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Nutritional and Dietary Supplementation during Pregnancy
Published in “Bert” Bertis Britt Little, Drugs and Pregnancy, 2022
The anthraquinone cathartics belong to the stimulant class of laxatives. They are used as monotherapy or in combination with other laxatives. Congenital anomalies were not increased in frequency among offspring of mothers who utilized either casanthranol (21 patients) or cascara sagrada (53 patients) in early pregnancy (Heinonen et al., 1977).
Chronic Idiopathic Constipation
Published in Kevin W. Olden, Handbook of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, 2020
Stimulant laxatives include castor oil, anthraquinones (cascara sagrada, senna, and casanthranol), and diphenylmethanes (phenolphthalein and bisacodyl). Castor oil is hydrolyzed by intestinal lipases to ricinoleic acid, which stimulates intestinal secretion and intestinal motility. Anthraquinone laxatives increase fluid and electrolyte accumulation in the distal ileum and colon and are pharmacologically activated when they come in contact with intestinal microorganisms. Pathological changes in the colon produced by chronic anthraquinone use include melanosis coli, a benign and reversible condition, and possible damage to the myenteric plexus (45). Bisacodyl and phenolphthalein act directly to stimulate colonic motor activity and inhibit glucose and sodium absorption to increase intraluminal fluid content.
Dr. Johanna Von Haller
Published in Borys Surawicz, Beverly Jacobson, Doctors in Fiction, 2018
As David tells the story of his childhood and adolescence – his history of winters in Toronto with his parents and summers in Deptford with his grandparents – he elaborates on his colorful Grandfather Staunton, who was a physician by profession but was mainly occupied by raising sugar beets on a large scale and manufacturing them into raw sugar. Grandpa owned land, factories and railroads, making the Stauntons the richest family in town. He was a tall, broad, fat gentleman with a big stomach and a large, strawberry-red nose. He had qualified as a physician in 1887, but before that he had been an apprentice to Dr. Gamsby, the first doctor ever to come to Deptford, and he still possessed Gamsby’s professional equipment, which lay in disorder and neglect in a couple of glass-fronted cases in his office. He loved to tell stories about how some of these gadgets had been employed in the old days. His favorite was the scarifier, which was used on patients who complained they couldn’t move because of rheumatism. The doctor placed it against the stiff area and pressed a button that released 12 sharp blade points an eighth of an inch long, which caused the sufferer not to just move but to leap. This story always produced a big laugh from Grandfather Staunton. He also fought a major campaign against constipation, which the local farmers, dreading their freezing privies in winter, encouraged by developing abnormal powers of retention. Grandfather Staunton brought the constipation wars home, dosing young David with cascara sagrada at night and Epsom salts in the morning.
A Purported Detoxification Supplement Does Not Improve Body Composition, Waist Circumference, Blood Markers, or Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Healthy Adult Females
Published in Journal of Dietary Supplements, 2019
Grant Tinsley, Stacie Urbina, Emily Santos, Katelyn Villa, Cliffa Foster, Colin Wilborn, Lem Taylor
Following baseline testing, participants were randomly assigned to consume the dietary supplement (SUP) or placebo (PL) for four weeks. The commercially available dietary supplement (FitMiss Cleanse) contains herbal ingredients that purportedly promote a healthy body weight, reduce bloating, and support the health and detoxification of the body. Each serving of dietary supplement contains 1,350 mg of a proprietary blend of herbal ingredients (papaya leaf, cascara sagrada bark, slippery elm bark, peppermint leaf, red raspberry leaf, fenugreek seed, ginger root, and senna leaf). All participants were provided with supplement or placebo capsules and were instructed to take two capsules with breakfast daily for four weeks. Participants were instructed to maintain their regular nutrition and exercise habits during this time. After the supplementation period, participants repeated the laboratory assessments. Testing occurred at the same time of day for both research visits. Three-day dietary records were obtained at baseline and near the end of the supplementation period for nutritional analysis.