Sunflowers were probably first cultivated about 5,000 years ago in what is now central Mexico.
Sunflowers, and especially sunflower seeds, have long been used by indigenous people in the treatment of pain and inflammation.
Banjo contains a pure water extract of sunflower seeds. There is essentially no sunflower seed oil in Banjo.
Banjo provides fast, effective relief from pain and inflammation because it enables your body’s immune system to function properly. It works just like the fruits and vegetables you eat every day – by naturally inhibiting NF-kB, the inflammation Master Switch.
Banjo works better because it combines the most effective natural extracts and delivers them in a form that ensures maximum bio-availability. You get the full spectrum of phytonutrients your body needs to turn off excess inflammation.
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Sunflower seeds are a rich source of alpha-amyrin palmitate. In the study briefly summarized below, administration of alpha-amyrin palmitate was shown to substantially improve arthritis in the animal model. This might account, in part, for the fact that sunflower seeds have long been used in traditional medicines – they reduce inflammation.
The publication:
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Drugs Exp Clin Res. 1994;20(1):1-5.
Kweifio-Okai G, Bird D, Eu P, Carroll AR, Ambrose R, Field B.
Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Australia.
Alpha-amyrin palmitate was synthesized and tested on adult male Wistar rats with arthritis.
When administered orally at 66 mg/kg BW every 48 h for 5 days from days 32 to 40 post-adjuvant and assessed on day 50, alpha-amyrin palmitate returned the increases in serum hyaluronate and blood granulocytes toward non-arthritic levels and corrected the moderate anaemia of adjuvant arthritis.
Tissue examinations of the joints showed reduced synovial proliferation and invasion of joints and reduced leucocyte infiltration of bone marrow in alpha-amyrin palmitate-treated rats. In addition, the drug prevented or reduced bone (subchondral or cortical) and cartilage (articular) destruction in arthritic rats.
The results suggest that alpha-amyrin palmitate is antiarthritic in the adjuvant model of arthritis in rats.
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Asthma is a serious and sometimes life threatening condition. It is also extremely common. Good treatments exist, but standard treatments are sometimes unable to offer adequate control. As a result, asthma is one of the most common reason for an emergency room visit, the most common reason for absence among school aged children and a leading overall cause of diminished quality of life. The incidence of asthma is increasing globally.
A simple, inexpensive, effective treatment for asthma would be welcome – especially one relatively free from side effects and perhaps entirely free from serious side effects. Sunflower seeds appear attractive from many perspectives, not least of all because the reduction in inflammation observed is unlikely restricted to lungs and asthma. It’s likely that sunflower seeds reduce inflammation generally.
The researchers whose publication is cited below conclude that further work is required to identify the specific factors responsible for the reduction in inflammation – and reduction in asthma symptoms – they observed. Or perhaps we could simply use an aqueous extract of sunflower seeds – since that appears to be both safe and effective.
Banjo contains an aqueous extract of sunflower seeds.
The publication:
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Int J Mol Med. 2008 Jan;21(1):57-61.
Heo JC, Woo SU, Kweon MA, Park JY, Lee HK, Son M, Rho JR, Lee SH.
Food and Bio-Industry Research Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
Molecular inflammation is a pivotal process in various degenerative immune diseases, including asthma and atopic dermatitis.
In this study, we examined the effects of Helianthus annuus seed (HAS) aqueous extract on an in vivo anti-asthmatic model. The levels of IL-4/IL-13 cytokines and IgE were determined.
HAS extract induced a decrease in CD4+ cell number, IL-4/IL-13 expression, and IgE secretion levels in the lungs. Our findings collectively suggest that the HAS extract has considerable potential in reducing the asthma-like symptoms.
However, further isolation and purification of the extract is required to determine the specific factor(s) responsible for its anti-asthmatic activity.
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The publication:
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Blood. 1999 Dec 1;94(11):3847-54.
Kawakami A, Nakashima T, Sakai H, Urayama S, Yamasaki S, Hida A, Tsuboi M, Nakamura H, Ida H, Migita K, Kawabe Y, Eguchi K.
The First Department of Internal Medicine, and the Department of Hospital Pharmacy, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
When NF-kB is excessively stimulated, cells cannot die normally (this normal cell death is called “apoptosis.”) This study suggests that HTLV-1 results in the activation of NF-kB (so normal cell death does not occur.) This then results in an increase of cytokine production (inflammation) and cell proliferation, which is thought to be one cause of autoimmune disorders such as Sjögren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.
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Aging Alzheimer's Arthritis Asthma Atherosclerosis Back Pain Banjo Cancer Chronic Pain Cluster Headache Crohn's Diabetes Fatigue Fibromyalgia Gout Headache Heart Disease IBD Inflammation Joint Pain Lupus Migraine Multiple Sclerosis Muscular Dystrophy Neck Pain Neuropathic Pain NF-kB Osteoarthritis Pain Parkinson's Psoriasis Rheumatoid Arthritis Sjogren's Stroke TMJ Ulcerative Colitis
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