How African garden egg reduces cholesterol, poor sight

Besides being touted as a natural anti-ulcer recipe, studies show that African garden egg is effective in lowering blood cholesterol and glaucoma. WOLE OYEBADE reports

GARDEN egg is a fruit but an unusual kind of fruit, which is even used for the preparation of stew.
Botanically known as Solanum melongena, of the Solanaceae family and locally called Igba among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria.
  This populous African fruit remains a delight for researchers as the effects of garden egg are not only nutritional but significantly of health benefits as the tree that bearers them.
Studies revealed that garden egg positively help with heart problems and will make the weight reduction diet more successful. Some of the studies conducted in Africa, have come to the conclusion that garden egg is very effective in blood cholesterol reduction.
It is currently a fruit in season and at their best from August through October when they come to the market in droves. They are eaten raw or made as stew to compliment steaming yam. Both delight the appetite indeed!
The cream-colour flesh has a pleasantly bitter taste (due to the presence of small amounts of nicotinoid alkaloids) and spongy consistency. But garden egg plant has more to offer than ensuring fewer cases of constipation, reduction in blood cholesterol and protection from poor vision due to glaucoma.
Among the Igbo people in Nigeria community, they can hardly do without eating garden egg, because it is good for the sight.
In a study to assess the “Effects of garden egg on some visual functions of visually active Igbos of Nigeria”, experts found that its consumption might be of great benefits to glaucoma patients.
Researchers at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, Uturu, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, and School of Optometry, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria, Drs. S. A. Igwe, D. N. Akunyili and C. Ogbogu respectively did the study, published in the 2003 issue of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.
The study, which initially set out to find out if there may be complications associated with its excessive consumption in the male volunteers that were involved in the study, found they all had a reduced pupil size.
They also had a lower intraocular pressure. It dropped by 25 per cent, even though it was yet still within the normal range. They concluded that garden egg consumption did not produce any vision discomfort and that people needed not fear eating plenty of it since it could even help to lower eye pressure in persons with glaucoma.
Even though garden egg is generally said not to contain huge amount of protein and other nutrients, it is low in sodium, low in calories and very rich in high dietary fibre. It is also high in potassium, a necessary salt that helps in maintaining the function of the heart and regulate blood pressure.
Expert in a study indicated that garden egg could be used for the treatment of stomach ulcers. The study was undertaken to evaluate the possible anti-ulcer effect of the African garden egg and was published in the 2011 Journal of the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine by Anosike Chioma, Abonyi Obiora and Ubaka Chukwuemeka. All were from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
They found that it possessed ulcer protective properties against ulcers induced experimentally, making it a cheap source of natural anti-ulcer remedy.
In the study, 25 overnight fasted rats were divided randomly into five groups of five rats. Groups one, two, three, four and five received normal saline, extract dose levels of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg of ranitidine respectively.
All administrations were given orally. The methanol extract of the plant fruit was prepared by maceration.  Ulcers were induced using two ulcerogenic agents (indomethacin, 50 mg/kg and aspirin 200 mg/kg).  Ulcer index was checked and analysed with appropriate statistical tools.
The scientists found that extract of garden egg showed positive effect on all the models used. It produced higher ulcer inhibition than ranitidine in the indomethacin and acid-ethanol models. All the anti-ulcer effects of the extract at different doses were dose dependent but only in indomethacin model did it produce statistically significant ulcer reduction in all doses compared to control.
However, in a study by Dr S.O Bello and others in the 2005 edition of the Research Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, which assessed the toxicity and pharmacological properties of the aqueous crude extract of garden egg, while the researchers agree that this fruit may work both for the control of weight and asthma, they raised some doubt about its use for the control of acute attacks of asthma.
In a study undertaken to assess the influence of whole garden egg plant in comparison to apples and oats on serum lipid profile in rats fed a high cholesterol diet that were obtained from the animal unit of Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, the results suggested that eating garden egg is better at reducing blood cholesterol than apple and oat.
The lipid profile includes total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (often called good cholesterol), LDL-cholesterol (often called bad cholesterol), and triglycerides. A high level of blood cholesterol level, more particularly low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart disease.
James Karho Edijala, Samuel Ogheneovo Asagba and Uzezi Atomatofa from the Department of Biochemistry, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria as well as George Edaghogho Eriyamremu from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, did the study. It was published in the 2005 edition of the Pakistan Journal of Nutrition.
According to their observation, garden egg plant significantly reduced weight gain in those rats that eat this fruit compared with those that had oat and apple in both the mid-term and full-term studies.
The experts attributed the health benefits of eating foods like garden egg to its effectiveness at boosting High plasma HDL-cholesterol. They stated that it might be beneficial since studies had unequivocally established an inverse relationship between HDL-cholesterol and incidence of cardiovascular diseases like stroke.
Guimaraes and his co-workers in the 2000 edition of the Brazilian Journal of Medical Biology Research reported a similar observation with garden egg plant juice infusion in humans.

Source: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60300:how-african-garden-egg-reduces-cholesterol-poor-sight&catid=44:natural-health&Itemid=599