Friday Hope: Sesamin from Sesame Seeds

Anti-COVID-19, Anti-Inflammatory, and Anti-Osteoarthritis Properties Offer Another Safe, Effective and Natural Therapeutic

First of all, let me start this Friday Hope post with a wonderful observation about Sesamin from Sesame Seeds:

After 24 h of treatment, the sesamin was not toxic to any cells at any dosage level.

In my continuing search for therapeutics to treat/prevent COVID and Spike Protein pathologies I have found yet another safe, effect and natural compound to add to our arsenal. The quotations in this post are from a paper published a few weeks ago.

Sesame is an ancient and revered condiment. It has long been associated with medicinal benefits.

In Asian cuisine, sesame is one of the oldest condiments, and it was the first crop used to produce oil from its seeds. As early as the 8th century B.C., Chinese and Indian people discovered the medicinal value of sesame seeds, and they believed that sesame possessed properties for the abatement of toothaches, energy recovery, rejuvenation, relaxation, and the treatment of insect bites.

Later, its medicinal benefits were proven.

In experimental animal models, sesame oil was found to have analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, sesame oil has been found to mitigate nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in patients and lower left ventricular hypertrophy in rats. Recent studies have shown that sesamin can improve the lipid metabolism of fatty livers, inhibit pro-inflammatory factors in rats with acute hepatic injury, decrease blood glucose levels and suppress microglia activation in a mouse model of diabetic retinopathy, remove free radicals, and inhibit lipid peroxidation.

Now we come to the current COVID Pandemic. Fortunately, some scientists with access to labs decided to test Sesamin and its potential abilities to treat/prevent COVID. There were some very promising results.

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY

The benefits of Sesamin in treating Osteoarthritis (OA) led researchers to investigate whether it could have similar benefits in treating COVID. Indeed, it could. This is rhetorical: Of course, doesn’t investigating a readily available product such as Sesame Seeds seem a far wiser course of action than to trial on the world’s population an experimental gene therapy?

According to research findings, inflammation has been identified as the primary factor contributing to mortality in COVID-19 patients. The cytokines include TNF, NF-κB, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, etc. The inflammatory macrophages express kinds of cytokines that trigger downstream inflammation pathways, resulting in inflammation and damage to organs. As a result of tissue variation, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are classified as the mediators of organ damage and inflammation. Several clinical studies have observed a correlation between the blood MMP level in COVID-19 patients and the disease severity, which MMP expression increases as the disease progresses.

In human articular chondrocytes (HACs) cultured from papain-induced OA rats, sesamin reversibly affected the expression of MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-13 without affecting aggrecanase activity. Interestingly, sesamin reduces IL-1β-induced MMP expression and protein translation, inhibits inflammatory gene expression (e.g., NF-kB pathway suppression), reverses the synergistic effect caused by OSM (oncostatin M) and IL-1β, and stops type II collagen and proteoglycan degradation. In addition, a clinical investigation using samples collected from 12 patients undergoing knee replacement surgery revealed that sesamin activated the Nrf2 signaling pathway in chondrocytes affected by osteoarthritis (OA), resulting in an upregulation of HO-1 protein expression.

COMPETES FAVORABLY WITH THE SPIKE FOR ACE2

The other blockbuster finding regarding Sesamin and COVID is that it has a better binding affinity for ACE2 than does the Spike Protein. This means that Sesamin will attach to ACE2 “faster” than the Spike Protein will, disallowing its ability to enter cells. Please recall that I have always maintained that SARS-CoV-2, because of its Spike Protein is a prodigous opportunist – due to the ACE2 receptor it is a pathogen of astounding access.

Based on molecular simulation and ADMET screening, sesamin seems to be a promising anti-viral lead compound with a higher binding affinity against ACE2 (than COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 RdRp). Hence, sesamin could limit virion entry and the whole replication process. Therefore, we suggest that sesamin is a promising lead for anti-viral drugs with immunomodulatory capabilities.

Anti-COVID-19, Anti-Inflammatory, and Anti-Osteoarthritis Activities of Sesamin from Sesamum indicum L.
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/10/11/1263#

So, it appears that Sesame Chicken may be an extremely satisfying dinner this weekend and one to keep in steady rotation. With that in mind, this post is a work of medical research. Even though no toxicity was observed in relation to Sesamin, this post is not medical advice. Please consult your Primary Care Provider before using any medicines or supplements.

The world is going through much war and strife that wishes to distract us from what really matters: Caring for each other and making this journey of our lives as fulfilling as possible. Please have a joyous and peaceful weekend while we pray and express our concerns for those in harm’s way. Thank you for your readership and support.