Herbal antioxidants are about to become an alternative to vitamins and minerals. This is what points out the recently published results of an international team study with the participation of Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Tzvetkov of the Institute of Molecular Biology “Acad. Rumen Tsanev “of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMB-BAS).
The study was published in January this year in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, and analyzed nearly 300,000 scientific papers on antioxidants. The team led by the molecular biologist Prof. Atanas G. Atanassov from the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Vienna found that the focus of scientific attention has changed sharply in recent years. While before 2000 scientific attention was mainly focused on vitamins and minerals, the latest research predominantly studies the effects of plant antioxidants and their use to combat oxidative stress associated with a number of diseases.
Phytochemicals, such as curcumin contained in turmeric or resveratrol from red wine, can have enormous potential, applied alone or in combinations, to prevent and treat a variety of diseases including diabetes and cancer, says Dr. Nikolay T. Tzvetkov from the Department of Biochemical Pharmacology and Drug Design at IMB – BAS.
The article enjoys tremendous attention among the scientific community around the world – according to Altmetric, just in few days after publishing it already ranks in the top 5% of all the research outputs tracked by the platform.
The team will continue to work on the recently launched project KP-06-ODP 03/8, funded by the National Science Fund of Bulgaria (NSF), which will examine the use of new hybrid molecules against neurodegenerative diseases.
Reference to the original publication in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity:
Antioxidants: Scientific Literature Landscape Analysis (2019). Andy Wai Kan Yeung, Nikolay T. Tzvetkov, Osama S. El-Tawil, Simona G. Bungau, Mohamed M. Abdel-Daim, and Atanas G. Atanasov.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8278454
This is a translation of a press release published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS).
Keywords: herbal antioxidants, antioxidant vitamins and minerals, Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Vienna, Department of Biochemical Pharmacology and Drug Design of the Institute of Molecular Biology “Acad. Rumen Tsanev “of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMB-BAS), diabetes, cancer, phytochemicals, curcumin from turmeric, resveratrol from red wine, oxidative stress, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), project KP-06-ODP 03/8, funded by the National Science Fund of Bulgaria (NSF), hybrid molecules against neurodegenerative diseases.
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Lot of medicinal plants have been explored and studied for their antioxidant properties in India especially in universities, and most of the studies are just submitted as projects without publication. I sometimes feel very annoyed as the hard earned data were dumped as useless leads to colossal loss of knowledge.I wish we should initiate a project to bring out all the hidden treasures.
A very good point-an action is really needed. I really appreciate the INPST team for their efforts in the field