The Natural Antibiotic Alternative Remedy, Scientists Say

By Kyle J. Norton

Phytochemicals may be next potential sources of new medications for the treatment of diseases with little or no side effects.

Tartaric acid, a phytochemical of the organic acid may be considered an alternative antibiotic remedy to replace the conventional medicine for the treatment of infectious disease caused by harmful bacteria, some studies suggested.

Phytochemicals, the natural chemical constituent, protect the plants against diseases and form their outer’s color.

Out of millions of bacteria presented in this world, only a hundred of them cause infectious diseases. And, most bacteria that cause large-scale disease in human history may be closed to extinction.

Contrast to general belief, most bacteria live as independent cells, they share the basic characteristics of all living things, they breathe, metabolize, produce waste, and maintain a membrane potential.

 However, bacteria do not process a nucleus in which their DNA is separated from the rest of the cell.

In the differentiation of bacteria, one must know that not all bacteria are bad. Some bacteria found in the digestive tract has been found to aid digestion and prevent the imbalance of bad and good bacteria. In other words, most bacteria are harmless.

Bacteria can enter our body to cause infection through an open wound, drinking bacterially contaminated water, closed contact with infectious patients, breathing in the exhaled droplets of an infected person.

In order to protect the body against bacterial invasion, the immune white blood cells after sensing the presence of harmful pathogens stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines to the site of infection with an aim to destroy the bacteria before causing damage to the body.

However, overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines in some cases can also cause the death of healthy cells, leading to improper healing with the formation of scars.

Tartaric acid is a phytochemical of the organic acid found abundantly in nuts, apricots, apples, sunflower, avocado, grapes, etc.

In the finding natural antibiotics without inducing side effects as of those in conventional medicine, researchers at the Mississippi State University conducted an experiment to examine the anti bacertial effects of the water-soluble extracts prepared from purple (cultivar Ison) and bronze (cultivar Carlos) muscadine seeds with or without heating.

Application of the Ison extracts displayed a strong antimicrobial activity against a cocktail of three strains of Escherichia coli O157: H7. 

Chemicals analysis suggested the extract had a higher acidity (pH 3.39 to 3.43) compared to normal extract.

The major chemical compounds associated to the antibacterial activity including total phenolics (2.21 to 3.49 mg/ml), tartaric acid (5.6 to 10.7 mg/ml), tannic acid (5.7 to 8.1 mg/ml), and gallic acid (0.33 to 0.59 mg/ml), are also higher than those of the Carlos extracts.

Furthermore, heat treatment on both extracts increased antimicrobial activity, possibly because of increased acidity of the tartaric acid, total phenolics, and individual phenolics.

Heating of Ison extracts increased ellagic acid up to 83%. higher than the minimum of 10.7 mg/ml tartaric acid used alone exerted a strong effect against E. coli O157:H7 .

However, up to 10.7 mg/ml tartaric acid alone was not as effective against E. coli O157:H7 as were water-soluble seed extracts. 

The ingredients which are responsible for the antibacterial efficacy of the purple (cultivar Ison) and bronze (cultivar Carlos) muscadine seeds are tannic and gallic acids, which process property of inactivation of pathogens.

Dr. Kim TJ, the lead author, on the final phase of the study wrote, “Water-soluble muscadine seed extracts may be useful for incorporation into juice and other beverage products as natural preservatives”.

Taken together, tartaric acid exerted a significant effect in the inhibition of bacterium may be considered a functional phytochemical for the prevention and an adjunct therapy combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of bacterial infection.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Reference
(1) Antimicrobial effect of water-soluble muscadine seed extracts on Escherichia coli O157:H7.