Abstract

Tart Cherry & St. John’s wort extracts were used in ancient time to treat different diseases. This article gives a detailed account of the Tart Cherry & St John’s wort of medicinal value, their usage and their active ingredients in the treatment of some diseases.

Key Words:- Anti-inflammatory, Antiviral, Antispasmodic, Photosensitizer, Antioxidant, Polyphenols, Anthocyanins, Cytokines, Flavonoids, Xanthones, Phloroglucinol.   

Introduction

Human life revolves around the important concern of getting healthy and staying healthy. What would be a better way than putting nature back in our life over the ages man has realized the immense potential of medicinal plants. This has led to the understanding of many of the underlying physical and chemical principles. That account for the medicinal properties of plants the knowledge of medicinal plants in India is very ancient and estimated to date 400 B.C. Atharvaveda has been considered as the first documented work dealing with the medicinal plants of India in the last two Centuries, Ayurveda has received little official support from good medical practitioners and researches. Ayurveda is recognize by world health organization and it is the subject of much modern medical research. [1] Most of the medicinal plants have their medicinal value in the active components present in their plant tissues. These substances produce specific Physico-chemical action in the human body. In Germany and France many herbs and herbal substance are used as prescription drugs.

Active ingredients of Tart cherry & St. John’s wort extracts used in the treatment of some diseases.

Tart Cherries: Contents an array of polyphenols that can decrease inflammation and oxidative stress which contribute of cognitive declines seen in aging populations. Some studies have shown that polyphenols from dark colored fruits can reduce stress mediated signaling in BV-z mouse microglial cell, leading to decreases in nitric oxide production and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression. Oxidative stress and inflammation in brain contribute to the decline of motor abilities and cognitive performance with age [2,3] While oxidative stress and inflammation both increase with age the body’s ability to defend and repair itself decrease through the life span. [4,5] This makes the brain more susceptible to the deleterious effect of oxidative stress and inflammation. Increased intake of antioxidants and anti- inflammatory compound are believed to protect against this decline. [6] In this regard, certain foods with antioxidant and anti inflammatory effects have been shown to help protect against the negative effect of aging. Polyphenols are compound from plants involved in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory cell activities that may be responsible for the multitude of beneficial effect that have been reported due to fruits and vegetable consumption. [7] There are thousands of different polyphenols found the plants, which are categorized into several group based on their unique molecular structure. The preference of a number of bioactive compounds, including polychromes, suggested tart cherries as a Potential nutritional therapeutic to curtail the negative effect of aging. Tart cherries are rich in anthocyanins (one class of polyphenols) with cyaniding being the most abundant [8,9] as well as flavan-3-ol and flavonols [10]. The components of cherries may act directly to improve brain cell function and signaling or may be more generally affecting extra-neuronal parameters of survival –such as inflammation within the aging brain to improve behavior. In addition cherries have been shown to reduce inflammation [11-13]and decrease oxidative stress [14-17] Research with tart cherries and other dark-colored fruits has shown that their polyphenols become available to Humans and rats in the bloodstream after consumption [18]. Consumption increase the levels of antioxidants and anti inflammatory compounds due to the polyphenols from the tart cherries increased information leads to increased level of inflammatory stress signals such as Nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), as well as increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (INOS). The study suggest that regular intake of tart cherry prevent and relieve in pain caused by arthritis and gout improves function of oxidation stress and inflammatory characters the absorbance of the tart cherry extract in shown flavor the effect of tart cherry [19]. St. John’s wort (Hypericum Perforatum) is a perennial herb Indigenous to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The plant can now be found throughout the United States and is distinguished why its golden yellow flowers. The flowers contain a red liquid comprised of complex. Biological active ingredients. St John's wort has been used a medicinal plant for centuries. Today Hypericum Perforatum is used widely in Germany for the treatment of depression where it is prescribed approximately 20 times more often the fluoxetine, one of the most highly prescribes anti-depress out in the United States. (NCC AM 1999). German physician prescribed more 131 million daily doses of herbal medicinal products prepared for St. John’s wort herb [20]. St. John’s wort is a complex mixture of chemical including Tannins, xanthones, flavonoids, phloroglucinol derivatives [21-22]. One ingredient of St. John’s wort (Hypericin) has shown antiviral activity against viruses including the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [23]. It is a potent photosensitizer and has been tested as a photosensitizer in the treatment of cancer [24].

Clinical literature of St. John’s wort:  In 1995 a systematic criteria based review of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of St. John’s wort suggested that the herb was superior of Placebo and equally effective as standard medication in alleviating symptoms of depression (Ernest 1995). However all studies reviewed were performed in Germany where individualized subjective function are commonly used to assess psychiatrics outcomes as opposed to standardized objective measures (Kunze and Priebe 1998). It was concluded that addition studies with rigorous methodology where necessary in order ebucidate the safety and efficacy of the extract. In 1996 a meta analytic review of the 23 RCTs involving 1757 outpatients with mild to moderate depression concluded that St. Jones’s wort extract was (a) nearly 3 times more efficacious then placebo. (b) as it effective as some tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and (c) safer with respect to incidence and severity of side effect commonly associated with TCA drug treatment (Linde et.al 1996). However Deltito and Beyar  (1998) suggested that these conclusions may be invalid because many of the studies reviewed utilized broad subject inclusion criteria and were often characterized by one or more major methodological flawa these author critiqued the recent literature on the use of St. John’s wort in the treatment of depression and highlights numerous concerns regarding Past clinical research studies including :- (1) lack of diagnostic rigor resulting in heterogeneous depressed patient populations (2) The used of sub therapeutic dosages of TCAs in drug comparison studies (3) High placebo responder rates often indicative of mild transient depressive episodes and (4) Improper analyses of side effects. (Deltito and Beyer 1998). A recent meta-analysis of Six well-designed clinical trail involving 651 outpatients with mild to moderate depressive disorders revolved St. John's wort to be only 1.5 Times more effective than placebo. Yet equally efficacious as compound to low doses of TCAs. (Ex-Amitriptyline, imipramine. Maprotiline, Kim et.al. 1999).

This review also demonstrated that the incidence of side effects associated with St. John’s wort was half the number associated with TCAs. The authors attempted control for Previous flaws in research design by selecting only. Those studies that compound St. John’s wort to Placebo or Standard Anti depressant treatment in patients. Classified according to ICD-I0, DSM-III-R or DSM-IV criteria. In addition all Studies reviewed defined treatment effects using the Hamilton Depression scale. However despite these safeguards, the authors acknowledge several methodological concerns across the studies. Such as psychiatric evaluations conducted by Primary care physician lack of objective standardized outcome measures inadequate study duration and lack of extended follow up. Another recent systematic review of eight randomized double blind studies of St John’s wort vs Placebo or TCAs medication generally supports the results of Previous reviews, however this study found that the overall response rate for patients treated with St. John’s wort was 6-18% lower than the response rate for patients treated with a TCAs (Gaster and Holroyd 2000). The U.S. To investigate the efficiency of St. John’s wort in relation to a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI), will compare St John's wort to Placebo and sertraline in 336 patients with major depression. The only published study to compare St John's wort against on SSRI (Fluoxetine, 20mg/day found that the herb was equally efficacious in treating elderly Patients with mild to moderate depressive episodes (Harren et.al 1999).

Herb-drug interactions:- Three authoritative reference publications on herbal medicine currently report little to no data on herb-drug interactions. (Blumenthal et.al 1998, ESCOP- 1997, PDR) for herbal medicines 1998 research is now beginning to accumulate in this area.

Conclusion: Tart Cherry powder extract and St. John’s  wort powder extracts are rich in active ingredients for use of Ancient medicine. This above literature of study shown favor for these herbal medicine is useful to reducing oxidative stress & inflammatory reaction and anti-depressant in nature.

References

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