In mouse study, black raspberries show promise for reducing skin
inflammation
Early findings indicate eating the fruit could help with skin allergies


Date:
July 2, 2020
Source:
Ohio State University
Summary:
In a study done with mice, researchers found that a diet high in
black raspberries reduced inflammation from contact hypersensitivity
-- a condition that causes redness and inflammation in the skin.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Eating black raspberries might reduce inflammation associated with skin allergies, a new study indicates.


==========================================================================
In a study done with mice and published earlier this month in the journal Nutrients, researchers found that a diet high in black raspberries
reduced inflammation from contact hypersensitivity -- a condition that
causes redness and inflammation in the skin.

"A lot of times, treatments are directly applied to the skin -- things
like steroids," said Steve Oghumu, senior author on the paper and an
assistant professor of pathology at The Ohio State University.

"And it was interesting that the mere consumption of a fruit can achieve
the same effects." The researchers put a group of mice on a diet that incorporated black raspberries -- equivalent to a single serving per day
for humans. They also kept a control group, where mice were fed the same
diet, but without black raspberries.

Three weeks after the diets began, the researchers exposed one of each
mouse's ears to irritants that caused contact hypersensitivity. Then, they measured the reductions in swelling, comparing the ears of each mouse.



==========================================================================
They found that in mice fed a diet that included black raspberries,
swelling went down compared to the mice that did not eat black
raspberries.

The researchers found that the black raspberries appear to modulate
dendritic cells, which act as messengers to the body's immune system,
telling the immune system to kick in or not -- essentially whether to
create inflammation or not.

"The immune system is very complex, with multiple players, and so once
you begin to identify the unique cells that are being affected by the
berries then it helps us to see how berries are inhibiting inflammation," Oghumu said. "A lot of the bad effects that we see are not always due to
the pathogens or allergens themselves, but are due to the way our body
responds to these triggers." In the case of contact hypersensitivity,
for example, a person's skin encounters an allergen and the body responds
by flooding the area with cells that cause inflammation and itchiness.

"And so one way to manage these types of diseases is controlling that
response, and that is one of the things black raspberries appear to be
able to do," he said.

Oghumu and colleagues in his lab have been studying the effects of black raspberries on inflammation for years. A diet rich in black raspberries
has shown promise in reducing inflammation associated with some types
of cancer, and Oghumu and his team have wondered if fruit might also
help reduce inflammation in other conditions.

This study is an early indication that those benefits might exist,
Oghumu said.

He noted that more work needs to be done to determine what specific
properties of black raspberries lead to a decrease in inflammation.

This work was funded by an internal grant from the Ohio State Foods for
Health initiative.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ohio_State_University. Original
written by Laura Arenschield. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelvin Anderson, Nathan Ryan, Arham Siddiqui, Travis Pero,
Greta Volpedo,
Jessica L. Cooperstone, Steve Oghumu. Black Raspberries and
Protocatechuic Acid Mitigate DNFB-Induced Contact Hypersensitivity
by Down-Regulating Dendritic Cell Activation and Inhibiting
Mediators of Effector Responses. Nutrients, 2020; 12 (6): 1701
DOI: 10.3390/nu12061701 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702113718.htm

--- up 23 weeks, 2 days, 2 hours, 39 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)