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Blackcurrants - Source: ONE News -
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Scientists in New Zealand have made a discovery which could bear fruit for asthma sufferers.
They have isolated a compound in blackcurrants which has the potential to help the lungs fight inflammation.
Blackcurrants are high in vitamins and antioxidants and are one of life's super-foods, commonly found in juices, tea and even jam.
But one compound in the fruit is an anti-inflammatory agent called epigallocatechin, which is giving hope to the one in five Kiwis who suffer asthma.
Plant and Food Research spokesman Dr Roger Hurst says epigallocatechin completely controls the inflammation.
"It brings the inflammation to an appropriate level so that the cells are behaving normally again, which is quite amazing to us," says Hurst.
A team at Plant and Food Research in Palmerston North isolated the compound from New Zealand blackcurrants, extracted it and tested it on inflamed lung tissue.
Their preliminary results, now published in a major scientific journal, suggest epigallocatechin may have the ability to work with the body to fight conditions like asthma.
"The effect blackcurrant has, has two parts - it can control the unregulated inflammation, it also assists the body's natural abilities to fight that inflammation as well, so it's a two-pronged benefit," says Hurst.
The scientific world has known for some time that antioxidants from fruits and vegetables can reduce inflammation, but what is not known is how.
Isolating the epigallocatechin molecule helps solve that puzzle.
The team stresses it is very early days and they still have no idea of dosage, how easy it would be to extract the fruit compound commercially or whether the effects are weakened when the fruit is processed.
Many doctors, like Dr Bob Hancox of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, want to know more.
"I think there is emerging evidence that eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables may be good for the lungs. I don't know whether there's strong evidence we can treat asthma by diet at the moment," says Hancox.
The next step is formal clinical trials to test the compound's effects on asthma patients, which could be two to three years away.
