Strawberries Help IBD Symptoms

DIBRUGARH, India—Today’s fruit of the day is the strawberry. In an Indian study, 500 mg/kg of a strawberry extract significantly ameliorated experimentally induced inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), possibly attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (Indian J Pharmacol. 2011;43(1):18-21). Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are chronic recurrent IBD of unknown origin. Oxidative stress is believed to be a key factor in the pathogenesis and perpetuation of the mucosal damage in IBD. As a result, an ethanolic extract of Fragaria vesca (EFFV) fruits, aka the strawberry. Albino rats were pretreated orally for five days with 3-percent gum acacia in the control group, EFFV of 500 mg/kg in the test group and 5-aminosalisylic acid (5-ASA) 100 mg/kg in the standard group. Colitis was induced by transrectal administration of 4-percent acetic acid on fifth day. All the animals were sacrificed with ether overdose 48 hours after colitis induction, and 10 cm colon segment was resected from proximal end. Colon was weighed (for disease activity index) and scored macroscopically and microscopically after histological staining.

EFFV showed significant prevention of increase in colon weight and disease activity index along with decrease in macroscopic and microscopic lesion score as compared to the control group. Significant improvement was observed in the levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), except GSH glutathione (GSH). However, the effect of EFFV was significantly less than 5-ASA.

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