Dhan Prakash

Nutraceuticals for geriatrics

Geriatrics is a medical practice that addresses the complex needs of older patients and emphasizes maintaining functional independence even in the presence of chronic disease. Treatment of geriatric patients requires a different strategy and is very complex. Geriatric medicines aim to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults. Development of effective dietary interventions for promoting healthy aging is an active but challenging area of research because aging is associated with an increased risk of chronic disease, disability, and death. Aging populations are a global phenomenon. The most widespread conditions affecting older people are hypertension, congestive heart failure, dementia, osteoporosis, breathing problems, cataract, and diabetes to name a few. Decreased immunity is also partially responsible for the increased morbidity and mortality resulting from infectious agents in the elderly. Nutritional status is one of the chief variables that explains differences in both the incidence and pathology of infection. Elderly people are at increased risk for micronutrient deficiencies due to a variety of factors including social, physical, economic, and emotional obstacles to eating. Thus there is an urgent need to shift priorities to increase our attention on ways to prevent chronic illnesses associated with aging. Individually, people must put increased efforts into establishing healthy lifestyle practices, including consuming a more healthful diet. The present review thus focuses on the phytochemicals of nutraceutical importance for the geriatric population.

Cost Effective Natural Antioxidants

Reactive oxygen species can damage nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates that consequently affect the immune functions causing degenerative diseases. Antioxidants act as free radical scavenger leading to reduced risk of oxidative stress and associated disorders. Antioxidant phytochemicals such as carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbates, lipoic acids and polyphenols offer protection against oxidative stress associated degenerative diseases like cancer, diabetes mellitus, inflammation, neurodegenerative disorders and aging. Cereals, legumes, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables and beverages are the main sources of dietary polyphenols. Carrots, tomatoes, parsleys, orange and green leafy vegetables like amaranth, chenopods, mustard, fenugreek, spinach, cabbage, radish and turnip are the rich sources of Carotenoids. Medicinal plants also contain several phytochemicals with antioxidant activities, which can be used for the prevention or treatment of many diseases, including cancer. Tocotrienols and tocopherols mainly found in oils are associated with the reduced risk of cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol lowering ability and inhibited LDL oxidation. Some sulfur containing compounds like glutathione, lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid present in meat, liver and heart also offer protection against oxidative stress.

Assessment of phytochemical composition and antioxidant potential in some indigenous chilli genotypes from North East India

Twenty five chilli genotypes from North East region of India evaluated showed variation for capsaicin from 0.27% (CHF-CA-1) to 3.03% (CHF-CA-21), oleoresin content from 2.49% (CHF-CA-5) to 9.26% (CHF-CA-18) with high to moderate ascorbic acid. Total phenolics ranged from 5.1 (CHF-CA-8) to 26.8 (CHF-CA-23) mg GAE/g and total carotenoids from 0.09 (CHF-CA-16) to 7.72 (CHF-CA-17) mg/g dry weight. The antioxidant activity varied from 15.3% (CHF-CA-4) to 60.7% (CHF-CA-21). Free radical scavenging activity using DPPH assay showed low IC50 ranging from 0.021 to 0.041 mg/mg, low EC50 from 0.92 to 1.78 mg/mg DPPH, high ARP values (56.17-109.52) in CHF-CA-6, CHF-CA-7, CHF-CA-17, CHF-CA-21, CHF-CA-22 and CHF-CA-23 genotypes. The reducing power ranged from 0.92 to 4.10 ASE/ml and specific phenolic composition showed presence of gallic acid with other hydroxycinnamic acid. Among the flavonoids, presence of catechin was maximum followed by quercetin and rutin.

Duckweed: an effective tool for phyto-remediation

Effective wastewater treatment through conventional methods that rely on heavy aeration are expensive to install and operate. Duckweed is capable of recovering or extracting nutrients or pollutants and is an excellent candidate for bio-remediation of wastewaters. Such plants grow very fast, utilizing wastewater nutrients and also yield cost effective protein-rich biomass as a by-product. Duckweeds being tiny surface-floating plants are easy to harvest and have an appreciable amount of protein (15%–45% dry mass basis) and a lower fiber (7%–14% dry mass basis) content. Besides nutrient extraction, duckweeds has been found to reduce total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand in wastewater significantly. Depending on the initial concentrations of nutrients, duckweed-covered systems can remove nitrate (NO3−) at daily rates of 120–590 mg NO3− m−2 (73%–97% of initial concentration) and phosphate (PO4−) at 14–74 mg PO4− m−2 (63%–99% of initial concentration). Removal efficiencies within 3 days of 96% and 99% have been reported for BOD and ammonia (NH3). Besides several genera of duckweeds (Spirodela, Lemna, Wolffia), other surface-floating aquatic plants like water hyacinth (Eichhornia) are well known for their phyto-remediation qualities.

Microbes: “A Tribute” to Clean Environment

Due to industrial development, the amount and variety of hazardous substances added to the environment has increased drastically. Bioremediation is the process of using microorganisms or other life forms to consume and breakdown environmental pollutants in comparatively safe products. Because bacteria have a fast rate of population growth and are constantly evolving, they can adapt to live off materials and chemicals that are normally poisonous to other species. Some bacteria can remove chlorine from carcinogenic materials, digest pesticides, and have the ability to decolorize various xenobiotic dyes through microbial metabolism. Other microbes used for biological decolorization are red yeasts like Rhodotorula rubra, Cyathus bulleri, Cunninghamella elegans, and Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Flavobacteria, Deinococcus-thermus, Thermotogae, Firmicutes, Staphylococcus, and Proteobacteria. Construction of strains with broad spectrum of catabolic potential with heavy metal-resistant traits makes them ideal for bioremediation of polluted environments in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The transfer of genetic traits from one organism to another paves way in creating Genetically Engineered Microorganisms (GEMs) for combating pollution in extreme environments making it a boon to mankind by cleaning up the mess that has created in nature.

Hypoglycemic activity of Onosma hispidum (Ratanjot)

Background: Onosma hispidum (Ratanjot) belongs to the family Boraginaceae. The genus Onosma has about 150 known species in Asia. It has been found to be effective as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial agent and promotes healing in burns, foot ulcers, and wounds. Aim: To study the effect of O. hispidum on blood glucose level in glucoseloaded, normal, and hyperglycemic rats. Settings: Department of Pharmacy, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Design: An experimental study was designed. Materials and Methods: The methanolic root extracts of O. hispidum are compared with glibenclamide for their influence on fasting blood glucose in glucose-loaded, normoglycemic, and alloxan-induced (120 mg/kg i.p) hyperglycemic rats. Statistical Analysis: The data were analysed by one way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s test (P < 0.01). Results: In glucose-loaded, normal and hyperglycemic rats, the methanolic root extract of O. hispidum at the dose of 100 mg/kg p.o. reduced blood glucose significantly as compared to control, and it was almost as effective as glibenclamide. Conclusion: The methanolic root extract of O. hispidum has hypoglycemic action. As diabetes is associated with hyperglycemia and several other pathological changes such as infections, inflammation, foot ulcers and impairment of wound healing, these additional effects besides hypoglycemic effect of O. hispidum may be proved as a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes. Biochemical and receptor oriented molecular studies are required to find out the exact mechanism of hypoglycemic action of O. hispidum.