Berries have been marketed as an antioxidant, but did you know that they have an anti-inflammatory effect too? Diet can play a role in reducing or promoting inflammation. Among the types of food believed to reduce inflammation are blackcurrant berries. It is known that blackcurrant berries are high in vitamin C as well as have a quality amount of potassium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamin B5. However, the polyphenols that are in blackcurrant berries may play a role in anti-inflammation.
Tabart et al. in Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Ribes Nigrum Extracts studies not only antioxidant effects of the the extracts of berries but also their anti-inflammatory effect. For this study acute inflammation was imitated by stimulating neutrophils with PMA which has shown as association with intense ROS production. Blackcurrant extracts such as the berries, leaves, and buds were each used to see the effect that each on showing an anti-inflammatory response. It was shown that there was extracellular activity of removal on the acute ROS production by stimulated neutrophils and release of granular enzymes such as myeloperoxidase (MPO) due to the blackcurrant extracts.
Chronic inflammation is addressed because MPO-derived oxidants include HOCL and NO₂ which are both involved in damaging tissue and starting and increasing acute and chronic vascular inflammatory disease. So in examining the effect of leaves, buds, and berries it was shown that the leaves and buds have a higher dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the activity of MPO. Although berries have shown to have an inhibitory effect on inflammation, Tabart et al.’s study showed that the leaves and buds demonstrate a higher inhibitory effect than the berry. Berries have been marketed as an antioxidant, but did you know that they have an anti-inflammatory effect too? Diet can play a role in reducing or promoting inflammation. Among the types of food believed to reduce inflammation are blackcurrant berries. It is known that blackcurrant berries are high in vitamin C as well as have a quality amount of potassium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamin B5. However, the polyphenols that are in blackcurrant berries may play a role in anti-inflammation.
Tabart et al. in Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Ribes Nigrum Extracts studies not only antioxidant effects of the the extracts of berries but also their anti-inflammatory effect. For this study acute inflammation was imitated by stimulating neutrophils with PMA which has shown as association with intense ROS production. Blackcurrant extracts such as the berries, leaves, and buds were each used to see the effect that each on showing an anti-inflammatory response. It was shown that there was extracellular activity of removal on the acute ROS production by stimulated neutrophils and release of granular enzymes such as myeloperoxidase (MPO) due to the blackcurrant extracts.
Chronic inflammation is addressed because MPO-derived oxidants include HOCL and NO₂ which are both involved in damaging tissue and starting and increasing acute and chronic vascular inflammatory disease. So in examining the effect of leaves, buds, and berries it was shown that the leaves and buds have a higher dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the activity of MPO. Although berries have shown to have an inhibitory effect on inflammation, Tabart et al.’s study showed that the leaves and buds demonstrate a higher inhibitory effect than the berry.
it appears that there are free radical scavengers in the blackcurrent berries and their associated leaves and buds. i wonder if the levels are high enough to do any good? would you have to eat 5 pounds a week? at what level of berry (mg of berry to kg of person) do you start to see an effect?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the questions brought up by Brian. This URL should help in some way as it gives the hydrophilic-ORAC (H-ORAC), lipophilic-ORAC (LORAC),total-ORAC, and total phenolics (TP) values of a number of fruits. URL: http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/ORAC/ORAC07.pdf
ReplyDeleteBlackcurrant berries are found on page 16 of the PDF. If you ask me I would rather stick with cocoa and products derived from them. The unsweetened dry powder cocoa has a TORAC of 80,933 compared to blackcurrants that have a TORAC of 7,960. Nothing compares to hi-tannin sorghum bran with a TORAC of 240,000. You can also stick to the spice cabinet as well as most spices have TORAC in the 100,000+ range. I think there should be a study conducted where multiple foods with different ORAC values are used in order to determine effectiveness plus possibly the dosage required to bring about these positive effects. This study would be difficult because you wouldn't be able to acquire error free data from a single patient or study model who uses multiple food treatments since oxidative stress will be alleviated after the first specific food treatment; consquently abolishing the effects of future treatments with different foods. Multiple subjects assigned to different foods would work a little better but not every individual is the same therefore an antioxidative response could definitely be different from subject to subject.
This is an interesting topic about berries because like you said, all the hype is on their antioxidants. But just as mentioned above it is important to not only see how much is needed to cause an effect but what else they have eaten, as Andy has mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAndy, that TORAC scale is interesting and is probably really useful for some of the discussions we've had on spices such as curcumin and others!
Regardless of how much we need to eat or not thought all these are great studies because it really allows us to connect different components and perhaps provide insight into how the inflammatory process works.
This is great information. I agree with the statement of the importance of not only the quantity needed for the effect, but what else is consumed with the berries for example. If a person eats many of those but at the same time consumes something that has pro-inflammatory effects, then what good does it have to have eaten all those anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory components?
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