I'm Back!

I have now graduated from UH and have more time to work on this blog. The blog was originally created for a medicinal ethnobotany course at UH, but will now move forward and focus on ethnobotany/ecology related videos. My goal is to show a naturalists perspective on culture, plants and animals.

Observations and Wrapping up.

During this problem my group has been very busy preparing for finals. We have been communicating by phone but have not met up much. My research has mostly focused on three or four papers and drawn a lot from one of them( Vermaak's). I tried to go beyond the scope of these papers, but the other information I found was either repetitive or unnecessary. I tried searching Google Scholar, Web of Science and Pubmed but all articles had similar info. I have begun transferring data from the google doc into a powerpoint presentation. I am getting a little bit worried because my other group members have not been posting in the google doc. I will try and use the research I have done to answer the necessary questions.

The papers I have used are:

Hoodia gordonii: An Up-to-Date Review of a Commercially Important Anti-Obesity Plant by Ilze Vermaak, Josias H. Hamman, Alvaro M. Viljoen. 2011.


An appetite suppressant from Hoodia species by Fanie R. van Heerden, R. Marthinus Horak, Vinesh J. Maharaj, Robert Vleggaar, Jeremiah V. Senabe, Philip J. Gunning. 2007.

Hoodia gordonii: A natural appetite suppressant by F.R. van Heerden. 2008.

Chemical fingerprint of Hoodia species, dietary supplements, and related genera by using HPTLC by Chidananda Swamy Rumalla, Bharathi Avula, Yatin J. Shukla, Yan-Hong Wang, Rahul S. Pawar, Troy J. Smillie, Ikhlas A. Khan. 2008.

We are now presenting today and will have our final on Tuesday at 12pm. The course is wrapping up very quickly. This class has been challenging, but I feel that I have been pushed to learn in a new way and have picked up research and presentation skills that I will use a lot in future work.

Update: I have added one more source that I used and forgot to add. My group is now all working very hard to finish our powerpoint. Everything is coming along well. I have looked back through the articles and pieced together some of the missing history.

Problem #6 Out of Context Medicines

We have now started on the new problem which goes as follows:

 Traditional plant use occurs within specific cultural, ecological, and physiological contexts that give them meaning and influence their effects. What happens when a ritual or medicinal plant is used out of context or “re-invented”?

Choose one plant (one that you have not focused on in other problems) that is traditionally used as a food, medicine, and/or entheogen.

Describe its:

traditional name(s), botanical name(s), habit, habitat, traditional meaning, use, preparation (and dose if possible), context, and associated  physiological or pharmacological implications (e.g., nutritional, medicinal, psychoactive).

Then describe its transformation. How and why did it happen? How does its “new” preparation, context, and use differ and what are the potential physiological effects and how do they differ from traditional ones? Who are the new consumers? How does the “re-invented” plant product or plant use associate itself or make use of the traditional one? What are the cultural and economic implications for the “original” users of the plants when others begin using and distributing the plant? 

Our group has chosen the plant Hoodia gordonii. I have created a google doc and framed categories for what we are required to answer during our research on this problem. I have researched three articles so far and I have filled out the google doc framework with the information I have gathered. I will continue to research and add more details to each category. Hopefully my group will also contribute information to the empty sections. Here is our google doc so far containing the information I have gathered on Hoodia gordonii. 

Sources: http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/10204/765/1/van%20Heerden_2007.pdf  (Van Heerden et al, 2007)
http://www.sciencedirect.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/science/article/pii/S0378874108004 637  (Van heerden,2008)
http://www.icecubediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Hoodia-New-Review.pdf (Vermaak et al, 2011)

Traditional names: ghaap, guaap, or ngaap.  (Van Heerden et al, 2007)

Botanical names: Hoodia Gordonii
Aponcynaceae. (Van Heerden et al, 2007)
Hoodia, named after Mr. Hood, a well-known succulent grower in Britain. first validly published by Joseph Decaisne in 1844 (Vermaak et al, 2011).


Botanical features: spiny succulent, thorns, fleshy grey-green and grey-brown stems. Flesh colored flowers (sometimes purple-red in Nambia).  “An unpleasant smell resembling decaying flesh and attracts flies and blowflies to the flowers for pollination” Horn shaped seed pods, brown seeds with silky hairs (Vermaak et al, 2011).  

Habit: slow maturation (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Habitat: Arid areas of southern Africa (Van Heerden et al, 2007). Climate: can survive extreme heat (> 40 ∞C) as well as relatively low temperatures ("-3 ∞C) but is susceptible to frost and mainly grows in summer rainfall areas. habitats such as dry sand, stony slopes or barren, flat areas (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Traditional Meaning:

Original Users: Khoi-San (Bushmen, oldest inhabitants of Africa) of South Africa and Nambia (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Traditional use: Consumed rarely low status as food. Consumed for hunger and thirst suppressant during long hunting trips (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Preparation: Stem consumed fresh after removing thorns (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Dose:

Traditional context: Used on hunting trips by San people to suppress apetite (Vermaak et al, 2011). Hoodia pilifera used to be the plant of choice by indigenous people (the real ghaap). Hoodia Gordonii was a substitute (Van heerden,2008).

Physiological or pharmacological implications

Nutritional:

Medicinal: Research focus on pregnane glycoside P57 (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Psychoactive:

Transformation

How did it happen: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa 1963 explored possible molecules for appetite suppression. Discovered p57. In 1995 and 1998 patents were made and a licensing agreement was signed by CSIR and British pharmaceutical company phytopharm. Sublicensed to Pfizer. Pfizer and Pharmacia merger in 2003 halted further research on P57. 2004 for patent licensed to Unilever incorporation in foods but was abandoned in 2008 due to safety concerns (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Why did it happen: USA public’s high obeisity rates and demand for weight loss supplements (Vermaak et al, 2011).

New context: Consumed in supplements to lose weight (Vermaak et al, 2011).

New use: Deterring obeisity, eliminating fat (Vermaak et al, 2011).

New physiological effects (how do they differ?):

New consumers?: USA public, overweight or obese (Vermaak et al, 2011).

How does it relate to the traditional product?: Highly adulterated, and falsely marketed. Consumed in supplements rather than eating the plant (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Economic implications:

Economic implications for “original users”: After complaints and lawsuits by the impoverished San people, they finally reached an agreement regarding intellectual property rights with CSIR. “The money, 8% of all payments that the CSIR receives from licensees and 6% of all royalties after commercialisation, will be paid into a Trust controlled by the San to be used to the benefit of the San people” Nothing has come out of this because CSIR and there licensed companies have not produced any drugs yet (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Problems: adulteration of products, high public demand, low supply sue to slow maturation and permits to harvest (CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species permit to cultivate and export raw material).  Safety testing is somewhat absent from research (Vermaak et al, 2011).

Summary of Work on Consumption

Problem: How do plants consumed in the diet (the full range including calories, nutrition, seasoning) relate to plants consumed as medicine (the full range including internal, topical, inhaled)? What factors determine whether a plant is a medicine, food, poison, cosmetic, etc?

Our Objectives and Questions: Student Learning Objectives:

1) Identify pre-Contact Hawaiian spices and foodstuffs and their uses.

2) Identify post-contact spices and foodstuffs and their uses in contemporary Hawaiian food.

3) Explore positive and negative aspects of introduced food and medicine.

Scientific Questions:

1)  What are nine plant foods used as medicines in pre-contact Hawaii. How are these plants used today in Hawaii, as based on the acquired literature?  

2) Focusing on post-contact introduced spices and foodstuffs, How have they impacted traditional Hawaiian medical practices?

3)  What is the role of diet as preventative medicine and treatment in Hawaiʻi today?

What we knew before: We knew that native Hawaiians have many health problems compared with the rest of the U.S. population. We knew that Hawaii has been highly globalized since European contact with the arrival of Cook. We knew that traditional Hawaiian cuisine has been replaced in much of Hawaii by a corporate, western diet. I also had previous knowledge of Polynesian introduced plants and their uses. Dane and Marisa were both familiar with laʻau lapaʻau. 

How we adressed these: We each took on 3 plants. I covered Kukui, Ti, and Breadfruit. Dane did Kalo, pia, and limu, while Marisa did 'uala, mamaiki, and niu. We also divided up the scientific questions for the paper. I wrote the section on #3, Dane did #1 and Marisa did #2.

We worked well together, meeting a couple of times in Hamilton and Sinclair libraries, and working for hours on research. We worked a few times to improve our LOs and scientific questions, switching them around before they were finalized. This was a difficult process for us at first, but with some help we were able to achieve what we wanted to learn out of the problem.

I found working with a new group quite difficult at first. I think this was because we each had developed a specific formula with our previous group and now we had to redesign how we were going to work together and achieve our goals/answer our questions. This got better with time and with group meetings. In the end I think we were able to develop our own unique formula that hopefully has helped us answer this problem.

I believe everyone contributed a lot to the group work. We all met at the times we planned to meet and worked hard to complete our section of the problem. For what was not assigned to individuals, we found ways to fill it in. We also provided each other with books and articles that we thought would be helpful.

Ki, 'ulu, and Kukui Uses

Our group decided to split up some of the work by each choosing three plants to cover. I chose Ti (Ki) (Cordyline Fruticosa), Breadfruit ('ulu) (Artocarpus altilis), and Candlenut (kukui) (Aluerites moluccana).

Here are some notes I have taken from Isabella Abbot's book La'au Hawai'i and a document called Ulu mau, which Dane shared with us from a La'au class he took on the big island.

Ti: Ti leaves were used as wrappers  in the preparation of food. The leaves were wrapped around food while it was cooked in an imu. In medicine they were also used as hot packs by placing hot stones in the ti leaves. They worked very well for wrapping things up due to their waxy epidermis.

‘ulu (Breadfruit) (Artocarpus altilis)

Does not fruit as abundantly in Hawaii compared to other Polynesian islands.
Breadfruit was a form or kinolau of the god Ku.
Breadfruit is typically 2-7 pounds and  just one can feed a group of people.
In Hawaii ripens between May and October
a tool called a lou was reported to be used to pick breadfruit by Hawaiians, the tool consisted of a long piece of wood with another piece of wood shaped like a hook, attached at the end.
In pre-Contact times, Hawaiians would cook the ‘ulu fruit in an imu and make poi, in similar fasion to the preparation of kalo.
Today, ‘ulu fruit is prepared by boiling it.
piepiele ‘ulu: ripe, soft ‘ulu fruit mashed with coconut cream, placed in a ti leaf and baked in an imu.
‘ulu was also simply consumed by eating chunks that had been cooked in an imu or over open flame/coals.

(Abbot, 35, 100-101)

Kukui as Medicine:

• All parts of the plant used as a laxative.
• leaves used in poulstices for swelling or deep bruising.
• Mashed, roasted kukui nuts were used for external sores and ulcers.
• Charcoal from the shell would be consumed for sore throats.
• Today: Kukui nut is still used for skin problems and is found in many commercial lotions.
• Abscess. Broil immature nuts. Pound with ÿulu sap & ÿahuÿawa or lama powder, eliminating lumps.
• Asthma, Use juice of bark.
• Backache, bind area with leaves. 
• Birth laceration, apply warm oil. 
• Bladder problems. (sore urination) Chew meat from 32 nuts before placing in water. Strain before drinking. 
• Bruise, contusion, & swelling, Apply fresh leaves as poultice. 
• Chapped lips, chicken pox, cold sore, halitosis, measles, shingles, & sunburn, Apply sap. 
• Constipation, Bake dried nut, Crush with paÿakai, Eat with meals. 
• Cramp, Chew 4 nuts before placing in warm water, Drink, cut, (deep) Mash nut before adding paÿakai, Apply. 
• Dry skin, Apply oil.
• Headache, Chew nut before placing in water, Apply to head. 
• High blood pressure, Eat 1 teaspoon of ground roasted kernels. 
• Rheumatism, Boil shelled kernels, Pound with paÿakai before broiling in läÿï, Apply. stiffness, Bind 4-5 leaves overnight. 
• Sore throat. 1. Gargle sap. 2. Chew flowers. thrush. 1. Masticate flowers. 2. Apply sap to mouth & tongue. 
• Tonsillitis, Chew flowers. 
• Ulcer. Pound baked nut with ripe noni.

'ulu medicinal uses:

• Abscess, boil, cut, peeling skin, & rash, Apply sap. 
• Broken bone, Apply bark to affected area, Bind to place with koali ÿawa. 
• Cramps., Use with kö kea & koali. 
• Deafness, Use sap mixed with pöpolo juice.
• Sore, Mix sap with ÿahuÿawa powder, and 8 unripe kukui nuts, Broil in läÿï, Pound with lama powder, Apply 2x/day until healed. 
• Thrush, Use leaf buds. 
• Ulcer (stomach), Use sap.

From Ulu Mau Plant List

Our group also made this table from Ulu Mau and added in some info that we found on other sites.

Plant	Species	Role as Food	Role as Medicine
Kalo (poi)	Colocasia esculenta	Principle carbohydrate, baby food, dessert	Stomach health, burn salve, blood coagulant, health maintenance [1]
ʻuala (Sweet Potato)	Ipomoea batatas	Carbohydrate
Mamaki	Pipturus albidus	Beverage	General disease preventative [5]
Niu (Coconut)	Cocos nucifera	Beverage, oil, dessert, supplimentary item
ʻUlu (Breadfruit)	Artocarpus altilis	Carbohydrate	Skin problems, Broken Bones.
Kukuʻi (Breadfruit)	Allurites mollucana	Spice (inamona), oil, mixed with sea salt.	Skin problems internal and external. Many more.
Pia (Arrowroot)	Tacca leontopetaloides	Thickening Agent	Blood coagulant, anti-diarrheal [4]
Limu (seaweed)	Various spp.	Spice, texture	Rheumatism, Source of Vitamins and minerals [2,4]
Tī / KĪ	Cordyline fruticosa	Food prep, starch	Dressing, poultice, wound compress, head/body aches. [5]

New Learning Objectives and Scientific Questions

Today we revised out Learning Objectives and Scientific Questions. We worked to narrow down our Scientific Questions on focus on more specific topics.

Student Learning Objectives:

1) Identify pre-Contact Hawaiian spices and foodstuffs and their uses.

2) Identify post-contact spices and foodstuffs and their uses in contemporary Hawaiian food.

3) Explore positive and negative aspects of introduced food and medicine.

Scientific Questions:

1)  What are 9 plant foods used as medicines in pre-contact Hawaii. How are these plants used today in Hawaii, as based on the acquired literature?  

2) Focusing on post-contact introduced spices and foodstuffs, How have they impacted traditional Hawaiian medical practices?

3)  What is the role of diet as preventative medicine and treatment in Hawaiʻi today?

Human Consumption

We have now moved on to a new PBL. Human Consumption:

How do plants consumed in the diet (the full range including calories, nutrition, seasoning) relate to plants consumed as medicine (the full range including internal, topical, inhaled)? What factors determine whether a plant is a medicine, food, poison, cosmetic, etc?



We now have new groups and I will be working with Dane and Marisa for this problem. Today we met at Hamilton library to share some of our research and put the final touches on our LOs an SQs. 


Here are our completed LOs and SQs for this problem:

Student Learning Objectives:

1)  Identify traditional Hawaiian Spices and foodstuffs.

2) Identify introduced spices and foodstuffs.

3) Analyze the impact of Post-discovery spice and foodstuffs on the Hawaiian diet.


Scientific Questions:

1)  What traditional Hawaiian Medicines are widely being used today?  What are their current uses?

2) Focusing on introduced spices and foodstuffs, how have these impacted the health of Hawaiian natives and their descendants?

3)  What changes have been made to methods of treatment in traditional Hawaiian medicine due to modern-day lifestyles and diet?

I have been researching some articles and books on the topic of Hawaiian plant uses. Here are some notes and excerpts I took:

-Spices by Etkin

spice flavor comes from volatile essential oils: mostly terpenes.

Hot compounds are nonvolatile thus distinct from flavor.

Volotiles and pungent spices tend to have strong antimicrobial activity as do constituents that include aldehyde –CHO or hydroxl –OH groups.

Spices are used most in hot climates for their antimicrobial properties

Ancestors diets contained many unprocessed vegetables, containing the nutrients and phytochemicals needed to prevent cancer.

O’odham Indians of the American southwest 50% of adults have diabetes.

-La'au Hawaii by Isabella Aiona Abbot

The lapita people spread through Polynesia and on to the Hawaiian islands bringing with them a transported landscape.

List of Polynesian introduced plants to Hawaii

Banana, Mai’ a

Betel nut

Betel pepper

Breadfruit, ‘ulu

Coconut, niu

Gourd, ipu

Hau

Kamani

Kou

Kukui

Milo

Noni

Ohi’a ‘ai

‘ohe

sago palm

sugarcane, ‘ko

paper mulberry, wauke

Tahitian chesnut

‘ape

awapuhi

kava, ‘awa

kudzu

Polynesian arrowroot

Pia

Pulach

Turmeric, ‘olena

Taro, kalo

Ti

Sweet potato, ‘uala

Yams (5 species)

(Abbot, 3) 

Hawaiians lived mostly on agriculture based diet, less so on fishing.

Hawaiian diet differed from the Polynesian diet.

Limu, kalo, and ‘uala were the major staple crops of the Hawaiian diet.

‘uala and kalo provided carbohydrates and high-quality vitamins and minerals.

-Obesity and cardiovascular risk intervention through the ad libitum feeding of traditional Hawaiian diet by Terry T Shintani, Claire K Hughes, Sheila Beckham, and Helen Kanawaliwali 0 ‘Connor

The Waianae Diet Program

a pre-Western-contact Hawaiian diet to reduce chronic disease risk factors in Native Hawaiians.

Correlation between modernization of diets and rising health problems wheter cardiovascular or obesity.

the Native Hawaiians have the shortest lifespan of all ethnic groups in Hawaii. Their lifespan is also among the shortest in the United States.

The traditional diet of Native Hawaiians (consumed before Western contact) was high in fiber, high in complex carbohydrates, high in the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids, low in fat, and low in cholesterol.

Ten men and 10 women aged 25-64 y were selected for study. One individual was unable to complete the program because of viral illness. All were considered obese based off of the body mass index or BMI scale.

Weight Loss : .8 kg (range 2-15 kg), or 6.4% oftotal weight, injust 3 wks.

Cholesterol: Total serum cholesterol concentrations decreased an average of 14.0%.

Blood Pressure: The average systolic blood pressure decreased 7.8% and the average diastolic pressure decreased 1 1.5%.

Served: taro (a starchy root-like potatoes), poi (a mashed form of taro), sweet potato, yams, breadfruit, greens (fern shoots and leaves of taro, sweet potato, and yams), fruit, seaweed, fish, and chicken.


-Early Plant Introductions in Hawai'i by Kenneth M. Nagata

From England  and  transported on 28  May 1825:
1 Anona cherimolia (Annona cherimola Mill.)
1 Anona species
1 Psidium pomiferum (P. guajava L.)
1 Psidium Chinese
1 Psidium species from  Maranha
1 Eugenia aquea
1 Demacarpis longum {Euphoria longana Lam.)
4 peaches or nectarines (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.)
2 walnuts {Juglans regia L.)
2 figs (Ficus carica L.)
1  plum {Prunus sp.)
1  apple {Pyrus malus L.)
2 cherries {Prunus sp.)
8 grapes {Vitis? vinifera L.)

Plants from  Rio de  Janeiro:
7 Myrtis virides  Lacram- to {Eugenia viridis Berg.)
7 Myrtis species nova
3 Mangifera indica
1 Laurus persia {Persea americana Mill.)
5 Citrus nobilis {Citrus reticulata Blanco)
12 oranges raised from seed {C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck)
2 figs {Ficus carica L.)
8 Eugenia jambos
30 coffee plants {Coffea arabica L.)
1 Datura arborea
8 grapes, Valparaiso {Vitis? vinifera L.)

(Nagata, 41)