A wise man’s treatment for arthritis
The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy – frankincense. Cardiff University scientists in Wales recently examined the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition.
The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy – frankincense.
Cardiff University scientists in Wales recently examined the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition.
Frankincense is an aromatic resin obtained from trees called Boswellia. It is extracted by slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called ‘tears’.
According to lead researcher, Dr Emma Blain, the South West of England and Wales have a “long-standing connection” with the Somali community who used extracts of frankincense as a traditional herbal remedy for arthritic conditions.
“What our research focused on was whether, and how, these extracts could help relieve the inflammation that causes the pain,” Dr Blain said.
The Cardiff scientists indicated treatment with an extract of Boswellia frereana, a rare frankincense species, inhibited the production of key inflammatory molecules which help prevent the breakdown of the cartilage tissue that causes arthritis.
“The search for new ways of relieving the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis is a long and difficult one,” Dr Blain admitted.
Another lead researcher of the study, Dr Ahmed Ali, added the search for new drugs to alleviate the symptoms of conditions like inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis was a priority area for scientists.
“What our research managed to achieve was to use innovative chemical extraction techniques to determine the active ingredient in frankincense,” Dr Ali said.
“Having done this we are now able to further characterise the chemical entity and compare its success against other anti-inflammatory drugs used for treating the condition,” he said.
