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Natural Health News — Traditional, natural remedies could hold the key to treating a wide range of serious medical problems, in addition to keeping skin firmer and less wrinkled.
A study by experts at London’s Kingston University has shown that that white tea, witch hazel and the simple rose possess potential health and beauty properties which are just too important to ignore.
“For thousands of years people used natural remedies to try – and sometimes succeed – in curing their ailments and preserving their youth,” Professor Declan Naughton, from the University’s School of Life Sciences, said. “Now the latest research we have carried out suggests a number of naturally-occurring substances may offer the hope of new treatments to block the progression of inflammation.”
Inflammation has a major role in both the initiation and development of diseases ranging from cancer, diabetes and arthritis through to neurodegenerative conditions and cardiovascular and pulmonary problems. It is also implicated in premature ageing and early death.
“Inflammation is a secret killer – helping arrest its development, or being able to stop it happening at all, would clearly be of benefit,” Professor Naughton explained.
The new study, published in published in the Journal of Inflammation, builds on previous work undertaken by Professor Naughton and Kingston University PhD student Tamsyn Thring and the technical team from UK organic health and beauty company Neal’s Yard Remedies, which also collaborated in the study.
In it the experts tested 21 plant extracts for evidence of their efficiency in fighting cancer and also in the battle against ageing. Of the 21 extracts, three – white tea, witch hazel and rose – showed considerable potential, with white tea displaying the most marked results.
“Indeed it appeared that drinking a simple cup of white tea might well help reduce an individual’s risk of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or even just age-associated wrinkles,” Professor Naughton said.
Spurred on by their laboratory findings, the team members decided to take the work further to see if they could replicate the results in human skin cells, looking more closely at the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity of the three extracts.
Using human skin cells as their model, the researchers added three different concentrations of white tea (as a freeze dried powder), witch hazel (as a dried herb) and rose extract (in a medicinal tincture form) to see what effect the mixtures might have on suppressing rogue enzymes and oxidants which play a key role in helping inflammation develop, as well as ageing the skin.
“As the largest organ in the body, the skin provides a barrier against UV radiation, chemicals, microbes and physical pollutants,” Ms Thring said. “Challenges like this can contribute to both inflammation and skin ageing.
“We also know that when inflammation starts – be it a simple cut to a finger or in an arthritic joint – the body starts producing a compound called interleukin 8, which helps the process along. We began wondering if there was a way we could switch that signal off, thereby blocking the inflammation’s progress.”
Even though the team’s previous research had intimated there might be some promising results ahead, the experts were astonished to see just how good the various concentrations of the three extracts were at doing the job.
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