Women's Health and Natural Solutions

OWH Herbs in the News

October 2011

Stay up to date with the latest information, research and scientific studies being done worldwide on herbal solutions and herbal remedies. Compliments of Oregon's Wild Harvest. Edited by Joanne Roberts, Research & Development Director, OWH.

Herbal Business

Synthetic Curcumin: Get to the root of the problem!

Recently it has been suggested that certain unscrupulous manufacturers of Turmeric extract have been adding cheaper petroleum-derived synthetic Curcumin to their extracts. Only the most thorough and ethical manufacturers of Turmeric supplements can provide assurance that their Turmeric is natural.....or can they? (more)

45% increase predicted for immune and blood pressure products

Market analyst Frost and Sullivan predicts that these products will grow to a market share of 611 million by 2016. Perhaps the hollywood blockbuster movie, Contagion, may further increase our fear of the flu? (more)

New AHPA website montitors tainted products

Sadly, there are so many products within the weight loss and body performance categories which have been adulterated with pharmaceutical products, they are now being published on the new site. (more)

Herb Popularity increases by 6.6%

According to the latest issue of the HerbalGram; the publication of the American Botanical Council. (more)

Foods, fortificants and supplements: Where do Americans get their nutrients

Fulgoni, V. et al. J. Nutr. October 1, 2011 vol. 141 no. 10 1847-1854

A recent survey shows that between 34-70% of those people surveyed consume insufficient key nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, folic acid, iron, thiamin, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin E. (more)

Herb of the Month: Fenugreek

The Potential of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) as a functional food and nutraceutical, and its effects on Glycemia and Lipidemia

Roberts KT. J Med Food. 2011 Aug 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract Dietary fiber from fenugreek blunts glucose and cholesterol after a meal and regulates the production of cholesterol in the liver. The mechanisms for these effects have not been fully elucidated......Fenugreek's hypoglycemic effect has been especially documented in humans and animals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. (more)

Sustainable Planet

Consumers want food to be functional; Nature versus Science

A study shows that when consumers are presented with produce enhanced with antioxidants through intragenic means, they will pay 25% more than for regular produce. Note: Intragenic means plants that have been genetically modified using genes from plants within the same species. Most commercial GMO's are not intragenic-they are transgenic. (more)

Editor's note: I am very surprised (and disturbed) by this paper, especially considering that a 2001 paper showed that consumers would pay 15 percent less for foods made from transgenic methods. I wonder how the results would differ if they were told that organic production boosts the same antioxidants? http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits/nutrition.html

New technology to salvage antioxidants from wine and juice production

A special water-based technology has been developed to maximize the production of a nutraceutical product. The grape contains many health-giving compounds which are normally lost during wine/juice production. The US alone produces 15 million tons of grape waste! (more)

Notable Herbal Studies

Non-drug interventions for treatment of hypertension

Kevin J. Woolf and John D. Bisognano. Journal of Clinical Hypertension, September 2011

This article will review the evidence behind some available nondrug interventions for the treatment of hypertension. (more)

In vitro antioxidant and anti-cancer activity of young Zingiber officinale against human breat carcinoma cell lines

Rahman S, Salehin F, Iqbal A. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Sep 20;11(1):76

Ginger is one of the most important spice crops and traditionally has been used as medicinal plant in Bangladesh. The present work is aimed to find out antioxidant and anticancer activities of two Bangladeshi ginger varieties. (more)

Seawood does the heart good?

Teagasc (2011, September 13)

Seaweed does the heart good?. ScienceDaily.

Researchers at Teagasc have been investigating lipids from a variety of Irish and Canadian seaweed species for their heart-health properties. (more)

Green Tea polyphenols control dysregulated glutamate dehydrogenase in transgenic mice by hijacking the ADP activation site

Li et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011

We have previously shown that two of the polyphenols from green tea (EGCG and ECG) inhibit GDH in-vitro and that EGCG blocks GDH-mediated insulin secretion in wild type rat islets. Using structural and site-directed mutagenesis studies, we demonstrate that ECG binds to the same site as the allosteric regulator, ADP. (more)

Notable Studies for Women

Whole blueberry powder modulates the growth and metastasis of MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast tumors in nude mice

Adams LS et al. J Nutr. 2011 Oct;141(10):1805-12. Epub 2011 Aug 31.

The current study tested 2 doses of whole BB powder, 5 and 10% (wt:wt) in the diet, against MDA-MB-231 tumor growth in female nude mice. In this study, tumor volume was 75% lower in mice fed the 5% BB diet and 60% lower in mice fed the 10% BB diet than in control mice. (more)

An encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate increases skin microcirculation in healthy women

De Spirt S et al. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2011 Aug 5;25(1):2-8.

Microcirculation in the dermis of the skin is important for nutrient delivery to this tissue. In this study, the effects of a micronutrient concentrate (Juice Plus+¬Æ; 'active group'), composed primarily of fruit and vegetable juice powder, on skin microcirculation and structure were compared to placebo. (more)

Comparative effects of dried plum and dried apple in the bones of postmenopausal women

Hooshmand, S. et al British Journal of Nutrition, 2011

Among the nutritional factors, dried plum or prunes (Prunus domestica L.) is the most effective fruit in both preventing and reversing bone loss. The objective of the present study was to examine the extent to which dried plum reverses bone loss in osteopenic postmenopausal women. (more)

Serum enterolactone and prognosis of postmenopausal breast cancer

Buck K. et al. J Clin Oncol. 2011 Sep 6. [Epub ahead of print]

Lignans-plant-derived compounds with estrogen-dependent and -independent anticarcinogenic properties-have been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, but data are limited regarding their effect on survival. Dietary lignans are metabolized to enterolignans, which are subsequently absorbed and become bioavailable...... CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal patients with breast cancer who have high serum enterolactone levels may have better survival. (more)