradish has anticancer properties and enhances glutathione S-transferase activity, which is involved in liver detoxification. Other compounds known to deter dental cavities are antibacterial tannins in grapes, polyphenols in green tea (Camellia sinensis), and anacardic acid in cashews.

Source: Morimitsu, Y., et al. “Antiplatelet and anticancer isothiocyanates in Japanese domestic horseradish, wasabi.” Biofactors 2000, 13(1 - 4): 271–276.

Raspberry may smooth labor

Herbalists often recommend that pregnant women drink raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus) tea as a uterine tonic to promote shorter and easier labor. To determine its effectiveness, the Holistic Nurses Association of New South Wales, Australia, had nearly 200 women take two tablets (1.2 g each) daily from the time they were eight months pregnant until labor. Raspberry did not shorten the first stage of labor, but the second stage was almost ten minutes shorter compared to a control group. Women taking raspberry also had fewer forceps deliveries (19.3 percent versus 30.4 percent), and there were no adverse effects in the women or their babies.

Source: Simpson, M., et al. “Raspberry leaf in pregnancy: its safety and efficacy in labor.” Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health 2001, 46(2): 51–59.

Ginger relief

A review of the scientific literature found that ginger (Zingiber officinale) prevented nausea due to pregnancy, seasickness, chemotherapy, and surgery in five out of six placebo studies. The dose used in these studies was 1 g of fresh or powdered ginger. In another study at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University, thirty-two women who took ginger in the first half of their pregnancy had about half the nausea and vomiting from morning sickness as pregnant women taking placebo capsules. The women took four capsules of ginger (250 mg each) four times a day. In some cases, it took a couple of days for the herb to take effect. This backs up a Danish study in which ginger relieved nausea in pregnant women, most of whom had to be hospitalized because their nausea was so severe. Ginger’s active compounds, called gingerols, are thought to act on the central nervous system and/or to increase movement in the digestive system. Although the German Commission E monographs warn that pregnant women should not take ginger because two 1980 Japanese studies showed that isolated compounds may cause cell mutations, no adverse effects were reported in the Japanese studies and there is no evidence that ginger itself harms mother or baby.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print