functional foods Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Can Herb-Infused Chocolate Solve Prediabetes Without Meds?

AHA Publisher — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 07:00:44 +0000

Brian Blum via Israel21c – In 1987, I went backpacking across Japan during the famous cherry blossom season. Unfortunately, I suffered from terrible allergies and my nose was running like a faulty faucet. In desperation, I took a bullet train to the foothills of Mount Fuji to visit a Japanese healer who was studying traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The practitioner prescribed a bunch of foul-smelling herbs and roots, which I was instructed to brew into a tea every night. The herbs stunk to high heaven, and it wasn’t always easy to find an open kitchen in backpacker hostels. When I moved on to other parts of Southeast Asia, I couldn’t source the herbs and eventually I returned to that old standby, antihistamine pills. Ehud (Udi) Peretz, CEO of Netanya-based startup Solveat, had a similar problem. He was managing an herbal biotech company in China when he was diagnosed not with allergies but with prediabetes. Prof. Xia Long, a well-known local Chinese doctor, advised him to take herbal medicine. While this method did bring Peretz’s condition under control, he found the herbs strikingly bitter and too much work to prepare. What if those herbs could be integrated into a functional food that would be more convenient and less bitter tasting? The market for functional foods is worth $250 billion, Peretz tells ISRAEL21c, and it’s growing by 8% a year. The segment of the market for phytochemicals (substances produced by plants) is worth some $5 billion. Peretz returned to Israel and brought his vision to the Trendlines Group of food and med-tech accelerators in Israel’s northern Galilee. Trendlines and the Israel Innovation Authority subsequently invested $980,000 in the company. Prediabetes, High Blood Pressure, Immune Booster Solveat’s first product combines medicinal herbs into chocolate squares from boutique Israeli chocolatier Ornat. “The taste of the herbs is awful,” Peretz admits. “We use several methods to mask the bitterness and sourness. It’s not easy. Believe me, I have been dealing with this for four years!” Ornat’s CEO, Yair Darel, is a partner in Solveat. Pharmacist Zakhar (Zacki) Nudelman is head of business development. Tel Aviv-based traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Tal Naveh is active in the company, as is Long, who has built seven Chinese medicine clinics in Chengdu. Among the first volunteers who tried the herb-infused chocolates, including Peretz, blood sugar levels dropped by up to 24 percent. Given that 88 million Americans – some one-third of the adult US population – are prediabetic, this represents a potentially significant addition to the diabetes toolkit. Unlike sugar-free or low-glycemic foods that reduce carbs, Solveat claims to actively reduce blood sugar. Clinical studies are underway. Solveat is now working on integrating herbs into cookies, crackers and bread, and is doing research on other high-impact medical conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The company’s next product will be an immune booster made from functional ingredients, Peretz says. Flavor and Consistency Solveat will not make the finished products – for example, the chocolate from Ornat – but rather the herbal extract that manufacturers can add into their functional foods. It’s a business-to-business model, although Nudelman suggests that a “Solveat inside” label could happen. “It all depends on the partner,” he says. Peretz says that using chocolate is ironic for him. “This is what I was told not to eat! But if you make chocolate without using sugar and the right amount of cocoa, it’s healthy. We want to provide a diet for the consumer so that he or she can live a normal life and enjoy food. We all know that if the food is not delicious, you won’t consume it.” Solveat’s next criterion is consistency. “You can go online and buy herbs,” Nudelman tells ISRAEL21c, “but you get different herbs each time, depending on the time of year or when the herbs were harvested. You don’t have control. We make sure the product you get is reproducible, that it goes through an industrialization process, so that each time you consume the product, it’s the same with the correct chemical markers.” The herbs are sourced from China, but “the smart part of the processing is done in Israel,” says Peretz. Nudelman notes that, because Solveat makes functional foods rather than pharmaceuticals, it won’t require FDA or CE approval. “But if we don’t make it the right way, we’ll get a warning letter from the FDA. So, even though we can start without the FDA, if we don’t ensure quality, it’s not a viable business.” Solveat aims to launch its product commercially, in conjunction with Ornat Chocolates, by the end of 2022. Israel will serve as the pilot market. Solveat’s main competitor is the French company Valbiotis, which has a strategic partnership with Nestlé. Most of the big food conglomerates, including Pepsi, Unilever and Mars, are looking into how to get into the functional foods field, Peretz points out. Solveat, by contrast, is just getting started, with four people on staff full-time and offices still in the Trendlines incubator. It also is participating in the MassChallenge accelerator in Jerusalem. Peretz is, nevertheless, bullish on the company’s future. “We can’t claim we will be able to cure diabetes. This is not a drug. But we can claim to help maintain a healthy blood sugar level,” he says. For more information, click here To read the original article click here.

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Phenomenal: Brand-New Scientific Review Praises Astonishing Antiviral Abilities of Kimchi

AHA Publisher — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 07:00:02 +0000

Lori Alton via NaturalHealth365 – Kimchi – a mix of fermented, spiced vegetables that features cabbage as a key ingredient – is a traditional Korean specialty with a long history of culinary and medicinal use. In fact, experts say that people have been enjoying the benefits of kimchi for over 3,000 years! While kimchi has long been recognized for its nutritional and probiotic value, it is currently impressing medical researchers with its intriguing antiviral properties. In an important new reviewpublished in Trends in Food and Science Technology, the authors proclaimed kimchi one of the “five healthiest foods in the world” and praised it for its ability to prevent and treat an array of viruses, including those that cause life-threatening respiratory diseases. So let’s take a closer look at this highly promising research on the benefits of kimchi. Review: Benefits of Kimchi Include Boosting the Immune Response In the new review published in July of 2021, the authors focused on Korean functional foods – particularly fermented foods such as kimchi – and their potential for preventing viral infections. The research also shed light on the all-important relationship between nutrition, gut bacteria, and the immune system and showcased the ability of healthy eating patterns to strengthen the immune system – particularly important since the onset of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The team found that a beneficial type of lactic acid bacteria in kimchi, Lactoplantibacillus Plantarum, not only stimulates the all-important immune response but increases levels of the natural virus-fighting proteins interferon and interleukin. In addition, L. Plantarum interferes with viral replication, combating the ability of viral infections to spread. In one awe-inspiring study cited by the authors, the scientists hypothesized that kimchi could be more effective than Tamiflu – a pharmaceutical antiviral drug considered the “gold standard” of medical treatment for the H1N1 influenza virus. The authors concluded that the regular consumption of kimchi and other traditional fermented foods could offer protection from some viral diseases. Acute respiratory infections (including H1N1) currently claim the lives of roughly 4 million children a year worldwide – a heartbreaking toll. Here Is Why the Gut Microbiome Is Essential for Health According to experts, the gut microbiome – or community of bacteria in the intestinal tract – contains an astonishing 100 trillion bacteria. However, this abundance of intestinal bacteria is no cause for alarm – as most of these microbes are “friendly.” In fact, it’s likely that we would not survive long without them. Among its other essential tasks, the gut microbiome breaks down dietary fiber, produces vitamins such as vitamin K and biotin, helps to regulate the metabolism, influences mood, and cognition, and boosts the immune system, thereby helping to ward off pathogens and disease. And, when necessary, gut bacteria can even help “put the brakes” on an excessive immune response. For example, recent animal research reveals that bacteria in the gut microbiome may help to prevent an overactive immune response by regulating levels of active vitamin A – findings that could play a vital role in the prevention and treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Kimchi’s Constituents Make Up a “Natural Medicine Chest” to Fight Disease It turns out that kimchi has all the right “anti’s” for promoting health. Studies have shown that the benefits of kimchi include antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antidiabetic, and anticancer effects. When it comes to nutrition, kimchi is a powerhouse. Nutrient-rich Napa cabbage – high in vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, calcium, and potassium – is at the heart of most kimchi recipes, which are further enriched with the addition of garlic, onions, ginger, carrots, and chili peppers. The additional vegetables are fermented through saturation with generous amounts of salt, then further flavored with seasonings and spices. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a half-cup of kimchi contains a modest 20 calories, four grams of carbs, one gram of protein, a gram of dietary fiber, and zero fat. Satisfying, tasty, and nutritious, kimchi makes an excellent snack. Kimchi Is Rich in Bioactive Disease-Fighting and Anti-Inflammatory Antioxidants While individual kimchi recipes can vary, you can usually expect to see some seriously healthy ingredients in the mix. For instance, kimchi recipes featuring carrots will be high in carotenoids – natural plant pigments that fight disease – while chili peppers, another common ingredient in kimchi, yield capsaicin – a natural compound with antibacterial, antiviral, anti-obesity, and painkilling properties. Napa cabbage, a mainstay in kimchi, is a member of the super-healthy cruciferous family of vegetables – and features cancer-fighting molecules known as sulforaphanes and isothiocyanates. Ginger, another common kimchi ingredient, contributes powerful antioxidants called shagaols, while the garlic and onions that lend flavor to kimchi provide generous amounts of disease-fighting allicin as well. Additional studies have confirmed the benefits of kimchi and other fermented foods. In a recent study published in Cell, the scientists concluded that fermented foods might be “valuable in countering the decreased microbiome diversity and increased inflammation pervasive in industrialized society” – a strong testament to the benefits of kimchi. Clearly, it’s no accident that knowledgeable researchers have included kimchi in the ranks of the world’s top superfoods, alongside such nutritional superstars as spirulina, turmeric, miso and goji berries. (You knew we were going to eventually reveal the other four contenders)! So, maybe it’s time to make kimchi a regular part of your healthy daily diet. Sources for this article include: NIH.gov ScienceDaily.com VeryWellFit.com

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