Archive for the ‘nutrition’ Category

A compound found in cannabis as well as in herbs such as basil and oregano could help to treat inflammatory bowel diseases and arthritis, Swiss scientists believe.

(E)-beta-caryophyllene (BCP) is an aromatic sesquiterpene that has used for many years as a food additive because of its peppery flavour. The researchers now say that it interacts selectively with one of two cannabinoid receptors, CB₂, blocking the chemical signals that lead to inflammation without triggering cannabis’s mood-altering effects.

Many cannabinoids bind to the CB₂ receptor, but few target it selectively. Most also interact with CB₁, which is responsible for cannabis’ psychoactive properties. CB₁ is found in brain tissue, whereas CB₂ is found only in cells elsewhere in the body.

The compound is the only product identified in nature that activates CB₂ selectively. ‘There are many compounds that have been designed synthetically that are CB₂ selective, but they are made in the lab,’ says Jürg Gertsch, who led the study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

According to Gretsch, BCP is potent enough to have an impact at normal dietary levels. Herbs such as basil and oregano contain large amounts of the compound, he says, suggesting that the Mediterranean diet may protect against Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases. ‘If somebody eats a lot of herbs containing essential oils then it’s possible they could get enough to reach a therapeutic dose,’ Gertsch says.

The team screened a whole library of natural products for cannabinoid activity, which led finally to fractionation of Cannibis sativa essential oil and identification of BCP as the active component. They then tested the compound by using it to treat mice with swollen paws and found that in around 70 per cent of cases, small doses of BCP were enough to make the inflammation subside. BCP may also account for the for the anti-inflammatory properties of copaiba oil, an essential oil prescribed by doctors and healers in Brazil, which contains large quantities of the compound.

Birgit Kraft, who studies the therapeutic effects of marijuana at the Medical University of Vienna, says selective CB₂ agonists are keenly sought after by clinicians, as they may be candidates for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, as well as bowel disease.

Hayley Birch

Hemp seed oil comprises 35% of the total seed weight. This oil has the lowest amount of saturated fatty acids at 8%, and the highest amount of the polyunsaturated essential fatty acids at 80%, total oil volume. Flax seed oil comes in second at 72% combined total essential fatty acids.

Linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) cannot be made by the human body and must be obtained through the diet, so they are called essential fatty acids (EFA). LA and LNA are the most important fatty acids in human nutrition and health. They are involved in producing life energy from food and the movement of that energy throughout the body. EFAs govern growth, vitality and state of mind. Still, much is unknown about their functioning in the body.

Fat is the second most abundant substance in the human body (water is first). The exact percentage varies with diet, exercise, genetic disposition, age and gender. The average is 15% to 22% of body weight as fat. The average adult American eats 135 lbs. of fat each year. That works out to over 50% of all calories consumed. The percentage and types of fats eaten are 34% saturated, 40% monounsaturated and 15% polyunsaturated fatty acids (fats are really fatty acids). Many U.S. health organizations recommend fat consumption be reduced to 30% of calories in the diet, with the fats divided equally between saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Some private researchers believe this is still to much fat in the diet and it will not help to reduce the incidence of fatty degeneration and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Ideally, one third of the fat consumed should be EFAs. At least 10% of daily calories should be LA and at least 2% LNA. The optimal ratio of LA to LNA in the diet is between 2 to 1 and 5 to 1. The 2 to 1 ratio of LA to LNA is more advantageous in stemming fatty degeneration diseases. Flax seed oil is 58% LNA, possibly making it the best seed oil to combat degenerative disease, but it contains only 14% LA. Hemp seed oil is 55% LA and 25% LNA, or 2.2 times more LA than LNA, making it the best seed oil for optimal health and prevention of fatty degeneration.

The distinction between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids makes a world of difference to the body. Both are made up of carbon atoms connected to each other in chains with a CH3 methyl group at one end. That is the fat portion. The other end of the chain is finished with a COOH carboxylic group. That is the acid portion. And there the similarity between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids ends.

Saturated fatty acids (SFA) are not essential to the human diet. The body can make them from proteins or carbohydrates. Saturated fatty acids are straight line molecules consisting of carbon atoms connected to each other in single bond chains with a hydrogen atom at every bonding site on the carbon chain. Since all available bonding points on the carbon atoms are filled the chain is said to be saturated.