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Common Medicines from Herbs, Minerals and Animal Sources
Published in Mehwish Iqbal, Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Approaches for Enhancing Immunity, 2023
Animals have been consumed as a source of medicine by humans for thousands of years. These primaeval practices were reported in the historical literature of the Mediterranean region like De Materia Medica of Dioscorides and carry on to be reported even in ethnobiological studies in the current era. Animals and their products have accounted for a considerable segment of the pharmacopoeia of the Mediterranean region. Simultaneously identified today as zoomedicinal remedies, a number of these ancient treatment approaches have existed in traditional medicinal practices of the current era and even get combined into pharmaceutical practices of modern times. The Ebers papyrus (an ancient Egyptian text) includes therapeutic discussions of animals and their products such as the glands of musk deer, the blood of lizards, the sperm of whales and honey among others (Bryan, 1974; Lev, 2006; Nunn, 1996). Animals have visibly played a key role in the therapeutic pharmacopoeia of humans for at least millennia. Nowadays, animal-based drugs keep playing a significant role in various traditional systems of medicine globally, as well as in recent pharmaceuticals. A few examples include ω-3 supplements of polyunsaturated fatty acids prepared by recognised fish oils (Costa-Neto, 2005) and ACE inhibitors from viper snake venom (Bisset, 1991). Some of the animal products that are commonly used as medicines are discussed in the following sections.
The Challenge of Parasite Control
Published in Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin, Parasitology, 2023
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin
Sometimes an anti-parasitic drug developed with animals in mind is found to be effective for the treatment of parasitic infections in humans. Ivermectin is the classic example. Yet in other instances, drugs developed to treat animals are simply impractical for the treatment of human infections, even if they are safe and effective. If, for instance, cattle, chickens, or other animals to be eventually consumed by humans are to be treated, medications should have short persistence in the body. This requirement is intended to alleviate concerns over the consumption of animal products that still contain quantities of medication. For human drugs, however, where many of the people to be treated live in remote rural areas with limited health care facilities, longer drug persistence may be required. In such situations, the repeated treatment that is necessary when drugs have a short half-life is unfeasible.
Animal Source Foods
Published in Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy, Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy
In some industrialized countries, animal feeds contain mixtures of plant-based products, as well as other ingredients ranging from rendered animals and animal waste to pharmaceutical and industrial sources such as antibiotics and organo-arsenicals (45). The inclusion of these ingredients in animal feeds can result in the presence of a range of biological, chemical, and other etiologic agents in feed that can affect the quality and safety of animal-based food products and pose potential risks to human health. Specific feed ingredients vary depending upon the animal (i.e., poultry, swine, cattle) (45). Currently, the use of animal feed ingredients, including rendered animal products, animal waste, antibiotics, metals, and fats, could result in higher levels of bacteria, antibiotic resistant bacteria, prions, arsenic, and dioxin-like compounds in animals and resulting animal-based food products intended for human consumption. Subsequent human health effects among consumers could include increases in bacterial infections (antibiotic resistant and nonresistant) and increases in the risk of developing fatal chronic diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) (45). Recently, three problems found in the literature concerning farm animals raised by fodder are ‘mad cow’ disease, antibiotic resistance, and beef hormones (hormone-treated beef).
Does the environment affect menopause? A review of the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on menopause
Published in Climacteric, 2023
Organic chemicals that persist in the environment with little degradation are known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). A broad and diverse category, POPs include organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used in flame retardants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins used in plastics, paints and coolants as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are fossil fuel combustion byproducts. While the production of some POPs, such as PCBs, has been prohibited, these chemicals have long half-lives and persist in the environment [49]. Due to their ability to leach out of their original products and persist in nature, these chemicals are everywhere in our environment, and humans can be exposed through dietary consumption of contaminated animal products and water or inhalation of air and indoor dust [49].
The vital role of animal, marine, and microbial natural products against COVID-19
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2022
Aljawharah A. Alqathama, Rizwan Ahmad, Ruba B. Alsaedi, Raghad A. Alghamdi, Ekram H. Abkar, Rola H. Alrehaly, Ashraf N. Abdalla
Infectious diseases have affected human life since hunter-gatherer times and in the last century this field has witnessed a revolution due to the development of antibiotic-based therapy (Watson et al. 2008). Infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and smallpox have been a central challenge for public health throughout the history of medicine. As infectious diseases started to spread geographically, communities began to explore the potential of their indigenous flora to yield therapeutic preparations, and after extensive empirical experiment plants were identified that showed activity against infection and disease (Wabo Poné et al. 2011). The plant-world is not the only source of remedies to fight infections; animal products have also been used since the origin of mankind. For instance, the products of honey from Apis mellifera (L.), (Apidae) and snake venom have long been used in traditional medicinal systems for the treatment of ailments caused by microorganisms (Figure 2) (Mandal and Mandal 2011).
A review on neuropharmacological role of erucic acid: an omega-9 fatty acid from edible oils
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2022
J. B. Senthil Kumar, Bhawna Sharma
The actual toxicity reports of EA toxicity dates back in 1970, when rapeseed oil right about acid containing 49% of EA fed rats causes rapid and severe fat infiltration of the myocardium as indicated by the change in heart tissue sections colour in to pale and cream [88]. The same observations were obtained when trierucin was fed in to rats. These studies had led to the pavement of the EA toxicity on heart muscle by various other investigators [88]. Consequently, it has drawn the attention of scientific community and regulatory agencies worldwide. In order to protect the public health, various countries clearly defines the permissible EA contents in food and animal product. Consumption of oils rich in EA has been connected with the onset of myocardial lipidosis and heart lesions in test animals. Therefore, EA content in edible oils was restricted to certain levels globally by various regulatory agencies [101]. For example, EA is considered as natural toxicant by the joint Food Standards Code of Australia and New Zealand and 20 g/kg (2%) was set as the maximum levels in edible oils [102]. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a risk assessment of EA in 2016, establishing a tolerable daily intake for humans of 7 mg kg−1 body weight per day [103]. However, in countries like India still high EA content mustard oil is used due to its suitability for Indian cooking style. In fact epidemiologic studies among Indians do suggest that mustard oil consumption can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease [82].