Buah Merah and Papuan People
by Mathelda Kurniaty Roreng, S.TP, M.Si and Toshiaki Nishigaki, Ph.D
Benefits of Buah Merah Oil
The health benefits of provitamin A carotenoids are well summarized by the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University in USA (12) .
It is well-known that high doses of beta-carotene (considered as synthetic substance, 20~30 mg/day) supplementation to smokers and/or workers with a history of occupational asbestos exposure increased the risk of lung cancers.
In contrast, there are many reports that dietary intake of beta-cryptoxanthin was inversely associated with significant reductions in risk of lung cancer in cohort clinical studies.
Experimental animal studies demonstrated that beta-cryptoxanthin had anti-cancer effects in the large intestines and lungs, and prevented osteoporosis and improved diabetes mellitus (16~19).
With regard to Buah Merah oil, there are various empirical reports of improvement on stamina, hypertension, gout, allergy, eczema, cancers, hepatitis, AIDS/HIVs, hair-growth, constipation, lower body temperature and so on, but the effects of Buah Merah oil have not been completely established (5, 6, 13, 20~22).
In Japan, it has been reported that Buah Merah oil inhibited proliferation of cancer cells such as S-180, Lewis lung cancer, human non-small lung cancer A549 and human gastric cancer K-MK-6 cell lines in mice (23, 24). When Buah Merah oil was given to SHR-SP rats, it increased in longevity of SHR-SP rats by 20% (25).
In vitro studies using melanoma cell B16 line revealed that Buah Merah oil was not cytotoxic until the concentrations of 400μg/mL and suppressed melanogenesis and tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner (26).
It is suggested from an additional study that suppression of melanogenesis is probably associated with stimulated degradation of tyrosinase through ubiquitin-proteasome system (27).
Beta-cryptoxanthin suppresses the growth of human non-small-cell lung cancer cells, A549 cells in vitro by approximately 50% at a concentration of 20μmol/L (28).
In contrast, 500μg/mL (equivalent to 0.05μmol/L of beta-cryptoxanthin) of Buah Merah oil suppresses the growth of A549 cancer cells by 97.5% (23).
These findings indicate that Buah Merah oil has more than 400-fold stronger action in the suppression of A4549 cell growth as long as beta-cryptoxanthin levels are concerned.
Macroscopic picture of squamous cell
carcinoma of lung cancers
We speculate that Buah Merah oil may exert suppression of cancer cell growth not only by beta-cryptoxanthin’s action but also by synergistic effects with unknown ingredients, probably other carotenoids.
Recently, it was found from preliminary clinical studies that ingestion of Buah Merah capsules revealed the growth of hairs, improved acne, and prohibited hair loss.
Thus, Buah Merah capsule products are expected as a novel nutra-cosmetic agent by taking them orally.
Buah Merah products are categorized as traditional herbal medicine in Indonesia.
Indonesian Buah Merah products claim the benefits or efficacy for cancers, stroke and hypertension, gout, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, eye disorders, improvement of intelligence and infertile.
On the other hand, Buah Merah products are classified as dietary food in Japan and Korea, therefore, they are claimed for use of dietary food to intake natural micronutrients and fruit oil.
Conclusion
Buah Merah is Papua-originated rare and unique plant and fruit that has been providing functional and essential micronutrients such as provitamin A carotenoids and vitamin E as well as fruit flesh oil to Papuan native folks living at highland areas under poor environments for more than 30,000 years.
Buah Merah is likely to provide various actions for human health in related to rich contents of provitamin A carotenoids, especially beta-cryptoxanthin. Beta-cryptoxanthin may exert synergic actions with other carotenoids or unknown ingredients.
The long history and experiences of use of Buah Merah by Papuan people prove the strong evidence of safety.
There are no adverse events reported in Indonesia, Japan and the other countries in human use. In addition, the toxicity studies of Buah Merah oil do not reveal any toxic findings caused by Buah Merah oil.
There is no reason to limit consumption of Buah Merah oil because Buah Merah oil is pure dietary food derived from Buah Merah fruit. However, the daily acceptable highest dose of
Buah Merah oil may be 10 g/day from the dietary custom of native Papuan people.
If you have questions to this article, please contact to T. Nishigakii, Ph.D., buahmerah@po.mcci.or.jp
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