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Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances

With over 6 million coronavirus pandemic deaths, the African continent reported the lowest death rate despite having a high disease burden. The African community’s resilience to the pandemic has been attributed to climate and weather conditions, herd immunity, repeated exposure to infectious organis...

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Autores principales: Frazzoli, Chiara, Grasso, Gerardo, Husaini, Danladi Chiroma, Ajibo, Doris Nnenna, Orish, Fortune Chiemelie, Orisakwe, Orish E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9864875/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36678143
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15020273
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author Frazzoli, Chiara
Grasso, Gerardo
Husaini, Danladi Chiroma
Ajibo, Doris Nnenna
Orish, Fortune Chiemelie
Orisakwe, Orish E.
author_facet Frazzoli, Chiara
Grasso, Gerardo
Husaini, Danladi Chiroma
Ajibo, Doris Nnenna
Orish, Fortune Chiemelie
Orisakwe, Orish E.
author_sort Frazzoli, Chiara
collection PubMed
description With over 6 million coronavirus pandemic deaths, the African continent reported the lowest death rate despite having a high disease burden. The African community’s resilience to the pandemic has been attributed to climate and weather conditions, herd immunity, repeated exposure to infectious organisms that help stimulate the immune system, and a disproportionately large youth population. In addition, functional foods, herbal remedies, and dietary supplements contain micronutrients and bioactive compounds that can help boost the immune system. This review identified significant traditional fermented foods and herbal remedies available within the African continent with the potential to boost the immune system in epidemics and pandemics. Methodology: Databases, such as PubMed, the Web of Science, and Scopus, were searched using relevant search terms to identify traditional African fermented foods and medicinal plants with immune-boosting or antiviral capabilities. Cereal-based fermented foods, meat-, and fish-based fermented foods, and dairy-based fermented foods containing antioxidants, immunomodulatory effects, probiotics, vitamins, and peptides were identified and discussed. In addition, nine herbal remedies and spices belonging to eight plant families have antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and antiviral properties. Peptides, flavonoids, alkaloids, sterols, ascorbic acid, minerals, vitamins, and saponins are some of the bioactive compounds in the remedies. Bioactive compounds in food and plants significantly support the immune system and help increase resistance against infectious diseases. The variety of food and medicinal plants found on the African continent could play an essential role in providing community resilience against infectious diseases during epidemics and pandemics. The African continent should investigate nutritional, herbal, and environmental factors that support healthy living and longevity.
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spelling pubmed-98648752023-01-22 Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances Frazzoli, Chiara Grasso, Gerardo Husaini, Danladi Chiroma Ajibo, Doris Nnenna Orish, Fortune Chiemelie Orisakwe, Orish E. Nutrients Review With over 6 million coronavirus pandemic deaths, the African continent reported the lowest death rate despite having a high disease burden. The African community’s resilience to the pandemic has been attributed to climate and weather conditions, herd immunity, repeated exposure to infectious organisms that help stimulate the immune system, and a disproportionately large youth population. In addition, functional foods, herbal remedies, and dietary supplements contain micronutrients and bioactive compounds that can help boost the immune system. This review identified significant traditional fermented foods and herbal remedies available within the African continent with the potential to boost the immune system in epidemics and pandemics. Methodology: Databases, such as PubMed, the Web of Science, and Scopus, were searched using relevant search terms to identify traditional African fermented foods and medicinal plants with immune-boosting or antiviral capabilities. Cereal-based fermented foods, meat-, and fish-based fermented foods, and dairy-based fermented foods containing antioxidants, immunomodulatory effects, probiotics, vitamins, and peptides were identified and discussed. In addition, nine herbal remedies and spices belonging to eight plant families have antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and antiviral properties. Peptides, flavonoids, alkaloids, sterols, ascorbic acid, minerals, vitamins, and saponins are some of the bioactive compounds in the remedies. Bioactive compounds in food and plants significantly support the immune system and help increase resistance against infectious diseases. The variety of food and medicinal plants found on the African continent could play an essential role in providing community resilience against infectious diseases during epidemics and pandemics. The African continent should investigate nutritional, herbal, and environmental factors that support healthy living and longevity. MDPI 2023-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9864875/ /pubmed/36678143 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15020273 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Frazzoli, Chiara
Grasso, Gerardo
Husaini, Danladi Chiroma
Ajibo, Doris Nnenna
Orish, Fortune Chiemelie
Orisakwe, Orish E.
Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title_full Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title_fullStr Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title_full_unstemmed Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title_short Immune System and Epidemics: The Role of African Indigenous Bioactive Substances
title_sort immune system and epidemics: the role of african indigenous bioactive substances
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9864875/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36678143
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu15020273
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