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Scientists Explain Why Oil Palm Fronds Treat Wounds, Kidney Problem in Diabetes
Scientists Explain Why Oil Palm Fronds Treat Wounds, Kidney Problem in Diabetes
02/01/2014 (Nigerian Tribune) - Each year many people are diagnosed with kidney failure, a serious condition in which the kidneys fail to rid the body of wastes.
Kidneys are remarkable organs with millions of tiny blood vessels in them that act as filters. Unfortunately, diabetes, the most common cause of kidney failure, accounts for nearly 44 per cent of new cases. Diabetes is a condition characterised by high blood glucose (sugar) levels.
Over time, the high levels of sugar in the blood damage millions of tiny filtering units within each kidney; this eventually leads to kidney failure. Even when diabetes is controlled, the disease can lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney failure. Most people with diabetes, however, do not develop CKD that is severe enough to progress to kidney failure.
In view of the potential hazards of sustained high levels of sugar in the blood to the kidney, researchers have identified African oil palm leaves as a potent novel antioxidant in reducing the incidence and to ease the progression of kidney damage in diabetics.
In 2012 animal study, published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, scientists in Malaysia found out that oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) leaves extract (OPLE) improves kidney function in diabetes by reducing oxidative stress in a dose-dependent fashion. It also prevents the kidney damage worsening.
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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) leaves are abundant, under-utilised by-products of the palm oil industry in tropical countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and many African and South America countries, though the leaves have been used for decades as feed for animals without any report of toxicity.
In the study, scientists orally gave rats with diabetes the ethanolic fraction of oil palm leaves. The other rats that served as control for the study, however, received an equal volume of salt solution via injection.
The scientists found out that OPLE did not affect the mean body weight or kidney to body weight ratio in diabetic rats at the doses they tested for the period of the study. Also, the level of protein in urine (proteinuria) was significantly reduced after the treatment with OPLE at the tested doses.
In addition, higher dose of the extract reduce the amount of excreted protein in urine to almost nondiabetic value.
Having protein in urine is a marker of diabetes in humans and it is an important risk factor for progressive kidney injury.
According to the researchers: “This finding shows that treatment with OPLE prevents the development of proteinuria, a hallmark of early diabetes. The results of this study provide evidence that OPLE treatment introduced 72 hours after diabetes induction and maintained for between four and 12 weeks prevented the diabetes-induced renal dysfunction as well as kidney structural injury in diabetic rat.”
They reasoned that OPLE slowed down kidney malfunctioning and renal damage associated with diabetes in the experimented rat due to its antioxidant properties, adding that the palm oil leave extract was rich in catechins, a chemical substance that has antioxidant capacity, that is several folds higher than that of vitamins C and E.
“In contrast to an earlier study, these beneficial effects of OPLE could not be ascribed to improvement of the diabetic condition because blood glucose levels were unaffected,” they noted.
In traditional medicine, the leaf of palm oil is squeezed and the juice that is obtained is placed on wounds to promote healing. The sap of this plant is also used as a laxative and the partially fermented palm wine is administered to nursing mothers to improve lactation. Soap prepared with ash from its fruit-husk is used for the preparation of a soap used for skin infections. Also, its root decoction is used in Nigeria for headaches.
Moreover, the anti-bacterial activity of this plant extract against different micro-organisms, scientists say, accounts for its usefulness in the treatment of wounds. Writing in the 2012 International Journal of Molecular Sciences, they reported that complete wound closure was observed in E. guineensis leaf extract treated group on day 16, whereas in control group it was about 25 days.
The result of the study, which offers pharmacological evidence to support the folkloric use of E. guineensis leaf for the healing of wounds in several African countries, linked this to its ascorbic acid content. They, however, recommended the leaf of palm oil as a safe natural product for commercial utilisation in wound care since it affects faster wound healing.
Although the leaf of the oil palm is a waste product, the alcohol extract of the leaf because it contains large amounts of phenolic compounds they said support its folkloric use in the treatment of hypertension, being a diuretic.
Researchers, who tested its extracts in animals under laboratory condition said in the 2011 edition of the Journal of Medicinal Food that it significantly attenuated blood pressure increases, increased nitric oxide blood level, among many other things.
Oil palm leaf, as a medicinal food for hypertension and cardiovascular ailments, they said, was safe considering the finding of the study that this extract in normal rats did not cause a lowering of blood pressure or any negative effect on the cardiovascular system.
This medicinal herb, commonly used in folk medicine to treat various diseases, has also been corroborated by another study as being protective against poisons to the liver. In experimentally induced liver injury, extracts of oil palm fronts caused a reduction bilirubin levels. Bilirubin is an indicator of liver damage or disease. It was documented in the 2012 edition of the International Proceedings of Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering.
Kidneys are remarkable organs with millions of tiny blood vessels in them that act as filters. Unfortunately, diabetes, the most common cause of kidney failure, accounts for nearly 44 per cent of new cases. Diabetes is a condition characterised by high blood glucose (sugar) levels.
Over time, the high levels of sugar in the blood damage millions of tiny filtering units within each kidney; this eventually leads to kidney failure. Even when diabetes is controlled, the disease can lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney failure. Most people with diabetes, however, do not develop CKD that is severe enough to progress to kidney failure.
In view of the potential hazards of sustained high levels of sugar in the blood to the kidney, researchers have identified African oil palm leaves as a potent novel antioxidant in reducing the incidence and to ease the progression of kidney damage in diabetics.
In 2012 animal study, published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, scientists in Malaysia found out that oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) leaves extract (OPLE) improves kidney function in diabetes by reducing oxidative stress in a dose-dependent fashion. It also prevents the kidney damage worsening.
ADVERTISEMENT
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) leaves are abundant, under-utilised by-products of the palm oil industry in tropical countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and many African and South America countries, though the leaves have been used for decades as feed for animals without any report of toxicity.
In the study, scientists orally gave rats with diabetes the ethanolic fraction of oil palm leaves. The other rats that served as control for the study, however, received an equal volume of salt solution via injection.
The scientists found out that OPLE did not affect the mean body weight or kidney to body weight ratio in diabetic rats at the doses they tested for the period of the study. Also, the level of protein in urine (proteinuria) was significantly reduced after the treatment with OPLE at the tested doses.
In addition, higher dose of the extract reduce the amount of excreted protein in urine to almost nondiabetic value.
Having protein in urine is a marker of diabetes in humans and it is an important risk factor for progressive kidney injury.
According to the researchers: “This finding shows that treatment with OPLE prevents the development of proteinuria, a hallmark of early diabetes. The results of this study provide evidence that OPLE treatment introduced 72 hours after diabetes induction and maintained for between four and 12 weeks prevented the diabetes-induced renal dysfunction as well as kidney structural injury in diabetic rat.”
They reasoned that OPLE slowed down kidney malfunctioning and renal damage associated with diabetes in the experimented rat due to its antioxidant properties, adding that the palm oil leave extract was rich in catechins, a chemical substance that has antioxidant capacity, that is several folds higher than that of vitamins C and E.
“In contrast to an earlier study, these beneficial effects of OPLE could not be ascribed to improvement of the diabetic condition because blood glucose levels were unaffected,” they noted.
In traditional medicine, the leaf of palm oil is squeezed and the juice that is obtained is placed on wounds to promote healing. The sap of this plant is also used as a laxative and the partially fermented palm wine is administered to nursing mothers to improve lactation. Soap prepared with ash from its fruit-husk is used for the preparation of a soap used for skin infections. Also, its root decoction is used in Nigeria for headaches.
Moreover, the anti-bacterial activity of this plant extract against different micro-organisms, scientists say, accounts for its usefulness in the treatment of wounds. Writing in the 2012 International Journal of Molecular Sciences, they reported that complete wound closure was observed in E. guineensis leaf extract treated group on day 16, whereas in control group it was about 25 days.
The result of the study, which offers pharmacological evidence to support the folkloric use of E. guineensis leaf for the healing of wounds in several African countries, linked this to its ascorbic acid content. They, however, recommended the leaf of palm oil as a safe natural product for commercial utilisation in wound care since it affects faster wound healing.
Although the leaf of the oil palm is a waste product, the alcohol extract of the leaf because it contains large amounts of phenolic compounds they said support its folkloric use in the treatment of hypertension, being a diuretic.
Researchers, who tested its extracts in animals under laboratory condition said in the 2011 edition of the Journal of Medicinal Food that it significantly attenuated blood pressure increases, increased nitric oxide blood level, among many other things.
Oil palm leaf, as a medicinal food for hypertension and cardiovascular ailments, they said, was safe considering the finding of the study that this extract in normal rats did not cause a lowering of blood pressure or any negative effect on the cardiovascular system.
This medicinal herb, commonly used in folk medicine to treat various diseases, has also been corroborated by another study as being protective against poisons to the liver. In experimentally induced liver injury, extracts of oil palm fronts caused a reduction bilirubin levels. Bilirubin is an indicator of liver damage or disease. It was documented in the 2012 edition of the International Proceedings of Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering.