Pineapple/sesame seed and medical science

[hmblume]

1. At the San Francisco LLS session in January, Stanford’s Peter Greenberg gave the MDS breakout talk. In Q/A I reported on the number of MDS Forum responders who had positive platelet results with pineapple/sesame seed. Dr. Greenberg was open to the idea that pineapple worked and asked about further testing/experimentation via MDS-Foundation or AAMDS-I Foundation. I reported some doubt that either foundation would be able to help on a controlled experiment. However, I have since thought about these questions:
a) dosage. most juice 1/4 to 1 full pineapple. I consume about 1/20 of a pineapple sliced. I should increase this. Is 1 dose per day OK or should one take 1/4 dose 4 times a day?
b) what is the chemical ingredient that extends platelet life (seems more likely than marrow producing more platelets)? Thus, are other fruits/seeds likely to be helpful.
c) Is the sesame seed effect separate or is the sesame seed a catalyst or activator. If so, how does this work? I chomp unground seeds; is seed preparation an issue?
d) Is the source of the pineapple of importance? Does the beneficial effect come from the soil minerals or from original rootstcks millenia in the past. PS I was just in Hawaii, and my pineapple tasted totally different, sweeter, much better. I doubt much Hawaiian pineapple reaches the mainland.
e) must the pineapple be fresh? does canned pineapple juice have good effect?
f) Should other food/medication/vitamins be taken with the pineapple or avoided? I note some medications are to be taken with food, some without, and some should not be accompanied by drinking tea within a couple of hours.

My new e-mail is hmblume@comcast.net for offline commenting. I note also that I was a practising engineer with immense scepticism re naturopathy. However, I believe pineapple/sesame(unground) did raise my platelets about 25% for a while. I have had a slowly decling trendline of platelets (so I could have tried 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off with CBC’s every 3 weeks) but my trendline is going downhill, so it will be harder for me to experiment on myself and I may need all the help I can get.

Can we come up with somewhat better pineapple therapy and some idea why some have gotten better results and some have not (like just about everything else in this rotten disease)?

[patti]

Hi Hmblume,

Thanks for mentioning the pineapple thing to Dr. Greenberg. I know our doctor completely blows off the benefits. I can answer a few of your questions, but not all.

1) My experience with my MIL is that 1/4 of a juiced pineapple (she was actually just eating the darn thing) works really well for awhile. When she would start to experience a drop in her platelets I would have her increase to a whole pineapple a day. After she had a boost of platelets for a couple of weeks I’d let her drop back down to 1/4. However, her disease has progressed to such a place that it appears the pineapple is no longer working. OR – it’s just maintaining her at 9000 and she would drop if she didn’t continue the pineapple. Unfortunately, she’s in such a spot that I cannot recommend she stop to see if her platelets drop more because she’s already having problems from the low platelets.

2) It is surmised (no one knows for sure) that it’s the bromelain enzyme in pineapple that is effective. Tablet form bromelain didn’t seem to help mom so there is something about the bromelain being from a fresh source.

3) I’m not sure about how the sesame seeds work in the combonation. If I had to guess, I would say it’s a catalyst for the bromelain. But don’t quote that as science!

Seed preparation is an issue. If one just eats the whole seeds without having them thoroughly ground, they will just go through the bowel whole thus losing any benefit they might have. Some people use a coffee grinder. My MIL is somehow able to chew them well enough as to not swallow them whole. Maybe she mixes them with something. I’m not sure.

3) Source probably isn’t as big a deal. Of course, anything from a full rich soil would have more vitamins and minerals, etc. But that doesn’t seem to matter in the function of plalets so much as far as I can tell. As an FYI, they do sell Hawaiian pineapples here. Mom gets them all the time. They come from Maui.

4) The pineapple does need to be fresh. Canned pineapple will have most of the bromelain obliterated in the cooking process. I’m not sure if frozen would work but I did recommend someone else try it because they had mouth sores so bad they couldn’t eat fresh. Don’t know if it helped though. Again, that fresh enzyme is so important.

5) There does not appear to be any need to worry about when the pineapple is taken or what it’s taken with. Mom takes hers all day long with about 50-60 supplements a day. Again, not scientific but she has seen no need to change anything to add it into her diet.

I would recommend to you what I did to my MIL. If your platlets are trending down, eat or juice a whole pineapple a day right now and increase your black sesame seeds to 2 tbls. I would do that for at least a month to see if you trend up at all. If not, then your days of pineapple helping may be over. Like I said, mom is still taking it but we honestly don’t know if it’s helping anymore and we don’t dare try to experiment right now.

Hope this all helps.

Best Wishes,

Patti

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