Farha Ramzan is a Nutri-genomic researcher at the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute. Photo: Supplied: Liggins Institute
Could a humble kiwi shrub be an alternative to weight loss drugs like Ozempic?
An Auckland university researcher has got an $800,000 grant to study the medicinal properties of kawakawa.
Māori have long used the native shrub as an anti inflammatory and for wounds. Now, it is hoped kawakawa could help with diabetes and obesity.
Farha Ramzan is a Nutri-genomic researcher at the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute.
She is the lead researcher in the study and told Checkpoint kawakawa had been used since ancient times in Aotearoa.
"It's been used for reducing a number of different diseases, antidiabetic effects and use for wounds and infections. We're trying to see if it can reduce inflammation with some more evidence based clinical trials here."
Inflammation was one of the major risk factors for diseases like obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other neurodevelopmental diseases, she said.
"There has been a lot of correlation where association of inflammation for a long period of time leads to these diseases."
"Usually inflammation is good for our body, generally in acute cases for injury for muscle growth. But if it stays for a very long time, it can lead to these different diseases."
The researchers were hoping kawakawa may reduce inflammation to the extent it could have a widespread application when it came to diabetes and obesity prevention, she said.
"We have also done some of the studies over the last four years where we have seen anti-inflammatory effects of kawakawa but we were doing all the studies in healthy participants."
"Now with this research, we are seeing whether kawakawa can reduce inflammation in people who have already inflammation in the body."
She said 50 percent of participants in the study would be Māori and they would be tracking what happened after they took kawakawa.
"Right now we are at very early stages where we'll be looking at co-designing the study with Māori researchers and Māori practitioners."
During the clinical trial, participants would be given kawakawa in the form of capsules over a time period of 12 to 16 weeks.
"We will be understanding different doses of kawakawa, how they are affecting their blood markers, which are related to inflammation and their gut microbiome."
"We will be also looking at the urine from those participants, which can also be indicative of how the inflammation is reducing in the body."
Ramzan said personally, she drinks a cup of kawakawa tea each day.
"I've been using kawakawa for for a long time after I started doing research on it and seeing the results I have been really blown away."
The researchers were using capsules instead of tea in the trial as they were able to manage the dosage better, she said.
"When you brew the tea, it's not fully kawakawa leaves you are taking in. It's only the water you brew for eight to 10 minutes and then you drink it."
"When we're giving kawakawa in the form of capsules, the dose has to be reduced because it can be stronger than the tea itself, so that's why we will be reducing the dose and giving smaller doses and a little bit bigger than that dose and seeing how it reduces inflammation."
The study was personal for her because of her family history, she said.
"I've been really interested in medicinal herbs starting from my own uncle and my own grandma, who have been always providing us with different herbs because they come from Kashmir in northern India, it's cold there. We have a lot of lot of different herbs available, so I was always interested in how food can be medicinal."
"That's why I started my PhD and then got the opportunity to work with kawakawa. It's amazing that I've been studying it to reduce the diabetes or inflammation in future because my mum, herself, has chronic diabetes. So maybe this will be something to help her and help other people who are suffering with inflammation and related diseases."
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