Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Blueberry consumption is beneficial for hepatic diseases....

We know that blueberry has many chemicals such as anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, flavonols and tannins and how blueberry inhibit mechanisms of cancer cell development and inflammation in vitro. Similar to red grape, some blueberry species contain in their skins significant levels of resveratrol a phytochemical. 

Now research team led by Ming-Liang Cheng, MD, from Department of Infectious Diseases, Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang,  have found that blueberries could reduce liver indices, serum levels of hyaluronic acid and alanine aminotransferase, and increase levels of superoxide dismutase and decrease levels of malondialdehyde in liver homogenates compared with the model group.  Meanwhile, the stage of hepatic fibrosis was significantly weakened. Blueberries increased the activity of glutathione-S-transferase in liver homogenates and the expression of Nrf2 and Nqo1 compared with the normal group, but there was no significant difference compared with the model group. 

The authors suggest that blueberry consumption is beneficial for hepatic diseases (including fibrosis)....

I read an article in the same lines, where in the  researchers from Miyazaki prefecture of southern Japan and University of Miyazaki, screened nearly 300 different agricultural products for potential compounds that suppress HCV replication and uncovered a strong candidate in the leaves of rabbit-eye blueberry (native to the southeastern US). They purified the compound and identified it as proanthocyandin (a polyphenol similar to the beneficial chemicals found in grapes and wine). While proanthocyandin can be harmful, Kataoka and colleagues noted its effective concentration against HCV was 100 times less than the toxic threshold. The researchers are  hoping to explore the detailed mechanisms of how this chemical stops HCV replication....

Ref :  http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/08/07/the_hepatitis_healing_power_of_blueberry_leaves.html

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