Passion fruit peel can significantly improve the symptoms of asthma. Patients given an extract from the Purple passion fruit’s peel had reduced wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath, due to anti-oxidant, anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties of Purple passion fruit.
Asthma, affecting as many as 400 million individuals worldwide, is one of the most prevalent chronic health condition in the United States. With an increasing number of patients with asthma and the frequent inability of conventional lifestyle modification and therapy to effectively control the problem, nutritional and dietary therapies are being sought.
This study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of the purple passion fruit peel (PFP) extract, a novel mixture of bioflavonoids, on asthma symptoms. Patients with asthma were studied in a 4-week randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial with oral administration of PFP extract (150 mg/d) or placebo pills. The effects of PFP extract were evaluated by assessing the clinical symptoms of asthma and spirometry tests.
Most clinical symptoms of asthma of the PFP extract-treated group were moderated significantly compared to the baseline. The prevalence of wheeze, cough, as well as shortness of breath was reduced significantly in group treated with PFP extract, whereas the placebo caused no significant improvement. Purple passion fruit peel extract supplementation resulted in a marked increase in forced vital capacity as placebo showed no effect.
Researchers concluded that the PFP extract may be safely offered to asthmatic subjects as an alternative treatment option to reduce clinical symptoms.
The research was carried out by Ronald Ross Watson and colleagues from the Southwest Scientific Editing and Consulting L.L.C. and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health, Tuscon, US, the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and the Gracefield Research Centre, New Zealand.
The study was funded by Southwest Scientific Editing and Consulting and Mashhad University. The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal: Nutrition Research.
Source: Nutrition Research, UK