Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Antigen – epitope – or other immunospecific immunoeffector – Conjugate or complex
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-13
2001-04-17
Tate, Christopher R. (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Antigen, epitope, or other immunospecific immunoeffector
Conjugate or complex
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217878
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of producing a powder containing beneficial phytochemicals present in harvested Echinacea plant material, and more particularly to a method of producing a powder recovering an increased amount of the cichoric acid present in the harvested Echinacea plant material.
Echinacea plant is a popular herbal immunostimulant. Echinacea contains numerous active phytochemicals—such as caffeic acid derivatives (e.g., cichoric acid), alkamides (e.g., dodecatetraenoic acid isobutylamides), and glycoproteins/polysaccharides—that have immunomodulatory or other beneficial activity. Although cichoric acid is a particularly beneficial immunostimulant, it is advantageous to consume the full range of the phytochemicals present in Echinacea in order to gain the synergistically beneficial effect. The elimination of any one class of constituents could reduce this beneficial effect.
Accordingly, many people consume the freshly expressed juice of the Echinacea plant, which inherently contains the full spectrum of phytochemicals normally present in the Echinacea plant. For example, Europeans have consumed the freshly expressed juice of Echinacea, provided in vials or ampules, for many years. Representative of this type of product is the expressed juice of the flowering Echinacea purpurea plant harvested about 8 inches (20.3 cm) above the ground; this product has been sold since 1939 by Madaus Aktiengesellschaft under the ECHINACIN mark.
One drawback to Echinacea juice is that water is a major component. Water is a constituent lacking phytochemical activity. Yet water significantly increases the weight and volume of the Echinacea product—needlessly increasing the handling and shipping costs. Also, fresh Echinacea juice is not useable in dry, powdered dietary supplements.
Another drawback to Echinacea juice is that the water in the fresh juice provides an environment in which undesirable microbiological or enzymatic activity occurs. For example, R. Bauer reports that the content of cichoric acid varies dramatically from 0 to 0.4% in the expressed juice, in part from the inconsistent inhibition of the enzymatic degradation of cichoric acid in the freshly expressed juice. (Bauer, “HPLC-Method on the Basis of Cichoric Acid and Alkamides for the Standardization of Echinacea Purpurea Preparations Prepared from the Expressed Juice,” Zeitschrift fur Phytotherapie 18/5, p. 270-276 (1997).) Therefore, in providing fresh juice, the manufacturer must either recommend relatively immediate consumption or otherwise treat the juice to reduce spoilage and enzymatic activity. One method of reducing the spoilage is to add alcohol to stabilize the juice. However, the alcohol may precipitate some beneficially active components of the juice, such as the polysaccharides. Alcohol also renders the product questionable for use with children.
Manufacturers have provided Echinacea extracts in powdered form to address the above-noted problems. However, many methods of producing the Echinacea powder—such as alcohol extraction followed by spray drying—may eliminate or damage many of the beneficial phytochemicals in the Echinacea juice and thus reduce the recovery of desired components such as cichoric acid. Accordingly, the amount of cichoric acid recovered in commercially available Echinacea extracts has been unacceptably low. Although Ital Nutritional, Inc. has supplied Echinacea juice in dried powder form having either 2.2% or 3.0% of total caffeic derivatives (e.g., cichoric acid, caeffoyl tartaric acid, caeffoyl quinic acid, and chlorogenic acid) as measured by the HPLC method, the process for converting the fresh Echinacea plant material to dried juice powder is relatively inefficient, about a 45:1 ratio for plant material feed to powdered final product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aforementioned problems are overcome in the present invention wherein an Echinacea powder is formed by blanching the expressed Echinacea juice before drying the juice to form the Echinacea powder. More specifically, the invention is directed to a method of producing a powder containing water-soluble solids of harvested Echinacea plant material. The harvested plant material is milled to reduce the plant particle size. The plant material is then blanched. The blanched material is expressed or squeezed to produce Echinacea juice. The juice is concentrated to at least about 20% soluble solids content. Then, the juice is dried to form an Echinacea powder having a moisture content of less than about 8%. Another aspect of the invention is an improved method of recovering juice from Echinacea plant material, in which the Echinacea plant material is blanched before squeezing the plant material to express the juice.
The inventive process has several advantages. The final Echinacea powder essentially reflects the full spectrum of phytochemicals present in the freshly expressed juice of Echinacea. Accordingly, the powder provides the full synergistic phytochemical effect available from consumption of fresh, expressed Echinacea juice. Yet the powder significantly reduces handling and shipping costs compared to Echinacea juice. Further, the powder produced by the inventive process has a vastly decreased microbiological and enzymatic activity in comparison to the expressed juice—without having to add alcohol or other components that may interfere or decrease the immunostimulatory effect of the Echinacea plant and increase the processing costs. Thus, the shelf life is markedly improved over fresh juice, so that the consumer can take the phytonutrients at a convenient time.
The Echinacea powder produced by the inventive process has high levels of cichoric acid, which is one of the particularly beneficial immunostimulatory phytochemicals in Echinacea. Further, the inventive process produces an increased juice yield from the Echinacea plant material. The dry Echinacea powder produced by the present invention can be tableted or combined with other nutrients in a dry supplement form. The inventive powder has been observed to induce the activity of Phase II enzymes, which have a detoxifying effect on potential carcinogens in the human body. This inductive effect is comparable to that of broccoli, which is an extensively documented vegetable having cancer chemopreventative function.
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ECHIPURE Product Literature.
Bauer, “The Echinacea Story—The Scientific Development of an Herbal Immunostimulant,” Proceedings of Society for Economic Botany, London, Jul. 1-6, 1996, pp. 317-332 (1998) (“Abstract”).
Bauer, R., “Echinacea: Biological Effects and Active Principles,” ACS Symp. Ser., vol. 691, pp 140-57 (1998) (“Abstract”).
Bauer, R., “HPLC Method on the Basis of Cichoric Acid and Alkamides for the Standardization of Echinacea Purpurea Preparations Prepared From Expressed Juice,” Zeitschrift fur Phytothorapie, 18/5 (270-76) (1997) (“Abstract”).
Bauer, “Echinacea Drugs—Effects and Active Ingredients,” Zeitschrift fur Arztliche Fortbildung 90 (2) 111-5 (Apr. 1996) (“Abstract”).
Sidorovich, “Diploid Form of Echinacea Purpurea—A New Source of Medicinal Raw Materials for Home-Produced Immunostimulating Preparations,”; Vest; Akademic Navuk Belarusi. Seriya Biyalaguchnykh Navuk, No. 2, pp. 5-7 (1997)(“Abstract”).
Blaschek, “Echinacea Polysaccarides: Analytical Investigations on Pressed Juice and the Preparation Echinacin,” Zeitschrift fur Phytotherapie, 19/5 (255-62) (1998) (“Abstract”).
Kurkin, “Quantitative Estimation of Total Hydroxycinnamic Acids in Aerial Part of Echinacea Purpurea,” Rastitel'nye Resursy, vol. 34, No. 2 pp. 81-85 (1998) (“Abstract”).
De Swaef, “Quantitative Determination of P-Coumaric Acid in Echinacea Purpurea Press juice and Urgenin,” J. of Liquid Chromatography, vol. 17, No. 19., pp.
Brovelli Ernesto
Li Yingqin
Menon Gopi R.
Rana Jatinder
Amway Corporation
Tate Christopher R.
Warner & Norcross & Judd LLP
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