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Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient used in the commercial food industry as the second largest consumed vegetable oil in the world. Because of its lower cost and highly saturated nature, it usually maintains a solid form at room temperature and is used as a cheap substitute for butter. However, there has been a growing health concern about palm oil because of the link between dietary fats and coronary heart disease. Palm oil contains ∼49% saturated fat, a relatively high concentration compared with other vegetable oils. Consequently, high intakes of saturated fat from palm oil induce a larger increase in plasma concentrations of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins. In the present study, we examined the hyperlipidemia of palm oil and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using a rat model in comparison with sunflower oil with a relatively low level of saturated fat. On in vivo examination using Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats for 22 days, there were no significant differences in serum lipid levels, suggesting that palm oil may not cause hyperlipidemia and elevate CVD risk. However, liver samples obtained from SD rats fed with palm oil showed a lot of large lipid inclusions stained with the Oil Red O working solution, but not much lipid accumulation was observed in rats treated with sunflower oil. In addition, lipid accumulation in the mixed oil group fed the combination of palm and sunflower (1:1) oil was shown to be at an intermediary level between the palm oil group and sunflower oil group. Taken together, these results indicate that palm oil, a highly saturated form of vegetable oil, may induce dysfunction of the liver lipid metabolism before affecting serum lipid levels. On the other hand, sunflower oil, a highly unsaturated vegetable oil, was shown to be well metabolized in liver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aster yomena is used in traditional remedies to treat cough, asthma and insect bites; however, its therapeutic mechanism is not completely understood. To elucidate the anti-asthmatic effect of A. yomena, we investigated the anti-asthmatic characteristics of an alcohol extract of A. yomena in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine asthma model. In this study, we showed that A. yomena extract inhibited the overall pathophysiological features of asthma by suppressing Th2 responses and enzymes associated with the production of inflammatory mediators. This suppression resulted in decreased Th2 type cytokines and eosinophils in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and OVA-specific IgE in serum. Additionally, A. yomena extract significantly decreased airway hyperresponsiveness and abrogated the histopathological changes in the lungs, which reached normal levels in the OVA-challenged mice treated with A. yomena extract. These findings suggest that A. yomena could be a promising natural agent for treating bronchial asthma in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]