Talk:Acorus calamus/Archives/2020/July

Toxicity of calamus

The article seems to say that all calamus is toxic. This is not correct. The diploid strains of A. calamus in parts of Mongolia, in parts of the western Himalayas and C Siberia, and the Acorus americanus does not contain the procarcinogenic β-asarone.

Also, calamus is not banned for sale, only for extracts used in foods. Further, β-asarone is neither hepatotoxic nor directly hepatocarcinogenic. It must first undergo metabolic l'-hydroxylation in the liver before achieving toxicity.

CWatchman (talk) 15:31, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

I would like to add the following if parsing is correct:

The original FDA ban was the result of lab studies that involved supplementing the diets of lab animals over a prolonged period of time with large [the book uses "massive"] doses of isolated chemicals (β-asarone) from the Indian Jammu strain of calamus. The animals developed tumors, and the plant was labeled procarcinogenic.[1] Wichtl says "It is not clear whether the observed carcinogenic effects in rats are relevant to the human organism."[2] However, most sources advise caution in ingesting strains other than the diploid strain. Again, limits on consumption of any type of calamus in food or alcoholic beverages (115 micrograms per day) were recommended in a 2001 ruling by the European Commission, without defining degrees of safe exposure.[3] The diploid strains of A. calamus in parts of Mongolia, in parts of the western Himalayas and C Siberia, and the Acorus americanus does not contain the procarcinogenic β-asarone.[4][5][6] In reality β-asarone is neither hepatotoxic nor directly hepatocarcinogenic. It must first undergo metabolic l'-hydroxylation in the liver before achieving toxicity. Cytochrome P450 in the hepatocytes is responsible for secreting the hydrolyzing enzymes that convert β-asarone into genotoxic epoxide structure.[7] Even with the activation of these metabolites, the carcinogenic potency is very low because of the rapid breakdown of epoxide residues with hydrolase which leaves these compounds inert.[8] Additionally, the major metabolite of β-asarone is 2,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid, a derivative which is not a carcinogen.[9]

References

1. Natural carcinogenic products, EK Weisburger – Environmental Science & Technology, 1979 – ACS Publications

2. Wichtl, Max (2004). Herbal drugs and phytopharmaceuticals: a handbook.

3. Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on the presence of beta-asarone in flavourings and other food ingredients with flavouring properties" (PDF). European Commission, Scientific Committee on Food. 12 December 2001. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

4. Chemical composition of the essential oil and supercritical CO2 extract of Commiphora myrrha (Nees) Engl. and of Acorus calamus L.B Marongiu, A Piras, S Porcedda… - J. Agric., 2005 - ACS Publications

5. (Rost and Bos, 1979)

6. Antimicrobial activities of the crude methanol extract of Acorus calamus Linn., S Phongpaichit, N Pujenjob, J. Songklanakarin

7. McGuffin, Michael, ed. (1997). American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0- 8493-1675-3.

8. Luo, G. A. N. G., MAZEN K. Qato, and THOMAS M. Guenthner. "Hydrolysis of the 2', 3'-allylic epoxides of allylbenzene, estragole, eugenol, and safrole by both microsomal and cytosolic epoxide hydrolases." Drug Metabolism and Disposition 20.3 (1992): 440-445.

9. Hasheminejad, G., and J. Caldwell. "Genotoxicity of the alkenylbenzenes α− and β-asarone, myristicin and elemicin as determined by the UDS assay in cultured rat hepatocytes." Food and chemical toxicology 32.3 (1994): 223-231."

CWatchman (talk) 15:38, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

You've tried to add almost the exact same text multiple times over the years, see here or here or here or here or here. You've been reverted three times that I know of, and a discussion has already been started regarding this edit twice already. Not only does this fail to adhere to the Wikipedia standards as previously discussed, the text is simply false. For example, reference 4 says the complete opposite of the statement you've made, and ref. 8 doesn't corroborate what you're saying -and that's the only two I've checked. I'm afraid it's time to accept that this isn't happening, my friend, not like this, for reasons already discussed. Regards, Leo Breman (talk) 18:02, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

My friend, it is obvious you did NOT check the sources which were carefully taken from Google Scholar sources. Check them out and you will find I am correct. The toxic scare about calamus is being promulgated by fringe theorists who believe that calamus in the Exodus 30 anointing oil was marijuana. I suspect this is your position and you have followed me from that article. That's fine. This is a free forum. But lying does not prove calamus was cannabis, or that calamus gets you high (ridiculous claim which I fought to have edited from this article). CWatchman (talk) 02:38, 28 July 2020 (UTC)