effect of sesame seed oil on major immunoglobulins among young adult females

Folk medicine claims that sesame-seed oil has some medicinal properties and may improve the immune system functions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sesame seeds oil on major immunoglobulin concentrations. A group of thirty healthy female students aged 20.7 +/- 0.47 yr were chosen from Minufiya University - Egypt, and classified into three groups; first group is control [CG]; second group fed sesame seed oil [SG]; and third group fed mixture of sesame seed oil and yogurt [SYG]. The trial continued for four consecutive months. The blood parameters including hemoglobin, RBC, PCV, WBC count, IgG, IgM, and IgE were determined at baseline and after dietary supplementation. The results showed that the majority of students were from moderate socioeconomic class, and their body weight was 66.4 +/- 8.0 kg and BMI was 22.9 +/- 2.8 kg/m2. The dietary supplementation resulted in decrement of hemoglobin, but the highest and significant [P<0.001] decrease was among SYG that decreased by -11.7%. The WBC count was also decreased among CG, SG, and SYG by -13.3, -19.8, -8.1% respectively. The dietary supplementation with sesame oil resulted in significant decrement [P<0.01] of lymphocytes by -14.3%, while the mixture of sesame oil and yoghurt increased it significantly [P<0.01] by 37.6%. Unfortunately, the sesame oil decreased IgG significantly [P<0.001] by -31.1%, whereas the mixture of sesame oil and yogurt decreased it by -34.1%. For IgM, the sesame oil decreased it significantly [P<0.01] by -16.0%. In conclusion, sesame seed oil decreased IgG and IgM that may impair the immune system response among normal people, while it may be valuable and healthful for some patients

Study of common food habits among students of health colleges in dammam and its relation to lifestyle, social, economical, and health factors

Saudi society is one of the gulf societies that changed dramatically during the last three decades. The changes include life style, nutrition pattern and food habits. This study aimed to identify the common food habits among students of health colleges, beside clarifying its relation with other factors. A sample of 645 students [401 male and 244 female] aged 18 to 24 years were chosen from the two health colleges in Dammam. Data about socioeconomic status, health history, anthropometric measurements, and food habits were collected. Also, a special food habits measure consists of 25 parameters were used for classifying students according to their food habits. According to this measure, students were classified into three groups; students with bad food habits [BFH]; acceptable food habits [AFH]; and excellent food habits [EFH]. The results showed that 55.96% of students had bad food habits, and 35.97% had acceptable food habits, while 8.07% had excellent food habits. Also, the bad food habits were more common among males than females [66.8% vs. 38.1% respectively]. The majority of BHF group do not eat three meals daily; less than one fifth of them drink milk daily; 90.0% drink carbonated beverages daily; and the daily consumption from carbonated beverages among BHF group was significantly higher than AHF group [2.1 +/- 1.3 vs. 1.2 +/- 1.0 time/day respectively] [P<0.05]. The education of the majority of BHF and AHF fathers had less than university degree [79.3% and 82.4% respectively] while the education of the majority of fathers of EHF group had university degree or higher. In contrary the mother education had no effect where the education of more than 75% of mothers in this study was less than university. Moreover, more than 50% of EHF group suffer from underweight. In conclusion the majority of health sciences college students had bad food habits particularly males, and father education determine the acquired food habits. This study recommend promotion of healthy eating, habits and physical activity

Feeding camel milk and Nigella sativa oil [NS] and their effect on the immunity of children with viral hepatitis

Camel milk is known for its antimicrobial properties, and used for treatment of diabetes and liver diseases in folk medicine. So, this study aimed to find out the health benefits of camel milk alone or mixed with Nigella sativa [NS] oil on outcome of viral hepatitis among children. 35 [14 girl and 21 boy] children infected with viral hepatitis with mean age 8.1 +/- 3.6 years were selected from outpatients of Minufiya University and Monshaat Sultan hospitals, Minufiya Governorate, Egypt. The selected children were divided into 4 groups; control group [CG] [n=5] they didn't receive any dietary intervention; milk group [MG] [n=10] they receive 100ml/day of camel milk; oil group [OG] [n=10] they receive 2ml/day of NS oil; and milk oil group [MOG] [n=10] they receive 100 ml of camel milk in addition to 2 ml of NS oil daily. The children were free living and receive their standard medical treatment and normal diet without any modification. The dietary intervention continued for 35 consecutive days. Blood samples were collected from subjects at baseline and after dietary intervention period for determination of ALT, AST, IgG, IgM, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, hemoglobin, and HCT. The results showed that feeding camel milk alone decreased IgM by 34.5% and increased IgG by 84.3%, while mixing it with NS oil resulted in decrement of IgM by 47.1% and increment of IgG by 91.7%, and surprisingly NS oil decreased IgM by 64.8% and increased IgG by 72.7%. Whereas, the concentration of elevated liver enzymes decreased significantly by the dietary intervention, especially among group fed camel milk alone or combined with NS oil. In conclusion, feeding camel milk alone or mixed with NS oil had a favorable affect on health status of children with viral hepatitis