Beta-Sitosterol, a Natural Free Radical Scavenging Antioxidant

Antioxidants are stable atom that plays a critical role in protecting the body against the attack of free radicals.
In other words, antioxidants inhibited the onset of free radicals before they can cause a chain reaction in facilitating protein, lipid, and cell damage.

Antioxidants can either be produced by the liver or intake from dietary sources. Under normal conditions, antioxidant enzymes produced by the body in a healthy individual are good enough to counter the bombardment of free radical attacks.

However, in people with a weakened immune system, intake of dietary sources of antioxidants may be necessary.

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules with an unpaired electron on the outer ring of the atom.
Due to its nature to become stable, free radicals readily donate or steal an electron from other molecules, leading to the chain of domino's effect that can not be stopped until either the electrons are paired or inhibited by antioxidants.

This chain of reaction is the cause of oxidative stress, a condition is associated with either overexpression of free radicals or depletion of antioxidant enzymes produced by the host organs.

Overexpression of free radicals is known to cause damage in contributing to the etiology of many chronic health problems such as cardiovascular and inflammatory disease, cataracts, and cancer.

The expression of oxidative stress is a medical condition characterized by the imbalance of the ratio of free radicals and antioxidant enzymes produced by the host tissue.

In some cases, this reaction also is caused long-term accumulation of toxic substances in the body, such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic.

Beta-Sitosterol is a phytochemical in the class of Phytosterols, belongings to the group of Lipids, found abundantly in avocados, rice bran, wheat germ, corn oils, fennel, peanuts, soybeans, hawthorn, basil, buckwheat. etc.

On finding a potential phytochemical for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress, researchers elucidated in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of Schimpera arabica extract and fractions (2-Hexadecen-1-ol and beta-sitosterol).


According to the tested assays,* Among all the extracts, 2-Hexadecen-1-ol and beta-sitosterol were the major constituents of crude extract and exhibited significant antioxidant potential as well antimicrobial activity, compared to all other fractions that only exhibited a fair degree of antioxidant potential.
* In the free radical assay, 93% DPPH was scavenged by 100 μg ml-1 of the ethyl acetate fraction; i

* In ABTS assay chelation was 86·2 and 88% in ferric chloride reducing power assay.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "S. arabica contains a good amount of natural antioxidants of medicinal importance. However, further investigations are needed to characterize the further activity of 2-Hexadecen-1-ol and beta-sitosterol in vivo.".

Taken altogether, beta-Sitosterol found abundantly in S. arabica may be considered an antioxidant supplement, pending the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of beta-Sitosterol in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) GC/MS analysis and characterization of 2-Hexadecen-1-ol and beta sitosterol from Schimpera arabica extract for its bioactive potential as antioxidant and antimicrobial by Hidayathulla S1, Shahat AA2,3, Ahamad SR4, Al Moqbil AAN1, Alsaid MS1, Divakar DD. (PubMed)