Cardiovascular complications are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in tea as a protective agent against CVD. Here, we compared the modulatory effects of two different doses (50 and 100 mg/kg body weight given orally for 28 consecutive days) of black tea aqueous extract (BTE, rich in theaflavins and thearubigins) and green tea aqueous extract (GTE, rich in catechins) on experimentally induced hyperglycaemia, hyperlipidaemia and liver dysfunction by alloxan (which destroys pancreatic b-cells and induces type 1 diabetes) and a cholesterol-rich diet (which induces obesity and type 2 diabetes) in male Wistar albino rats. Both tea extracts significantly alleviated most signs of the metabolic syndrome including hyperglycaemia (resulting from type 1 and 2 diabetes), dyslipidaemia and impairment of liver functions induced by alloxan or the cholesterol-rich diet in the animals. Also, the tea extracts significantly modulated both the severe decrease and increase in body weight induced by alloxan and the high-cholesterol diet, respectively. The modulatory effects obtained here were partial or complete, but significant and dose dependent, and slightly more in GTE in most cases. No harmful effects were detected for tea consumption on all parameters measured, except that the high dose of both tea extracts significantly decreased the spleen weight:body weight ratio and induced lymphopenia. The present study supports the hypothesis that both black and green teas may have beneficial effects against the risks of the metabolic syndrome and CVD as shown in rat models of human obesity and diabetes.

Preliminary trials have suggested possible hypoglycaemic, hypolipidaemic and immunomodulatory properties of the fenugreek plant. Here, we evaluated and compared the efficacy of Egyptian fenugreek seed powder (FSP, 0·5 and 1·0 g/kg body weight) in alleviating the experimentally induced metabolic syndrome (in type 1 diabetic and obese rat models) and experimentally induced immunosuppression and delay in burn-healing (in cyclophosphamide (CP)-treated rats). FSP significantly alleviated (P,0·05-0·001) most signs of the metabolic syndrome resulting from experimentally induced type 1 diabetes and obesity by 40-76 and 56-78 %, respectively, including hyperglycaemia, hyperlipidaemia, elevation in atherogenic indices, impairment of liver functions, severe changes in body weight and oxidative stress. Besides, FSP (especially the high dose) completely modulated the immunosuppressive activity of CP including leucopenia (resulting from neutropenia and lymphopenia), decrease in weights and cellularity of lymphoid organs, serum g-globulin level, delayed type of hypersensitivity response and delay in the skin-burning healing process. FSP decreased the immunosuppressive activity of CP by 57-108 %. These beneficial effects of FSP were dose dependent in most cases, and FSP doses used here were considered safe in general. FSP was more efficient in alleviating the signs of the metabolic syndrome in the obese animals (over 9 %) than in the type 1 diabetic animals. Moreover, the immunostimulant activity of fenugreek seeds exceeded their anti-metabolic syndrome activity by 15 -24 %. In conclusion, fenugreek seeds may be useful not only as a dietary adjunct for the control of the metabolic syndrome in diabetic/obese patients, but also as an immunostimulant in immunocompromised patients such as those under chemotherapeutic interventions.

Egyptian propolis extracts have an activity on cryptosporidiosis in rats. Moreover, propolis modulated the immunity in dexamethasone-immunosuppressed rats.

Malathion and carbaryl are the most widely used organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, respectively, especially in developing countries; they pose a potential health hazard for both humans and animals. Here, we evaluated the protective effects of an odorless (free from allicin) Kyolic aged garlic extract (AGE, containing 0.1% S-allylcysteine; 200 mg/kg body weight) on the toxicity induced by 0.1 LD of malathion (89.5 mg/kg body weight) and/or carbaryl (33.9 mg/kg body weight) in male Wistar rats. Doses were orally administered to animals for four consecutive weeks. The present study showed that AGE completely modulated most adverse effects induced by malathion and/or carbaryl in rats including the normocytic normochromic anemia, immunosuppression, and the delay in the skin-burning healing process through normalizing the count of blood cells (erythrocytes, leucocytes and platelets), hemoglobin content, hematocrit value, blood glucose-6-phosphodehydrogenase activity, weights and cellularity of lymphoid organs, serum γ-globulin concentration, and the delayed type of hypersensitivity response to the control values, and accelerating the inflammatory and proliferative phases of burn-healing. In addition, AGE completely modulated the decrease in serum reduced glutathione (GSH) concentration and the increase in clotting time in malathion alone and carbaryl alone treated rats. Moreover, AGE induced a significant increase (P < 0.001) in serum GSH concentration (above the normal value) and accelerating burn-healing process in healthy rats. In conclusion, AGE was effective in modulating most adverse effects induced in rats by malathion and carbaryl, and hence may be useful as a dietary adjunct for alleviating the toxicity in highly vulnerable people to insecticides intoxication. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 32: 789-798, 2017.

The present study proved the anti-inflammatory activity of GTE over BTE and equal to that of indomethacin in AIA rat model.