Psyllium: Current and Future Applications Rashid Masood and Mohsen Miraftab Centre For Material Research & Innovation University Of Bolton Medtex07

Outline Psyllium Plant History of Psyllium Traditional Food Applications Physiochemical properties Medical application Potentials in other form of applications Conclusion

Psyllium plant Scientifically known as plantago ovata More than 200 species Commercially produced as a major seasonal crop. Plant grows up to 15 cm tall Leaves are narrowly linear, basal and green

Leaves put up spikes of small flowers that mature into seedpods Seeds are small (1.5–2 cm) and brown or reddish-brown The seed are dried and crushed to separate the husk by winnowing

History Psylliums History "Mother of herbs" in Anglo Saxon poems Native American call it white man's foot" Used by Chinese 250 BC ago Ayurvedic (Hindu) and Unani (Islamic) medicine prescriptions

Traditional Food Application Used as cooling drink by mixing in water and fruit extract with sugar used as confectionary base Gum has the ability to prevent crystallization of sugar Used as cream stabilizer, provides uniform, smooth creamy structure to the ice cream Food Application Used in ready to eat cereals Used in snacks. cookies and bars

Natural polysaccharide Contains high percentage of hemicelluloses Hydrophilic material in nature Well known for its water uptake properties, Laxative agent and excellent gelling capabilities, contains both soluble and insoluble fibre contents Mucilage contains mixtures of acidic and neutral polymers of carbohydrate and sugars Physiochemical properties

Ability to bind large amounts of metals in solution Contain polyhydroxylic and carboxylic groups which react with metal ions Greater iron binding capacity than alginate, guar gum and pectin, even at very low concentrations, and various pHs and temperatures

Laidlaw et al extracted the psyllium mucilage content from whole seeds with the help of cold and hot water. Kennedy et al treated the psyllium husk with 1.2M NaOH, Haque et al used 2.5 M of NaOH to extract the fraction gel from the husk at ambient temperature Gel extraction

Gel sugar composition Sugar ComponentsQuantity % Rhamnose0.4 Arabinose22.6 Xylose74.6 Mannose0.5 Galactose1.5 Glucose0.3 Uronic Acid0.7

Medical application Colonic health Prevention of constipation, Diverticulitis, Haemorrhoids, Appendicitis, Cancer of large bowel etc. Prevention of other chronic diseases like Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular disease Intervention studies, claim positive effect on lipid reduction in blood, regulates blood pressure, and controls arterial wall thickness

Health claims In 1998, FDA gave permission to make a health claim that "Eating soluble fibre from foods such as psyllium as part of a diet is low in saturated fat and cholesterol Anderson et al have reported that psyllium diet can possibly lower the serum cholesterol by 4% and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol by 7% Psyllium helps the human body in improving glymeric and lipids control, and reducing the risk factors involved in diabetic complications.

Constipation It also stimulates the transit of waste through the gastrointestinal tract Psyllium helps to relieves constipation Speed the passage of stool through the digestive tract by softening the stool and attracting water thereby producing more bulky stool.

Cholesterol Lowering Diet without psyllium Diet with psyllium Delay absorption of Carbohydrates from small intestine Lowers insulin production lowers the cholesterol synthesis Psyllium changes the absorption of cholesterol and re-absorption of bile acid

Use as poultice (psyllium mixed with milk and turmeric powder) for minor scrapes is considered a standard practice in old and current Indian culture. Contains Mucopolysaccharides which are useful for wound cleansing and wound healing. These mucopolysaccharides also limit scar formation on human skin Wound healing properties

Future potential applications Fucnctional properties i.e. gelling and water absorption can be further improved by solid state enzymes reaction (Yu et al) Psyllium can also be used in the process of bio-sorption of heavy metals, like other gel forming material such as alginate and guar gum Psyllium can be used to develop an efficient, stable and biodegradable flocculants for the treatment of industrial effluents and minerals processing.

Psyllium can also play an important roll in uniform dispersion of the metal ions and their subsequent release under suitable conditions due to its strong gel forming properties Psyllium could be particularly beneficial to systems including silver and copper ions which are popular with antimicrobial functionalities. Psyllium potentials in developing a novel formulation for the therapeutic agents delivery can be useful (Singh et al ). The excellent gel forming and mucilaginous properties also confirms psyllium possible use with other gel- forming materials as an active enter absorbents for removing toxins and production of non-fatty ointments.

Psyllium has been found to be more cost effective gelling agent as well as having superior properties to agar in vitro production of plant tissues and microbial culture growth. Novel biologically active fibres can be developed with optimized water absorption and tensile properties by possibly fusing psyllium with other fibre forming biomaterials.

Psyllium strong gelling properties may also find use in several biomedical areas i.e. * implantation as a space filling material, * coating of medical devices, * delivery of biologically active substances, * cell entrapment, * wound healing, * as well in tissue engineering applications.

Conclusion Psyllium as a plant and a herbal medicine possesses highly varied and rather unique physiochemical properties Psyllium is ideally placed for serious considerations and commercial exploitation within the context of modern technologies. The inherent properties associated to this natural material could be designed and engineered such that all biological and functional requirements of current industrial applications could be met.

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