Editor's note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published on October 2, 2017.
A beautiful member of the huckleberry family, the ornamental coralberry is found in many open woodlands, sometimes on streams and riverbanks, and often where oaks thrive. Instead of propagating by seed, it grows in “clusters” with roots forming nodes below ground, forming a shrub with arching branches that can reach 6 feet in height.
Coralberry, with its musical-sounding botanical name Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, belongs to a broad category that includes other plants, including Ardisia crenata. It is also called buckbrush, Indian currant, wolfberry, and waxberry.
The purple berries grow in clusters like sputniks and can be collected in fall and winter by shaking the branches and dropping them onto cloth. The tiny seeds can be extracted by soaking them in water. According to Wildflower.org, as a forest plant:
“To keep the height low, prune back to knee height every five to 10 years. If it gets too leggy, prune it back to the ground and it will be bushier and fruitier the following year.”One
Birds love to eat this, and as expected, studies have shown that a substance in the leaves of this plant, FR900359 (FR), is very effective in preventing the contraction of bronchial muscles and has great potential in treating asthma. Asthma is considered a chronic disease caused by lung inflammation that narrows the airways. It can make breathing difficult and the symptoms are often severe and life-threatening.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) advises people with asthma to take an active role in controlling their asthma, including avoiding triggers for long-term control and using immediate-relief or “rescue” medications when needed.2 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 8.7% of adults and 6.2% of children in the United States have been diagnosed with asthma.three
Until very recently, the coral fruit plant was ignored as a medicinal plant. Interestingly, coral fruit is grown in abundance not only in the eastern United States, but also in Texas, Colorado, and South Dakota. Some varieties are native to Asia.
The leaves of the coral fruit are effective as a medicine.
According to folklore, Native Americans used coral fruit to treat eye ailments, as well as a mild sedative. This may be because the dried root of the plant, known as devil's shoelace, was useful for stunning and catching fish. According to Science Daily, the university's study, conducted in collaboration with an asthma specialist in the UK and later published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, found that:
“FR900359 is very effective in preventing the constriction of the bronchial muscles. In asthma patients, this pronounced constriction often prevents proper ventilation of the lungs. The resulting shortness of breath can be life-threatening.”4
A compound made from coral fruit leaves was found to relieve these spasms more effectively than the common asthma drug salbutamol. In fact, study co-author Dr. Michaela Matti noted that FR900359 achieved “significantly greater efficacy” than existing drugs.5 And it lasted longer. Medical News Today6 famous.
The researchers also noted that “chronic exposure to receptor-activating drugs results in decreased sensitivity.”7 For people with severe asthma, there are concerns about long-term use of medications, especially given that the disease is poorly controlled and some patient populations do not respond significantly to current treatments.
How compounds relieve asthma symptoms
The mechanism, explained study lead author Dr. Daniela Wenzel, is inhibition of an important signaling molecule called intracellular G.cue The protein-dependent signaling cascade is involved in several important processes in the body, including those that occur in the airways. As MedIndia explains:
“G in the aircue-Coupled G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are thought to play a key role in regulating airway smooth muscle tone. FRs act specifically by inhibiting Gcue This prevents further contraction from occurring.”8
Inhibiting the mechanism in this way, however, does not completely prevent contractions such as those experienced by patients with severe asthma, because various contraction signals “converge” on G.cue They secrete proteins that cause airway spasms, and inhibiting this mechanism first has a greater effect in preventing contractions.
Wenzel said the study on mice went “very well,” with no significant changes in heart rate or blood pressure, and the researchers were able to prevent asthmatic reactions to allergens such as dust mites.
Since the active pharmaceutical ingredient can be applied by inhalation, there were few side effects. Therefore, only small amounts were absorbed into the bloodstream. However, it is not known whether the substance used by scientists is suitable for human use.
“Scientists have already been able to show that human bronchial muscle cells in petri dishes and isolated human airways respond in a similarly promising way, but further testing is needed before it can be applied to humans, which could take years.”9
Asthma Causes and Possible Approaches to Improve Symptoms
Interestingly, children who consumed more fermented foods, eggs, meat, and raw milk (unpasteurized) were less likely to develop allergies, including asthma. Researchers also found that pregnant women who took probiotics or included healthy bacteria in their diets had a lower risk of their children developing asthma and allergies.10
What this suggests is that when your gut microbiome is out of balance, allergies can be one of the consequences. Some fermented foods, such as raw, grass-fed yogurt and fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kefir, are very beneficial for increasing your gut microbiome, as they provide about 100 times more good bacteria than probiotic supplements.
Raw milk is another example of an unpasteurized food that contains beneficial bacteria because it has not been pasteurized, which kills microorganisms indiscriminately. In fact, one study of more than 8,000 school-aged children in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland found that those who drank raw milk were 41 percent less likely to have asthma.11
As mentioned earlier, dust mites are one of the most common triggers of asthma attacks, but one study found that more frequent exposure to dust mites actually reduced the risk of developing the disease. In fact, when children were exposed to even a small amount of dust mite activity, their risk of developing allergies was reduced by 63%.
Several studies have shown that exposing children to the dust they might encounter from having pets or playing outside can boost their immune systems and significantly reduce their risk of allergies like asthma, rather than keeping everything they touch 100% clean.
The Immune System and How It Protects You
The immune system works in two ways to protect you from allergies. The first is through white blood cells called Th1 lymphocytes. When blood cells are attacked and infected, Th1 cells deal with them and stop them from working.
The second, as expected, are known as Th2 lymphocytes, or allergen-responsive type 2 helper T cells, and they are deployed into the system before an infection has a chance to establish itself, producing antibodies that effectively block undesirable microbes in the first place—a strategy that leads to an allergic response to foreign substances.
Studies have shown that a baby's immune system is most dependent on Th2 until Th1 comes into play a little later, at birth. However, Th1 appears to need “exercise” to fight infections and harmless microbes to stimulate the strength needed to respond to allergic reactions. This is known as the hygiene hypothesis, and is based on the premise that allergies are worse when healthy bacteria are lost. As one study notes:
“Interestingly, the Th1 cytokine interferon gamma has been shown to act concurrently with Th2 cytokines in maintaining chronic inflammatory responses in allergic diseases, particularly in the asthmatic airways.
(E) Evidence suggests that T regulatory cell suppression may contribute to the fundamental immune mechanisms involved in allergy and asthma… Understanding the early immune mechanisms underlying atopic disease, particularly how cytokines from T regulatory cells balance Th1 and Th2 immune responses, continues to be a fruitful area of research.”12
Natural Strategies for Treating Asthma
There are a number of side effects associated with medications prescribed to treat asthma symptoms, many of which are due to the inhaled steroid approach, which can cause a number of problems, including doubling the risk of heart attack, blood clots, fractures due to decreased bone density, and increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. However, there are easy strategies to naturally reduce your susceptibility to asthma attacks.
- There is a close link between asthma and vitamin D deficiency, so increase your vitamin D3 levels.
- Exercise regularly to keep your insulin levels balanced. It helps increase insulin receptor sensitivity and improve oxygen uptake, heart rate, and work capacity.
- Reduce your intake of omega-6 fats. Many people today are consuming too much omega-6 fat, especially linoleic acid (LA), often from processed foods such as vegetable oils, and the result is often asthma symptoms.
- Reduce lectins in your diet. Lectins are known to promote inflammation and are immunotoxic, neurotoxic, and cytotoxic. If this continues, your immune system will be rapidly compromised. To help you manage your lectin consumption, read my article “How to Reduce Lectins in Your Diet.”
- Try Butterbur. If you’re interested in natural remedies like coral berry, another natural antihistamine is the herb Butterbur. Dating back to the 17th century, Butterbur has been used to treat coughs, asthma, and skin wounds. Since then, researchers have identified compounds in Butterbur that help reduce asthma symptoms by blocking leukotrienes and histamines, which worsen asthma symptoms.13
Scientists involved in the special study on coral berry leaf say it could take years to complete human trials on its efficacy, but taking as many steps as possible to improve your gut health, eating more organic foods, and avoiding lectins are great ways to support your immune system and reduce your risk of asthma.
Asthmatics also typically breathe through their mouths, which plays a role in bronchial asthma, especially exercise-induced asthma. A study published in the American Review of Respiratory Disease found that young asthmatics who exercised while breathing through their nose had less exercise-induced asthma.14
