PINEAPPLE JUICE POWDER
Bromelain exerts anti-inflammatory effects in an ovalbumin-induced murine model of allergic airway disease
1: Cell Immunol. 2005 Sep;237(1):68-75. Epub 2005 Dec 6.
Bromelain exerts anti-inflammatory effects in an ovalbumin-induced murine model of allergic airway disease.
Department of Immunology, University of Connecticut, School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA.
OBJECTIVE: Bromelain, a clinically used pineapple extract and natural product, has reported anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of bromelain treatment in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine model of allergic airway disease (AAD). METHODS: To establish AAD, mice were sensitized with intraperitoneal (i.p.) OVA/alum and challenged with daily OVA aerosols. Mice were treated i.p. with either saline, 2 or 6 mg/kg bromelain, twice daily for four consecutive days. Bronchoalveolar lavage leukocytes and cytokines, lung histology, airway hyperresponsiveness, and lymphocyte populations via flow cytometry were compared between groups. RESULTS: Bromelain treatment of AAD mice resulted in reduced total BAL leukocytes, eosinophils, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio, and IL-13. CONCLUSION: Bromelain attenuated development of AAD while altering CD4+ to CD8+ T lymphocyte populations. The reduction in AAD outcomes suggests that bromelain may have similar effects in the treatment of human asthma and hypersensitivity disorders.
PMID: 16337164 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Treatment with oral bromelain decreases colonic inflammation in the IL-10-deficient murine model of inflammatory bowel disease
1: Clin Immunol. 2005 Aug;116(2):135-42
Treatment with oral bromelain decreases colonic inflammation in the IL-10-deficient murine model of inflammatory bowel disease.
Department of Pathology, DUMC 3712, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. laura.hale@duke.edu
Bromelain is a mixture of proteinases derived from pineapple stem that is marketed in health food stores as a "digestive aid". Orally administered bromelain was anecdotally reported to induce clinical and endoscopic remission of ulcerative colitis in two patients whose disease was refractory to multi-agent conventional medical therapy. However, the potential efficacy of bromelain in colitis has not yet been tested rigorously in either animals or humans. In this study, the clinical and histologic severity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was determined in IL-10-/- mice treated orally with bromelain in vivo. Daily treatment with oral bromelain beginning at age 5 weeks decreased the incidence and severity of spontaneous colitis in C57BL/6 IL-10-/- mice. Bromelain also significantly decreased the clinical and histologic severity of colonic inflammation when administered to piroxicam-exposed IL-10-/- mice with established colitis. Proteolytically active bromelain was required for anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. Adverse effects of dermatitis, hair loss, and weight loss due to mucositis were rare, dose related, and were not seen in wild-type mice treated orally with up to 1000 mg bromelain/kg/day for 18 weeks. Although the exact mechanisms by which exogenous proteinases affect bowel inflammation have not yet been determined, the results justify additional studies of this complementary biologically based approach to treatment of IBD.
PMID: 15936249 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Therapeutic use, efficiency and safety of the proteolytic pineapple enzyme Bromelain-POS in children with acute sinusitis in Germany.
: In Vivo. 2005 Mar-Apr;19(2):417-21.
Therapeutic use, efficiency and safety of the proteolytic pineapple enzyme Bromelain-POS in children with acute sinusitis in Germany.
Institute of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine (IKIT), Interdisciplinary Centre of Clinical Research (IZKF), University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 30, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Josef.Beuth@medizin.uni-Koeln.de
The therapeutic efficiency and safety of the proteolytic enzyme bromelaine obtained from pineapple (Bromelain-POS, Ursapharm GmbH, Saarbrucken, Germany) was evaluated in children under the age of 11 years diagnosed with acute sinusitis. Data from 116 patients from 19 centres located across Germany were analysed in a pharmacoepidemiological cohort study. Patient cohorts were either treated with Bromelain-POS (N = 62), in combination with Bromelain-POS and standard therapies (N = 34), or with standard therapies (N = 20). The primary parameter measuring effectiveness of the different treatment groups was the duration of symptoms. The shortest mean period of symptoms was observed in patients treated with Bromelain-POS alone (6.66 days), followed by the standard therapy (7.95 days) and those treated with a combination of Bromelain-POS and the standard therapy (9.06 days). Patients of the Bromelain-POS monotherapy group showed a statistically significant faster recovery from symptoms (p = 0.005) compared to the other treatment groups. One 10-year-old male patient, with a known pineapple allergy, showed a self-limiting mild allergic reaction. No other unwanted side-effects were reported. This trial documents that the proteolytic pineapple enzyme Bromelain-POS is widely used in the treatment of young children diagnosed with acute sinusitis in Germany and that the use of proteolytic enzymes can benefit such patients.
PMID: 15796206 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
