n. 1. (in anatomy) a region or site. The locus caeruleus is a small pigmented *nucleus in the floor of the fourth ventricle of the brain. 2. (in genetics) the region of a chromosome occupied by a particular gene.
Nutritional Profile Energy value (calories per serving): Moderate Protein: Moderate Fat: Low Saturated fat: Low Cholesterol: None Carbohydrates: High Fiber: High Sodium: Low Major vitamin contribution: Niacin Major mineral contribution: Calcium
About the Nutrients in This Food Carob flour, which is milled from the dried pod of a Mediterranean ever- green tree, Ceratonia siliqua, looks like cocoa but has a starchy, beanlike flavor. It can be mixed with sweeteners to make a cocoalike powder or combined with fats and sweeteners to produce a candy that looks like and has the same rich mouthfeel as milk chocolate but tastes more like honey. Ounce for ounce, carob, which is also known as locust bean gum, has more fiber and calcium but fewer calories than cocoa. Its carbohydrates include the sugars sucrose, D-mannose, and D-galactose. (D-galactose is a simple sugar that links up with other sugars to form the complex indigest- ible sugars raffinose and stachyose.) Carob also contains gums and pectins, the indigestible food fibers commonly found in seeds.
The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food As a substitute for cocoa or chocolate for people who are sensitive to chocolate.
Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food Low-carbohydrate diet
Buying This Food Look for: Tightly sealed containers that will protect the flour from moisture and insects.
Storing This Food Store carob flour in a cool, dark place in a container that protects it from air, moisture, and insects. Keep carob candy cool and dry.
Preparing This Food Measure out carob flour by filling a cup or tablespoon and leveling it off with a knife. To substitute carob for regular flour, use ¼ cup carob flour plus ¾ cup regular flour for each cup ordinary flour. To substitute for chocolate, use three tablespoons of carob flour plus two tablespoons of water for each ounce of unsweetened chocolate. Carob flour is sweeter than unsweetened chocolate.
What Happens When You Cook This Food Unlike cocoa powder, carob flour contains virtually no fat. It will burn, not melt, if you heat it in a saucepan. When the flour is heated with water, its starch granules absorb moisture and rupture, releasing a gum that can be used as a stabilizer, thickener, or binder in processed foods and cosmetics. In cake batters, it performs just like other flours (see flour).
Medical uses and/or Benefits Adsorbent and demulcent. Medically, carob flour has been used as a soothing skin powder. As a chocolate substitute. People who are sensitive to chocolate can usually use carob instead. Like cocoa beans, carob is free of cholesterol. Unlike cocoa, which contains the cen- tral-nervous-system stimulant caffeine and the muscle stimulant theobromine, carob does not contain any stimulating methylxanthines. Lower cholesterol levels. In 2001, a team of German nutrition researchers from the Institute for Nutritional Science at the University of Potsdam, the German Institute of Human Nutri- tion, Center for Conventional Medicine and Alternative Therapies (Berlin) Nutrinova Nutri- tion Specialties and Food Ingredients GmbH, and PhytoPharm Consulting, Institute for Phytopharmaceuticals GmbH conducted a study to evaluate carob’s effectiveness in lower- ing cholesterol. For a period of eight weeks, 47 volunteers with moderately high cholesterol levels (232– 302 mg/dL) were fed 15 g of carob per day in breakfast cereal, fruit grain bars, and a drink made from powdered carob pulp as supplements to their normal diet. After four weeks, the volunteers’ total cholesterol levels fell an average of 7 percent and their LDL (low density lipoprotein—“bad” cholesterol) levels fell an average 10.6 percent. At six weeks, the numbers were 7.8 percent and 10.6 percent. There was no effect on HDLs (high density lipoproteins, a.k.a. “good” cholesterol).... carob
Habitat: Cultivated in Punjab. English: Locust Bean; St. John's Bread, Carob tree.
Unani: Kharnub Shaami.Action: Pod and husk from seed— antidiarrhoeal (stools in gastroenteritis and colitis are known to solidify within 48 h).
The pods contain tannin from 0.88 to 4.09%.Pulp of the pod contains 30-70% sugars, fats, starch, protein, amino acids, gallic acid; leucoanthocyanins and related phenolics. Leaves contain catechols.... ceratonia siliquaHLA incompatibility causes the immune response, or rejection reaction, that occurs with unmatched tissue grafts. Strong associations between HLA and susceptibility to certain diseases – notably the AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS such as rheumatoid arthritis, insulin-dependent diabetes, and thyrotoxicosis – have been described. Certain HLA antigens occur together more frequently than would be expected by chance (linkage disequilibrium), and may have a protective e?ect, conferring resistance to a disease. (See IMMUNITY.)... hla system
Habitat: Western Himalayas and Jammu & Kashmir.
English: Locust tree, False Acacia, Robinia, Black Locust.Action: Leaves—laxative, antispas- modic (an infusion is prescribed in digestive disorders). Flowers— diuretic, antispasmodic.
The bark, leaves and roots contain a toxalbumin, robin (1.6% in the bark), which resembles ricin present in the castor seed. The bark also contains a glucoside robinitin (3%), syringin, tannin (up to about 7.0%). Inner bark contains amygdalin and urease.The leaves are rich in calcium, phosphorus and potash. The presence of glycosides, acaciin, apigenin-7-bioside, apigenin-7-trioside and indican, have also been reported.The flowers are powerfully diuretic due to a glycoside, robinin. Flowers also contain l-asparagine.The roots are rich in asparagine, also contain robin. Root bark, if taken in excess, is emetic and purgative.The bark and young shoots are poisonous to livestock.... robinia pseudoacaciaHabitat: Western Himalayas and plains, southwards to Peninsular India.
English: Prickly Sesban, Dhaincha.Ayurvedic: Jayanti (var.), Itkata (var.).Siddha/Tamil: Mudchembai.Action: Seeds—used externally in ringworm and skin diseases. Plant—used for treating wounds.
The leaf, stem and fruit gave positive test for alkaloids. A mixture of saponins, reported to be present in the seeds, yields on hydrolysis oleanolic acid and neutral sapogenin. Colloidal substances similar to those of marine algae, locust bean gum, guar gum and gum tragacanth are reported in the seeds.... sesbania bispinosaBURSITIS, TENDINITIS and non-speci?c back pain (see BACKACHE).
Osteoarthritis (OA) rarely starts before 40, but by the age of 80 affects 80 per cent of the population. There are structural and functional changes in the articular cartilage, as well as changes in the collagenous matrix of tendons and ligaments. OA is not purely ‘wear and tear’; various sub-groups have a genetic component. Early OA may be precipitated by localised alteration in anatomy, such as a fracture or infection of a joint. Reactive new bone growth typically occurs, causing sclerosis (hardening) beneath the joint, and osteophytes – outgrowths of bone – are characteristic at the margins of the joint. The most common sites are the ?rst metatarsal (great toe), spinal facet joints, the knee, the base of the thumb and the terminal ?nger joints (Heberden’s nodes).
OA has a slow but variable course, with periods of pain and low-grade in?ammation. Acute in?ammation, common in the knee, may result from release of pyrophosphate crystals, causing pseudo-gout.
Urate gout results from crystallisation of URIC ACID in joints, against a background of hyperuricaemia. This high concentration of uric acid in the blood may result from genetic and environmental factors, such as excess dietary purines, alcohol or diuretic drugs.
In?ammatory arthritis is less common than OA, but potentially much more serious. Several types exist, including: SPONDYLARTHRITIS This affects younger men, chie?y involving spinal and leg joints. This may lead to in?ammation and eventual ossi?cation of the enthesis – that is, where the ligaments and tendons are inserted into the bone around joints. This may be associated with disorders in other parts of the body: skin in?ammation (PSORIASIS), bowel and genito-urinary in?ammation, sometimes resulting in infection of the organs (such as dysentery). The syndromes most clearly delineated are ankylosing spondylitis (see SPINE AND SPINAL CORD, DISEASES AND INJURIES OF), psoriatic or colitic spondylitis, and REITER’S SYNDROME. The diagnosis is made clinically and radiologically; no association has been found with autoantibodies (see AUTOANTIBODY). A particularly clear gene locus, HLA B27, has been identi?ed in ankylosing spondylitis. Psoriasis can be associated with a characteristic peripheral arthritis.
Systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (see AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS). RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA) – see also main entry. The most common of these diseases. Acute in?ammation causes lymphoid synovitis, leading to erosion of the cartilage, associated joints and soft tissues. Fibrosis follows, causing deformity. Autoantibodies are common, particularly Rheumatoid Factor. A common complication of RA is Sjögren’s syndrome, when in?ammation of the mucosal glands may result in a dry mouth and eyes. SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE) and various overlap syndromes occur, such as systemic sclerosis and dermatomyositis. Autoantibodies against nuclear proteins such as DNA lead to deposits of immune complexes and VASCULITIS in various tissues, such as kidney, brain, skin and lungs. This may lead to various symptoms, and sometimes even to organ failure.
Infective arthritis includes: SEPTIC ARTHRITIS An uncommon but potentially fatal disease if not diagnosed and treated early with approriate antibiotics. Common causes are TUBERCLE bacilli and staphylococci (see STAPHYLOCOCCUS). Particularly at risk are the elderly and the immunologically vulnerable, such as those under treatment for cancer, or on CORTICOSTEROIDS or IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT drugs. RHEUMATIC FEVER Now rare in western countries. Resulting from an immunological reaction to a streptococcal infection, it is characterised by migratory arthritis, rash and cardiac involvement.
Other infections which may be associated with arthritis include rubella (German measles), parvovirus and LYME DISEASE.
Treatment Septic arthritis is the only type that can be cured using antibiotics, while the principles of treatment for the others are similar: to reduce risk factors (such as hyperuricaemia); to suppress in?ammation; to improve function with physiotherapy; and, in the event of joint failure, to perform surgical arthroplasty. NON-STEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS (NSAIDS) include aspirin, paracetamol and many recently developed ones, such as the proprionic acid derivatives IBUPROFEN and naproxen, along with other drugs that have similar properties such as PIROXICAM. They all carry a risk of toxicity, such as renal dysfunction, or gastrointestinal irritation with haemorrhage. Stronger suppression of in?ammation requires corticosteroids and CYTOTOXIC drugs such as azathioprine or cyclophosphamide. Recent research promises more speci?c and less toxic anti-in?ammatory drugs, such as the monoclonal antibodies like in?iximab. An important treatment for some osteoarthritic joints is surgical replacement of the joints.... joints, diseases of
Health Encyclopedia