A common prairie weed could one day help combat heart attacks and
strokes.
A University of Saskatchewan researcher has isolated a component in
field peppergrass that prevents inflammation in the cardiovascular
system.
“The results were beyond what we expected,” said Dr. Bernard Juurlink
of the department of anatomy and cell biology.
The research was aimed at determining whether a diet of crucifers – a
group of plants that includes canola, rapeseed, mustard, cabbage and
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kohlrabi – high in glucoraphanin could prevent those inflammatory
changes.
Those changes can lead to arteriosclerosis, which in turn can lead to
heart attack and stroke.
In the first stage, rats fed the sprouts of a broccoli cultivar high in
glucoraphanin showed a significant decrease in inflammation and a
prevention of high blood pressure.
Juurlink said it’s the first study to show that a diet high in
glucoraphanin significantly reduces inflammation in the cardiovascular
system.
The next step was to find a readily available source of glucoraphanin,
since there is already a patent on the medicinal use of broccoli
sprouts.
After testing several hundred different types of crucifers, the
researchers focused on two weeds with high levels of glucoraphanin –
hoary cress and field peppergrass.
Hoary cress is classified as a noxious weed, so it was decided to
concentrate on field peppergrass.
Much work remains to be done, including ridding the peppergrass of an
anti-nutritive ingredient called glucosinolate, which is one of the
ingredients bred out of rapeseed in the creation of canola.
That could be done by either selectively extracting the desirable
glucoraphanin or breeding out the glucosinolate.
It remains a long-term project. Juurlink said even if everything went
according to plan, it would take about three more years to come up with
an appropriate plant, which would then have to be followed by several
years of breeding, followed by years of agronomic research.
“We might be looking at about 12 years,” he said.
The research has been funded by the province’s Agriculture Development
Fund for the past three years, but that money has run out.
“I had put another application in to ADF, but was told it wasn’t in the
nutraceutical business any more,” Juurlink said.
However the director of Saskatchewan Agriculture’s research branch says
that’s not true.
“The ADF has not made any policy decision of not funding
nutraceuticals,” said Abdul Jalil.
He said the ADF board recommended to Juurlink that he seek funding from
a commercial partner, due to the expensive and long-term nature of the
research.
“What is the point for us to provide research funding if it’s not going
to be commercialized?” he said.
Juurlink said he will now be trying to raise the estimated $75,000 to
$80,000 a year in financing from a couple of national research funding
agencies as well as the Alberta government.
