Young coconut juice significantly reduces histopathological changes in the brain that are induced by hormonal imbalance: a possible implication to postmenopausal women

Estrogenic Plants: to Prevent Neurodegeneration and Memory Loss and Other Symptoms in Women After Menopause

In mammals, sexual hormones such as estrogens play an essential role in maintaining brain homeostasis and function. Estrogen deficit in the brain induces many undesirable symptoms such as learning and memory impairment, sleep and mood disorders, hot flushes, and fatigue. These symptoms are frequent in women who reached menopausal age or have had ovariectomy and in men and women subjected to anti-estrogen therapy. Hormone replacement therapy alleviates menopause symptoms; however, it can increase cardiovascular and cancer diseases. In the search for therapeutic alternatives, medicinal plants and specific synthetic and natural molecules with estrogenic effects have attracted widespread attention between the public and the scientific community. Various plants have been used for centuries to alleviate menstrual and menopause symptoms, such as Cranberry, Ginger, Hops, Milk Thistle, Red clover, Salvia officinalis, Soy, Black cohosh, Turnera diffusa, Ushuva, and Vitex. This review aims to highlight current evidence about estrogenic medicinal plants and their pharmacological effects on cognitive deficits induced by estrogen deficiency during menopause and aging.

Young Coconut Juice Reduces Some Histopathological Changes Associated with Alzheimer's Disease through the Modulation of Estrogen Receptors in Orchidectomized Rat Brains

Propose. This study aimed to evaluate the protective role of young coconut juice (YCJ) against the pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in orchidectomized (orx) rats. Methods and Results. Animals were divided into 7 groups including: baseline normal control group, sham control, orx rat group, orx rat group injected with 2.5 μg/kg b.w. estradiol benzoate (EB) 3 days a week for 10 weeks, and the orx rat groups treated orally with 10, 20, and 40 ml/kg b.w. of YCJ for 10 weeks. At the end of treatment period, animals were sacrificed and the brain of each rat was removed, fixed in 10% neutral formalin, and stained by specific antibodies against NF200, parvalbumin (PV), β-amyloid (Aβ), and estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ). The results showed that the number of NF200- and PV-reactive neurons in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex was significantly reduced in orx rats. However, it restored to normal in orx rats injected with EB or those administrated with YCJ in a dose-related manner. Neurons containing β-amyloid (Aβ), a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), were found to be increased in the orx rats; however; they were reduced by EB injection or YCJ administration. These results suggested the binding of the YCJ active ingredient(s) with estrogen receptors (ERs) in the brain as indicated by the detection of ERα and ERβ in neurons since a significant correlation was detected between NF200-/PV-reactive neurons vs ERα-/ERβ-reactive neurons.Conclusion. It could be concluded that YCJ is effective as EB in reducing AD pathology, probably by being selective estrogen receptor modulators.

Long-term supplementation with young coconut juice does not prevent bone loss but rather alleviates body weight gain in ovariectomized rats

Young coconut (Cocos nucifera Linn.) juice (YCJ) has traditionally been consumed to alleviate symptoms associated with the menopause. Recently, the authors demonstrated that short-term (6-week) YCJ supplementation to ovariectomized rats resulted in increased bone mass and bone formation parameter, suggesting that YCJ consumption has a positive effect on bone metabolism and may represent an intervention to help slow the bone loss during menopause transition. The present study sought to determine how long-term (12-week) YCJ supplementation affects bone metabolism in ovariectomized rats, to investigate whether such supplementation may be helpful to in osteoporosis treatment. Ten-week-old female Wistar rats were subjected to either a sham operation (Sham) or bilateral ovariectomy (Ovx). The Ovx+YCJ group received 5X-concentrated YCJ at a dose of 15 ml/kg/day for 12 weeks. Rats in the Ovx group had significantly lower femur bone mineral density than those in the Sham group. YCJ supplementation did not significantly affect this difference. However, YCJ prevented the increase in bone area of the mid third of the femur, a site high in cortical bone, and body weight gain observed following Ovx. Our findings indicate that long-term YCJ intake does not alter bone loss, but rather alleviates body weight gain following menopause.