22.6.11

Does bromelain reduce Crohn's symptoms?

Bromelain from Wikipedia
"Bromelain is a plant extract that is primarily used as a meat tenderizer. The term "bromelain" can refer to either of two protease enzymes extracted from the plant family Bromeliaceae, or it can refer to a combination of those enzymes along with other compounds produced in an extract. ... Bromelain is present in all parts of the pineapple plant (Ananas sp.), but the stem is the most common commercial source, presumably because it is readily available after the fruit has been harvested. Pineapples have had a long tradition as a medicinal plant among the natives of South and Central America."

"Dietary Factors in the Modulation of IBD: Bromelain" from Medscape Today News
"A case report of 2 patients may indicate the potential use of bromelain as an adjunctive agent in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. The 2 patients were unable to achieve remission on standard therapy. Clinical and endoscopic evidence of improvement was documented. Bromelain is derived from the stems of pineapple, and is believed to be a proteolytic enzyme [proteases]. A more recent study, documenting the use of bromelain in an IL-10-deficient murine model of IBD, demonstrated that bromelain supplementation resulted in decreased clinical and histological severity of colonic inflammation. The proteolytic property of bromelain is necessary for its anti-inflammatory properties, and some hypothesize that cell surface molecules and consequently T-cell activation may be altered by bromelain"

"Treatment with oral bromelain decreases colonic inflammation in the IL-10-deficient murine model of inflammatory bowel disease" in Clinical Immunology (2005)

"Bromelain treatment decreases secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by colon biopsies in vitro" in Clinical Immunology (2006)
"In vitro bromelain treatment decreased secretion of G-CSF, granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IFN-γ, CCL4/macrophage inhibitory protein (MIP)-1β, and TNF by inflamed tissue in IBD. Bromelain may be a novel therapy for IBD."

"Dietary supplementation with fresh pineapple juice decreases inflammation and colonic neoplasia in IL-10-deficient mice with colitis" in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (2010)
"These results demonstrate that long-term dietary supplementation with fresh or unpasteurized frozen pineapple juice with proteolytically active bromelain enzymes is safe and decreases inflammation severity and the incidence and multiplicity of inflammation-associated colonic neoplasia in this commonly used murine model of inflammatory bowel disease."

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