Every year, around 350,000 women die globally due to post partum bleedings ' blood loss during child birth. Africa one in 16 women dies during pregnancy, and in some countries the number is as high as every eighth woman. The reason is poor access to medical assistance often because the women either lack money or because they live too far away. The knowledge about herbs, which can help the womb contract after childbirth, is therefore often the only life saving opportunity in remote rural areas.Researchers have examined a number of plants which could be used in ensuring that the womb contract after childbirth in the laboratory in rats and one of such is Irvingia gabonensis, a plant whose pulp is commonly known as Ogbono in Igbo land of Nigeria where it is used as a soup thickner. It is also commonly referred to as African mango, bush mango, Kaka or wild mango.In Nigeria, it is pekpeara in Nupe; ugiri (tree or fruit) or ogbono (kernel or seed) in Igbo; oro (the tree) or aapon (the kernel) in Yoruba; ogwi (the tree or fruit) in Benin; goron or biri in Hausa; uyo in Efik.The researchers, who investigated the effects of African mango extracts on isolated non-pregnant rat womb and rat Ileum found that the plant can make the uterus tissue contract and that the plants therefore can be used to stop lethal bleedings after birth.The results of the laboratory test, which compared the effectiveness of the ethanol and water extracts of African mango with other orthodox medicines used in contracting the womb such as acetylcholine, showed that the ethanol extract of the plant contracted the rat uterus in a dose-related fashion while the water extract had no effect. But the contraction acheived with the standard drugs, Acetylcholine was more.The study was carried out by Chidi Nosiri, I.M. Hussaini and I. Abdu-Aguye, all from the Department Of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and published in the 2011 edition of The Internet Journal of Alternative Medicine.African mango is largely used in traditional and modern medicine for the treatment of several illnesses, as well as in industry. Different parts of the plant have been employed for this purpose and prepared locally as crude extracts of the stem, bark, roots, leaves and kernels. The seeds have been found to reduce fasting blood glucose and cholesterol levels in obese subjects.A study published in Lipids in Health and Disease suggested that an extract derived from the seed (Ogbono) of West African mango may help overweight people shed weight, lower their cholesterol and chances of developing degenerative diseases.According to the study, researchers at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon randomly assigned 102 overweight adults to take either the plant extract or a placebo twice a day for 10 weeks. The study participants did not follow any special diet and were told to maintain their normal exercise levels.By the end of the study, the extract group had lost a significant amount of weight, an average of roughly 28 pounds, while the placebo group showed almost no change.At the same time, they showed declines in 'bad' Low Density Lipo-protein (LDL) cholesterol and blood sugar levels. High Density Lipo-protein (HDL) is the good cholesterol.The study, titled 'The effect of Irvingia gabonensis seeds on body weight and blood lipids of obese subjects in Cameroon,' was conducted by Judith L Ngondi, Julius E. Oben, and Samuel R Minka of the Nutrition, HIV and Health Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde, Cameroon.The powdered chocolate prepared from the kernels is applied to burns and used to make astringent remedies. A decoction of the stem back of Kigelia Africana (sausage tree or pandoro in Yoruba) and leaves of African mango is used to cure spleen infection. The aqueous leaf extract of African mango has been found to cause a significant dose-dependent decrease of gastrointestinal motility in mice.Studies by scientists investigating its other medicinal uses found that extracts from its leaves could also help to lower blood pressure.Hypertension or high blood pressure is a common disorder which if not effectively treated, results in a greatly increased probability of heart failure, strokes, and renal failure.The study's results suggested that the active ingredient(s) in the ethanol extract of African mango caused a diuretic response comparable to that produced by acetazolamide (a drug used to induce reduction of body fluids), thus lowering blood pressure.The 2011 study entitled 'Leaf extracts of Irvingia Gabonensis increase urine output and electrolytes in rats' was documented in The Internet Journal of Alternative Medicine. It was carried out by I.Chidi Nosiri; I Abdu-Aguye; M. Isa Hussaini and E Abdurahaman, all of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.While reporting that the extract had a dose-dependent effect on level of urine produced, the researchers suggested that 'the leaf extract of Irvingia gabonensis may have similar mechanism of action to acetazolamide but different from that of frusemide, based on their effects on the concentrations of various ions in the urine and pH.
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