Modern Ailments and Other Diseases

Gastric Ulcers

A study published by the University of Rome has suggested that the treatment and prevention of gastric ulcers may benefit from taking a standarised extract of blood oranges which was used in many of the studies listed above. The researchers found that the healing of induced ulcers in a rodent animal model was accelerated by repeated administration of the blood orange extract. It was also found that exposure to the blood orange extract also prevented the development of gastric lesions by a significant extent. This study points to the possibility of using blood orange extracts to treat and even prevent gastric ulcers in humans (20)

 

Smoking and Traffic Polution

Several pathological conditions have all been associated with a higher release of atmospheric pollutants and smoking. A study was conducted on smoking and non-smoking traffic police officers who regularly stood in traffic pollution for many hours a day. A standardised extract of blood orange was provided to them regularly after their blood work was initially taken. After 1 month of administration the SH levels measured in traffic officers were restored to the normal levels seen in controls and SCE frequency, a measure of DNA damage, was reduced in both smokers and non-smoking police officers. (19)

 

Breast Cancer

Blood oranges have been recently shown to be of potential benefit to patients suffering trastuzamab-reistant breast cancer in both invitro and invivo tests conducted in mice models. Mice treated with anthocyanins extracted from blood oranges showed approximately 70% reduction in tumour volume compared to controls. Experiments conducted in vitro established that the anthocyanins induced apoptosis in resistant cells and supressed the migration of these cells.(22)