• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.37-42
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• 2023

This study aimed to examine the safety of HemoHIM, a dietary supplement containing methoxsalen. HemoHIM is a dietary supplement marketed globally, and a competitor to ginseng. It has been reported to contain methoxsalen, a plant extract for treating psoriasis and vitiligo. Methoxsalen is known to cause hepatotoxicity, but most of the cases has been reported from ingestion as a drug, not a food. There are no reports of hepatotoxicity from the consumption derived from natural products such as Angelica gigas, Cnidium officinale, and Paeonia lactiflora, which are the main ingredients in the HemoHIM. However, a recent case of acute hepatitis was reported in Hong-Kong after ingestion of HemoHIM. It is difficult to conclude that hepatitis was caused by HemoHIM, because there was no check of co-occurring medications with a higher risk of hepatotoxicity, no description of the progress, no quantitative comparison of methoxsalen in HemoHIM to it in common foods such as carrots and celery, and no description of the patient's underlying diseases. On the other hand, there was a study that suggest hemoHIM is safe, and that study had adequate number of subjects even though more studies are needed to ensure safety.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.363-372
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• 2019

The leaves and stems of Centella asiatica have a long history of their usage as a medicine for the treatment of skin diseases such as ulcers and psoriasis, especially in Asia. Triterpenoids, the active components of Centella asiatica including asiaticoside, madecasosside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid, have shown to inhibit skin inflammation as well as improve skin photoaging. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether the Centella asiatica ripened with lava seawater which is rich in minerals known to be beneficial to human body can provide anti-inflammatory and moisturizing effects to skin. HPLC analysis showed that the concentration of triterpenoids increased further after ripening Centella asiatica with lava seawater. In order to confirm the inflammatory efficacy of the extract of the extract of the ripened Centella asiatica, the production of NO in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells and the expression of inflammatory cytokines in PM10 or UVB-induced HaCaT cells were observed. We found that the extract of the ripened Centella asiatica inhibited the expression of NO, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-a and had higher inhibitory effect compared to the extract of the non-ripened Centella asiatica. In order to confirm the skin moisturizing effect, we investigated the synthesis of HA in HaCaT cells. The result showed HA production was enhanced in a concentration-dependent manner from the ripened group, while there was no efficacy from the non-ripened group. Taken together, it is concluded that the extract of the Centella asiatica ripened with lava seawater was effective in anti-inflammation and moisturization.