The aim of this study is to quantify the chelating effect of ProPectin on selected heavy metals, known as toxic for human health. A know of apple pectin extract will be set in chemical conditions mimicking human digestion (see below). A mixture of heavy metals (Cd, Sn Hg, Pb) will be added to the solution at concentrations above the average security limit defined for daily food intake. Samples will be analysed for individual metal concentrations using ICP-OES techniques. Sampling will be performed along the digestion process, as described above. The experiment will run at the same time as Part 1, using same samples. In case of high detox properties, metals will be chelated by pectin and will not pass through the UF membrane. In case of weak detox properties, metals will pass the membrane. Potential hydrolysis of pectin may impact detox properties.

Women who consumed dried apple had significantly lower serum levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 9% and 16%, respectively, at 3 months compared with baseline. These serum values were further decreased to 13% and 24%, respectively, after 6 months.

Introduction

High blood levels of glucose, cholesterol and lipid disbalance present the highest risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, malignancy, indigestion and other diseases. Each year the number of people suffering from Diabetes Type 2 increase and the disease causes 3 000 000 deaths every year. Bulgaria is also affected by this tendency.
Changes in the diet and way of life may prevent diabetes type 2 or alleviate the condition of people that already suffer the disease. Pectin is naturally distributed polysaccharide that in recent years has gained a broad application and importance due to its qualities as a bio-regulator.

Introduction

Bulgaria is one of the leading countries in the world in incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which are one of the most frequent causes of death in the country. The elevated cholesterol levels and the imbalance in the level of lipids in the blood is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, some types of diabetes, malignancy, indigestion, obesity and other diseases. Pectin is a naturally distributed polysaccharide that has gained in importance and use in recent years. This growing interest in it is due to its qualities as a bio-regulator. Its biodegradability and its gel-forming qualities allow it to be used in the food and pharmacy industry.

Abstract

Tens of thousands of Chernobyl children (mostly from Belarus) annually leave to receive treatment and health care in other countries. Doctors from many countries gratuitously work in the Chernobyl contaminated territories, helping to minimize the consequences of this most terrible technologic catastrophe in history. But the scale and spectrum of the consequences are so high, that no country in the world can cope alone with the long-term consequences of such a catastrophe as Chernobyl. The countries that have suffered the most, especially Ukraine and Belarus, extend gratitude for the help that has come through the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as from private funds and initiatives. Twenty-two years after the Chernobyl releases, the annual individual dose limit in heavily contaminated territories of Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia exceed 1 mSv/year just because of the unavoidable consumption of locally contaminated products. The 11-year experience of the BELRAD Institute shows that for effective radiation protection it is necessary to establish the interference level for children at 30% of the official dangerous limit (i.e., 15-20 Bq/kg). The direct whole body counting measurements of Cs-137 accumulation in the bodies of inhabitants of the heavily contaminated Belarussian region shows that the official Dose

Abstract

As a complement of standard radioprotective measures, apple-pectin preparations are given, especially in the Ukraine, to reduce the 137Cs uptake in the organism of children. The question has been raised: is oral pectin also useful when children receive radiologically clean food, or does this polysaccharide only act in binding 137Cs in the gut, blocking its intestinal absorption? In this case, pectin would be useless if radiologically clean food could be given. The study was a randomised, double blind placebo-controlled trial comparing the efficacy of a dry and milled apple-extract containing 15-16% pectin with a similar placebo-powder, in 64 children originating from the same group of contaminated villages of the Gomel oblast. The average 137Cs load was of about 30 Bq/kg bodyweight (BW). The trial was conducted during the simultaneous one-month stay in the sanatorium Silver Spring. In this clean radiological environment only radiologically "clean" food is given to the children. The average reduction of the 137Cs levels in children receiving oral pectin powder was 62.6%, the reduction with "clean" food and placebo was 13.9%, the difference being statistically significant (p <0.01). The reduction of the 137Cs load is medically relevant, as no child in the placebo group reached values below 20 Bq/kg BW (which is considered by Bandazhevsky as potentially associated

Abstract

Seventeen years after the nuclear power accident at Chernobyl, most of the radio-contamination among the population of Southern Belarus is caused by incorporation of long-lived radioisotopes. The varying levels of 137Cs observed among children in this area are explained by the source of their food, especially by the consumption of contaminated milk produced privately. We stratified children from rural areas of Belarus (caesium [137Cs] contamination >5 Ci/km(2)) by their 137Cs loads into three distinct groups (group 1, <5 Bq/kg body weight [BW]; group 2, 38.4 +/- 2.4 Bq/kg BW; group 3, 122 +/- 18.5 Bq/kg BW). We determined the relationship between the 137Cs load and the children's main source of food and recorded their cardiovascular symptoms. Cardiovascular symptoms, ECG alterations, and arterial hypertension were significantly more frequent in children with high 137Cs burden than in children with very low 137Cs burden.