1. Gum arabic is a water-soluble polysaccharide resistant to human gut enzymes and thus can be described as dietary fibre. 2. Using a most-probable-number technique, estimates were made of total anaerobes and of gum-arabic fermenters in the faeces of a volunteer during a control period and during addition of 10 g gum arabic/d to the diet. Using an enrichment technique, the principal bacteria ab...

Research is reviewed on the effects of chewing gum on stress, alertness and cognition (including findings from cognitive neuroscience). There is some evidence that chewing gum reduces chronic stress, while effects on acute stress have been less clear in an experimental context. A robust effect of gum chewing on subjective alertness has been observed. However, findings on chewing gum and cogniti...

The experiment examined the prediction that chewing gum at learning and/or recall facilitated subsequent word recall. Chewing gum at learning significantly impaired recall, indicating that the chewing of gum has a detrimental impact upon initial word encoding. In addition, a context-dependent memory effect was reported for those participants who both learned and recalled in the absence of gum; ...

People of all cultures chew gum, and a variety of gums and gum-like substances have been enjoyed for thousands of years. The introduction and subsequent success of Nicotine chewing gum in the 1980’s paved the way for a more general acceptance of chewing gum as a drug delivery system. Improved technology and extended knowledge, together with the inclusion of medical chewing gum in the European P...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to investigate immunotoxic effect of safranal (SAF), a main component of Crocus sativus essential oil, using Balb/c mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS SAF was administered intraperitoneally at doses of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 ml/kg for 3 weeks. Hystopathological examination of spleen and bone marrow, cellularity of spleen, delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) res...

The spice saffron is made from the dried stigmas of the plant Crocus sativus L. The main use of saffron is in cooking, due to its ability to impart colour, flavour and aroma to foods and beverages. However, from time immemorial it has also been considered a medicinal plant because it possesses therapeutic properties, as illustrated in paintings found on the island of Santorini, dated 1627 BC. I...

The present study aims to examine whether and to what extent the bioaccessibility of the major saffron apocarotenoids, namely crocetin sugar esters (CRTSEs), is affected by the presence of strong water-soluble antioxidants, ingredients of the herbs found in commercial tea blends with saffron. An in vitro digestion model was applied to infusions from these products to investigate the possible ch...

The effect of parabens on the shelf-life of crocetin esters and picrocrocin in aqueous saffron solutions was studied. Degradation of saffron crocetin esters fits a first-order kinetics model, and the results indicated that the crocetin (beta-D-glucosyl)-(beta-D-gentiobiosyl) esters were more stable than the crocetin di-(beta-D-gentiobiosyl) esters regardless of whether trans and cis isomers wer...

In a study published previously in this journal (Wilkinson et al., 2002), the effect of chewing gum on cognitive functioning was examined. The results of this study indicated that chewing a piece of gum results in an improvement of working memory and of both immediate and delayed recall of words but not of attention. In the present study, memory and a variety of attentional functions of healthy...