Lettuce has been traditionally used for relieving pain, inflammation, insomnia, anxiety, neurosis, dry coughs, rheumatic pain, stomach problems including indigestion and lack of appetite.
Can eating meals rich in lettuce provide relief from anxiety, depression, chronic pain, sleeplessness, indigestion, lack of appetite, blood clots, heart attack, stroke and thromboembolism? CHUKWUMA MUANYA (Assistant Editor) writes.
Botanically called Lactuca sativa, lettuce, a leafy vegetable, belongs to the Asteraceae family. Lettuce has been traditionally used for relieving pain, inflammation, insomnia, anxiety, neurosis, dry coughs, rheumatic pain, stomach problems including indigestion and lack of appetite. Moreover, the therapeutic significance of lettuce includes its anticonvulsant, sedative-hypnotic and antioxidant properties.
However, a recent study has validated lettuce for the treatment of anxiety, depression, chronic pains, sleeplessness, indigestion, lack of appetite, blood clots, heart attack, stroke and thromboembolism.
Thromboembolism is the formation in a blood vessel of a clot (thrombus) that breaks loose and is carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel. The study published in BMC Complement Alternative Medicine is titled “Evaluation of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant and anti-coagulant properties of Lactuca sativa (CV. Grand Rapids) plant tissues and cell suspension in rats.”
The researchers concluded: “The present experimental findings of different extracts suggest that Lactuca sativa is a broad spectrum pharmaceutical crop conforming significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant and anti-coagulant properties that has potential to replace synthetic drugs.
“More interestingly, cell suspension exudate showed prominent results in all the assays which is the main point of interest because valuable secondary metabolites and economically important substances can be produced in bulk from plant cell suspensions in simple, cost-effective and reproducible way. However, advance study is needed to explore the precise mechanism of action the active components.”
Several studies have shown that the function of the anticoagulant drugs is to inhibit blood clotting, which is the major cause of heart attacks and strokes. Anticoagulant drugs can be used with a number of diseases when there is a high risk of blood clots. The researchers said that since anti-coagulants are used for the cardiac problems, instead of relying on blood thinners, physicians could shift to herbal medicine. It has been reported that antioxidants can counteract the haematological and blood coagulation disturbances, oxidative stress, and hepatorenal (liver and kidney) damages.
The researchers added: “Anticoagulants play an essential role as mediators for the treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disorders. Due to their pharmacological possessions, plants can serve as the sources for the investigation of new compounds with anticoagulant properties. There is convincing scientific indications representing that the use of phytochemicals with anticoagulant effects and dietary anticoagulants can eventually eliminate or reduce the risks of thromboembolic diseases.
“Here we report the L. sativa a herbal drug for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant and anti-coagulant activities of the seeds and leaf extracts along with the cell suspension exudate. We obtained very interesting and promising results which elucidate the importance of lettuce as a traditional medicine.”
The current findings showed that aqueous and methanol and chloroform; 1:1 (MC) extracts of seed have the least immobility time in the forced swimming test, which could act as an anti-depressant on the central nervous system. The leaf extracts and cell suspension exudate also expressed moderate anti-depressant activities. In anticoagulant assay, the coagulation time of aspirin (positive control) and MC extract of leaf was comparable, suggesting strong anti-inflammatory agents.
At present, there are very few medications for the management of brain ischemia, with limited success. Therefore, the search for new therapeutics has been continued.
Recently, it has been showed that L. sativa protect neuron-like rat pheochromocytoma-derived cell line (PC12) cells against H2O2-induced cytotoxicity via antioxidant activity. Also, neuro-protective effects of this plant have been demonstrated in the mice subjected to D-galactose-induced oxidative brain damage.
The researchers concluded: “Our data showed, for the first time, that L. sativa can protect neurons against ischemic condition… Regardless of the exact compounds responsible for this neuro-protective activity, we conclude it is possible that L. sativa has the potential to be used as a new therapeutic strategy for common neurological disorders such as brain ischemia.”
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