06/19/2019 / By Michelle Simmons
Sea cucumbers are marine animals that can be found on the sea floor. They are widely used in Asian countries as food or as ingredients of traditional medicine. In an animal study published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, a team of researchers from Pusan National University in South Korea found that sea cucumbers can also be used to prevent or reduce asthma attacks.
Earlier studies have shown that sea cucumber extracts possess powerful bioactive components that exhibit antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral activities. However, the effects of sea cucumber on asthma are not understood. Therefore, the research team decided to investigate these using a mouse model.
Asthma is a chronic disease that causes the airways to become inflamed. This inflammation makes the airways extremely sensitive to irritants and more vulnerable to allergic reactions. The researchers began their experiment by giving mice sea cucumber extract orally seven times. Then, they induced asthma using ovalbumin (OVA)-alum.
They found that pretreatment with sea cucumber extract dramatically reduced the hyper-responsiveness of mice with OVA-alum-induced asthma. Sea cucumber extract also reduced the number of eosinophils in the lungs of pretreated asthmatic mice. In addition, pretreatment with sea cucumber extract increased the amount of regulatory T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes of mice after seven administrations. Regulatory T cells play a role in the suppression of inflammation.
Based on these findings, the research team concluded that the consumption of sea cucumbers could prevent or decrease the frequency of asthma attacks. This is due to sea cucumbers’ ability to reduce allergic airway inflammation.
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Besides their protective effects against asthma, sea cucumbers offer many other health benefits, such as:
Sea cucumbers can be eaten raw, fried, pickled, or dried, as is commonly done. Dried sea cucumber is typically rehydrated and used as an ingredient in soups, stews, and stir-fried recipes. Sea cucumbers have a slippery texture and a bland taste, so they are often combined with flavorful spices, meats, or other seafood. In Asian cuisine, sea cucumbers are often cooked with Chinese cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, and winter melon.
To read more studies on natural remedies for asthma, visit FoodIsMedicine.com.
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Tagged Under: allergy, alternative medicine, anticancer, asthma, disease treatments, food cures, food is medicine, functional food, immune system, inflammation, natural cures, natural medicine, natural treatment, regulatory T cells, remedies, research, sea cucumbers