Benefits Of Herbs Research Articles

Combination of Curcuminoids and Acupressure for Inflammation and Pain in Older People with Osteoarthritis Genu: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Curcuminoids and acupressure have beneficial effects in reducing pain and inflammation in patients with osteoarthritis. However, only a few clinical trials are investigating biomarkers to prove this objectively. This study aims to investigate the effect of acupressure and curcuminoids on inflammatory markers and pain in older people with osteoarthritis genu. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted among older people with osteoarthritis. All participants were randomized to a group that received 30 mg of curcuminoids in turmeric extract capsules and acupressure (group 1) or a group that received a placebo and sham acupressure (group 2) for 3 weeks. The study was approved by the research ethics board; ClinicalTrials.gov reviewed this protocol. The extracts were manufactured from May 2023 to June 2023. Participant recruitment was conducted in September and October 2023; a total of 72 participants aged 60 years or older participated, of whom 75% (n=54) were female. Data were analyzed in April 2024, and dissemination of results is expected by the end of 2024. Primary outcomes were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. Relationships were assessed with inflammatory markers, endorphin hormones, and blood level of cycloxygenase-2 hormone. Additionally, secondary outcomes included pain, ability to perform activities of daily living, and quality of life. The beneficial effects that may be found in this trial may be exceptionally relevant in clinical practice, justifying this scientific inquiry. The benefits of herbs and acupressure can be helpful as additional options in treating inflammation and pain in patients with osteoarthritis. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06105840; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06105840. DERR1-10.2196/54970.

Consumer Preferences on Processed Herbs and Spices Products of SMEs in Sukoharjo

The demand for herbs and spices products in Indonesia has been steadily increasing each year, especially since the pandemic of COVID-19 pandemic. Information from various media about the benefits of herbs and spices for maintaining health and body stamina has encouraged people to consume the products and their derivations forms. The emergence of various processed herbs and spices products requires producers to better understand consumer behavior. This research aims to understand the decision-making process of purchasing and consumer preferences for processed spice and herbal products produced by SMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) in Sukoharjo Regency. The research involved 103 respondents from Sukoharjo Regency who have consumed herbs and spices products made by SMEs during the last three months. Descriptive methods were conducted through direct interviews with consumers using questionnaires, while conjoint analysis was used to determine the attributes most considered by consumers when making a purchase. The research findings show that the characteristics of consumers of processed herbs and spices products in Sukoharjo Regency are generally dominated by females, aged 17 to 25 years, mainly students, with a monthly income of around IDR 2,000,000. There are three main attributes considered when selecting products, namely taste (23,2%), sugar content (19,1%), and serving forms (12,4%), while the brand attribute has the lowest importance value at 9.4%.

Study In Vitro: Kombinasi Herbal dan Probiotik sebagai Alternatif Antibiotic Growth Promoter

Antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) are widely used in animal feed for feed efficiency, stimulate growth, productivity and minimize mortality by preventing infection, but now its use has been officially banned by the government. As a result of the ban, many farmers or animal feed producer seek solutions in various ways such as the addition of herbs, probiotics, and a combination of both, but there are still few reports on the role of herbs, probiotics and a combination of both for alternative substitutes for AGP. This study aims to determine the role of herbs in the growth of probiotics. Herbs used ginger, turmeric, galingale, wild ginger, and temuireng, while the probiotics used are Bifidobacterium longum, B. bifidum, Bacillus sp., and Saccharomyces cereviciae. The benefits of herbs in supporting probiotics were tested using the disc diffusion method. Chloramphenicol disc ware used as control positive. Observation and measurement of the growth zone of probiotics were carried out after incubation. The results of this study prove that herbs do not inhibit the growth of probiotics. Herbal content can be a prebiotic candidate that can support the growth of probiotics. The combination of herbal-probiotics can potentially be an AGP substitute in animal feed.

Edukasi Manfaat Tanaman Obat dan Pengolahannya dengan Metode CBIA di Desa Bulusulur, Kabupaten Wonogiri, Jawa Tengah

The community service program reported in this paper aims to educate people about benefits of herbs and how to process herb raw materials for medication. This community service program was conducted in December 2016. The program involved 25 leaders of housewife communities (Kader PKK) in Bulusulur Village, Wonogiri, Central Java. The education was conducted using the CBIA (Cara Belajar Ibu Aktif) method. The CBIA supports the participants to be active during the education process. Results of the active learning through the CBIA method showed participants knowledge as folows: (1) participants were able to mention that herbal medicines are safe, have no side effects, can be easily obtained around their house; (2) they commonly used herbal for medication more than 4 times per month, obtained from their garden or local market; (3) they were able to mention the benefits of herbs commonly used; for example, temu lawak for stomachache, kunyit for pre-menstrual pain. However, they were not able to differentiate categories of herbal medicines which were produced by herbal manufacturers, such as Jamu, Obat Herbal Terstandar, and Fitofarmaka. Their knowledge about benefits of herbs was limited to those which were available in their garden. They also appreciated the demonstration of producing Bir Jawa and Sambiloto cookies.

Edukasi Manfaat Tanaman Obat dan Pengolahannya dengan Metode CBIA di Desa Bulusulur, Kabupaten Wonogiri, Jawa Tengah

The community service program reported in this paper aims to educate people about benefits of herbs and how to process herb raw materials for medication. This community service program was conducted in December 2016. The program involved 25 leaders of housewife communities (Kader PKK) in Bulusulur Village, Wonogiri, Central Java. The education was conducted using the CBIA (Cara Belajar Ibu Aktif) method. The CBIA supports the participants to be active during the education process. Results of the active learning through the CBIA method showed participants’ knowledge as folows: (1) participants were able to mention that herbal medicines are safe, have no side effects, can be easily obtained around their house; (2) they commonly used herbal for medication more than 4 times per month, obtained from their garden or local market; (3) they were able to mention the benefits of herbs commonly used; for example, “temu lawak” for stomachache, “kunyit” for pre-menstrual pain. However, they were not able to differentiate categories of herbal medicines which were produced by herbal manufacturers, such as “Jamu”, “Obat Herbal Terstandar”, and “Fitofarmaka”. Their knowledge about benefits of herbs was limited to those which were available in their garden. They also appreciated the demonstration of producing “Bir Jawa” and “Sambiloto cookies”.

Cardiovascular Diseases: Can Herb-Based Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Functional Products Be a Solution?

Cardiovascular health is vital for maintenance of life in man as well as animals. Inflammatory changes in the cardiovascular system are a common occurrence with today’s lifestyle, but they generally go unnoticed unless they appear as a severe life-threatening clinical manifestation. The major cardiovascular risk revolves around three pathophysiological events, namely, oxidation of low-density lipoproteins, endothelial dysfunction, and release of inflammatory mediators. The effective management of cardiovascular diseases largely aims at reducing/delaying symptoms or affecting hemodynamic response and often does not affect the cause or course of disease, namely, the atherosclerotic lesion itself. Several Indian herbs carry tremendous restorative potential and can be successfully employed to achieve the therapeutic targets. Public awareness of the health benefits of herbs has motivated the common man to incorporate many of these in their dietary schedule, but many times their interactions result in serious clinical outcomes, which are generally misunderstood as side effects of medicines being prescribed by the physicians. Therefore, it becomes mandatory that the pharmacological role of the herbs used as spices and regular dietary ingredient or supplement be earmarked and judiciously used for promoting the health of the mankind. In this review, the much recommended use of herbal components as prophylactic functional foods is discussed with respect to the health benefits likely to be offered in cardiovascular issues and the threats imposed through them.

Quantitative analysis and formulation development of a traditional Thai antihypertensive herbal recipe

The health benefits of herbs and herbal products are gaining more attention in southeast Asia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting countries to promote application of traditional medicines so that this valuable resource is utilized safely and effectively. In Thailand, many traditional herbal recipes have been established since ancient times. Since then, they have been carefully modified, based on the wisdom of traditional Thai medicine practitioners. For this study, a traditional Thai antihypertensive herbal recipe (TTAH) was selected and studied in detail. According to WHO guidelines, both analysis of a sizeable chemical constituent, and formulation data of a product, are a requirement to support a clinical trial for an herbal recipe. Therefore, high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) was used to investigate the chemical fingerprints, chemical constituents, and putative active ingredients of the TTAH. Eight chemical fingerprints were established. Metabolic profiling of 10 possible compounds was also identified and all were shown to be active pharmaceutical compounds. An attempt was also made to prepare a suitable formulation of the TTAH, to standardize the amount of active ingredients per dose, and to improve patient compliance. All evaluated parameters guided us to prepare the TTAH as a capsule. This informative data can be included in part of the chemistry–manufacturing–control guidance prior to phase 1/2 clinical trials.

Ethnobotany and Diuretic activity of some selected medicinal plants

There is growing interest in the health benefits of herbs and botanicals. In line with this there are an increasing number of published articles claiming that plants or plant-derived actives may function as mild diuretic agents. Diuretics are substances that act within the kidney and promote the loss of fluid from the body. A large majority of this research has determined the degree of clinical support for the traditional use of common or folklore medicines.

(352) Comprehensive Pain Program initial evaluation in Hawaii: Preliminary study

The aim of this study was to provide a preliminary outcome evaluation of the Comprehensive Pain Program (CPP) that was developed to treat chronic pain patients in Hawaii. The CPP is a biopsychosocial intervention designed to interrupt the pattern of social isolation and to reduce pain-related depression that contributes to reducing quality of life, poor function, and increased utilization of resources. Primary elements of the program include group psychotherapy, acupuncture, mind/body training, and therapeutic movement. Additional foci are pain education including education of mechanisms of medications and education of pain mechanisms. Focused attention is given to lifestyle, diet, and risk and benefits of herbs and supplements. 28 participants of three cohorts completed all the procedures (i.e., three sessions a week, each lasting three hours for a 12-week period). The CPP demonstrated success in the four outcome areas (depression, anxiety, quality of life, and functional ability). Post-treatment, patients demonstrated statistically significant decreases in depression (p=.008) and anxiety (p=.016), and statistically significant improvement in quality of life (p=.014). With respect to functional ability, 64% of patients who entered the program were disabled and 90% of these patients were able to return to gainful activity and maintain gainful activity over time. In addition, in terms of utilization of healthcare resources, 81% of patients had reductions in high level opiate use by 50% or more following the program. In conclusion, this preliminary evaluation of the CPP suggests additional studies with a larger sample size and comparison groups are warranted to further evaluate critical components of the treatment package, treatment outcome (e.g., depression, anxiety, and quality of life), and cost-effectiveness (e.g., savings for employers due to reduced absenteeism and for insurance carriers due to less utilization). Supported from HMSA and ZEIR. The aim of this study was to provide a preliminary outcome evaluation of the Comprehensive Pain Program (CPP) that was developed to treat chronic pain patients in Hawaii. The CPP is a biopsychosocial intervention designed to interrupt the pattern of social isolation and to reduce pain-related depression that contributes to reducing quality of life, poor function, and increased utilization of resources. Primary elements of the program include group psychotherapy, acupuncture, mind/body training, and therapeutic movement. Additional foci are pain education including education of mechanisms of medications and education of pain mechanisms. Focused attention is given to lifestyle, diet, and risk and benefits of herbs and supplements. 28 participants of three cohorts completed all the procedures (i.e., three sessions a week, each lasting three hours for a 12-week period). The CPP demonstrated success in the four outcome areas (depression, anxiety, quality of life, and functional ability). Post-treatment, patients demonstrated statistically significant decreases in depression (p=.008) and anxiety (p=.016), and statistically significant improvement in quality of life (p=.014). With respect to functional ability, 64% of patients who entered the program were disabled and 90% of these patients were able to return to gainful activity and maintain gainful activity over time. In addition, in terms of utilization of healthcare resources, 81% of patients had reductions in high level opiate use by 50% or more following the program. In conclusion, this preliminary evaluation of the CPP suggests additional studies with a larger sample size and comparison groups are warranted to further evaluate critical components of the treatment package, treatment outcome (e.g., depression, anxiety, and quality of life), and cost-effectiveness (e.g., savings for employers due to reduced absenteeism and for insurance carriers due to less utilization). Supported from HMSA and ZEIR.

Review of the use of herb gardens and medicinal plants in primate exhibits in zoos

Primates in captivity have been observed eating plants with medicinal properties that grow naturally around their enclosures. In this way they appear to be self‐medicating, although this behaviour has not been scientifically proven. This article reviews the literature on the benefits of herbs and medicinal plants positioned in and around primate enclosures. There are some descriptions of the effectiveness of such plants for treating specific ailments, followed by details of the methods by which the primates have access to the plants; for example, within the enclosure, outside the enclosure but within arm's reach or in wiremesh‐covered troughs. The properties and active constituents of some herbs and medicinal plants are also given.