february, 2019 | The Health
Alternative
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29
Seaweed
for bone health
Osteoporosis is a degenerative disease which causes bones
to become so porous that they can be easily broken. Two
students from Monash University, Ethan Wong Hsien
Aun and Chia Tong Tian are looking into the prevention of
osteoporosis through their scientific project
A
By CHRISTINE ZOE STA MARIA
lternative idea
“We browsed through several research
topics that were available. Both of us
have science backgrounds however we
major in business (entrepreneurial).
We came across some appealing
research topics such as aquatic nutritional food and
decided to collaborate with our mentor to carry out this
project” Ethan explains.
Their main target is degenerative diseases, mainly,
osteoporosis. They believe that they can harness the
power of stem cells which contain the capability to
regenerate. “If that can be accomplished, we would be
able to overcome most degenerative diseases such as
Alzheimer’s disease, ALS and diabetes” Ethan adds.
They had developed an approach based on the con-
sumption of aquatic seaweed, in the form of a healthy
beverage.
“There is a conflict of interest present between
modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine
practitioners. The public is focused more on modern
medicine compared to traditional Chinese medicine.”
“We want to look at it from a natural perspective
where we harness the power of plants as a remedy and
hopefully, it can be profitable from an entrepreneurial
view” Ethan states.
Studies in the US suggest that approximately one in
two women and up to one in four men age 50 and
older will break a bone due to osteoporosis.
Partnership with universities
Ethan Wong (right) with project partner
Chia Tong Tian aims to develop an
alternative treatment to osteoporosis using
natural ingredients.
The main goal
“It is important to look at things from a broader
perspective,” says Ethan. “Traditional Chinese prac-
titioners believes some herbs have healing powers
whilst modern medicine practitioners believe that their
medicine is more effective. They believe that it is better
to work together rather than belittle each other. In that
way, everyone could get the best of both worlds and
achieve breakthroughs together.”
“We would also like to express our gratitude to our
mentor, Mr Henri Lai, in spearheading the project and
guiding us along the way. He helped us to understand
and appreciate the significance of herbs and naturopa-
thy.” — The Health
Looking ahead
“We want to determine a way to eradicate this prob-
lem. Based on my personal family history, a family
member of mine had to go through the ordeal of having
osteoporosis. Even in the most developed countries,
osteoporosis can occur. It can happen to anyone. What
we want is to contribute to society by lowering the rate
of osteoporosis as it can lead to a significant reduction
in the quality of life”.
Is it as
good as
it can
‘bee’?
Chai Her Xiang (left) are looking
into the proposed health benefits
of propolis, together with project
partner Wong Jan Cheong.
“We would have to test our prototype on a person with
osteoporosis to see its effectiveness. The problem with
that is, you cannot just give a person something to
drink. The subject will need to undergo a lot of ethical
consideration,” laments Ethan.
They have however, approached universities such
as UM, UKM, and USM to collaborate on their project.
“These universities have hospitals attached to them,
and would have access to osteoporosis patients. Our
idea is to get them to help us with our research through
their patients.”
I
s propolis as mighty as it is made up
to be?
These days, people tend to look
for natural options to maintain their
health. One of these options is propolis.
Propolis is a sticky substance made from
bee saliva and beeswax, and is used by
bees as glue to build hives and seal open
spaces in the hives. We interviewed two
students, Chai Her Xiang and Wong Jan
Cheong regarding their project on the
health benefits of propolis.
Their project focuses on the anti-
oxidants that can be found in propolis.
Most people have the habit of sharing
fake news about propolis on social media
without doing any extensive research
beforehand. It is true that propolis has
good health properties. However, these
health properties have been greatly
exaggerated. There is no data to prove
that propolis can work wonders as men-
tioned on social media. “Our goal is to
identify the properties of propolis and
see how true the health benefits are”,
Chai Her Xiang tells.
Doing the research
People usually consume propolis in the
form of pills. It also comes in the form of
MIRACLE
MEDICINE?: Some
facial cream.
“We want to prove that
propolis actually have the
health benefits people believe it
contains. We use sonication, which is
a type of sound-based technology to
break apart the propolis and dissolve it
in solvent. We also use pasteurisation to
soak propolis the same way as fermented
wine”, Chai Her Xiang explains.
Findings
“We discovered that the different portion
of propolis from the hive have different
contents as well as different antioxidant
properties. After further testing, the
different propolis react differently to
microbes. The health benefits of propolis
have yet to been concluded as further
testing will need to be done in order to
bring propolis to a certified medicine
claim propolis to
have large health
benefits, although
much of it has been
exaggerated.
stage so that it can be used in
various treatments.”
“Different propolis in
different regions contribute
to different antioxidant potential
and have different active compounds
in them. Therefore, propolis varies
depending on which region they’re
from, for example, Brazil has red and
orange propolis. Malaysia, however, has
only brown propolis,” Chai Her Xiang
remarks.
A word to the wise
“Our message to the public is to do your
research before falsely claiming things
to be something that they are not. If you
are wrong, it could lead to the opposite
of health benefits,” Chai Her Xiang
states.— The Health